polyester/cotton blends

[hellsbellstaz]

Cotton is out as far as bush walking is concerned,
just wondering about poly/cotton blends?? i have a few tshirts that are 60% polyester and 40% cotton and wondering if this mix is suitable for bush walking

[wayno]

cottons useless in cool conditions, holds the sweat and cools you down too much especially when you stop...
in hot conditions you should be ok.. just damper than in 100% polyester.

[hellsbellstaz]

really just wondering about a 60:40 poly cotton blend if this has the same problems as 100 cotton

[wayno]

you'll still get similar problems , cotton can hold a lot of water, in cool conditions, it doesnt dry easily

[Turfa]

I agree. In cool conditions they hold too much sweat & get chilly when you stop.
In warmer conditions though I actually prefer the 60/40 blends as they feel nicer on your skin & more comfortable than 100% synthetic. On hot days, you can soak them in water & they hold it long enough to help keep you cool.
So it depends on the weather & your preferences...... try them out on some day walks & see how you go.

[wayno]

make sure you try it out when you're sweaty and its windy to see how much it cools you down when you stop for a break... if you find it gets too cool to keep wearing it for any length of time and it's soaked in sweat, then you're carrying extra dead weight....
in nz i never bothered with it other than on a hot summer day walk. but i dont think i have any polycotton shirts for walking left. for hot conditions i got for polyester ones with open weaves and better breathanility, but if you're in aus these may not be so good in very dusty conditions or if you're bush bashing...

[wayno]

looking at tasmanian weather forecasts for summer and how much the temperatures fluctuate, it's comparable in temperature range to new zeland, its not a place i'd elect to use cotton.

[Maelgwn]

In hot/warm weather they are good. Much cooler than a merino and make it ok to wear long sleeve and big collar on the warm days. Use it a lot in south Australia, but can see it would be rarely used in tassie.

[taswegian]

At times I carry gear in a very poor excuse of a pack. It hugs my back and when I take it off on a hot and sweaty day I wait with bated breath for the cold blast to hit as the evaporative process begins
My work shirts are polyester cotton.
I would say that is typical of those shirts. I do sweat freely so that doesn't help.
I'd look for an alternative to polyester cotton if that is a concern. It's rather uncomfortable as many know.

[wayno]

if you look at the current forecast for somewhere like the overland track, its currently too cold to be wearing polycotton http://reg.bom.gov.au/tas/forecasts/cradlevalley.shtml

[corvus]

For what it is worth 3 of my BW shirts are 100% Nylon and the other one is 75% Nylon 35% Polyester they all get wet when I sweat but dry quickly in a slight breeze or nice warm sunshine
corvus

[wayno]

in nz, three walkers got lost in bush overnight in the snow, they all got wet through, only one survived, he was the only one with woolen baselayer, scarf and hat... the others were wearing cotton,
water conducts heat away from the body at lest fourteen times faster than air.. the wetter your clothes when its cool the bigger the problem you have

[Moondog55]

Lightweight, cheap and moderately hard wearing, it is tho, as stated a summer fabric unless you are going to be using it as a windshell in cold weather, once you drop below Australian /New Zealand temperatures it is a reasonably good fabric for Arctic/Antarctic shells and even here in Australia it could be used as an outer layer over base layers without too many dramas. It is just that in cold wet conditions other blends are better at shedding the wind and drying out once saturated.
I still use a showerproof cotton windshell for a lot of my day walks where weight isn't as great an issue as comfort and stealth and don't forget that the old "Dry Japara" were a 65/35 poly/cotton blend base fabric.

I have been know to carry an old business shirt in the blend for warmish sunny days in the snow as a sunscreen layer at no great weight penalty

[nq111]

In hot/warm weather they are good. Much cooler than a merino and make it ok to wear long sleeve and big collar on the warm days. Use it a lot in south Australia, but can see it would be rarely used in tassie.

With a caveat - hot and dry.

Cotton can be ok to wear in hot and dry conditions because it absorbs sweat really well (like toweling off your forehead when sweating). When air is dry there is enough evaporative potential to drive the water out of the cotton into the atmosphere- so you don't really suffer.

In hot and humid conditions cotton is terrible. It soaks up sweat but won't let it go. So you don't get any evaporative cooling. Cotton when damp swells (hence the old water resistant cotton canvas) and this cuts breathability. When it is hot and humid you need every last percent of breathability you can get. A cotton shirt in these conditions becomes a hot, sticky/wet, poorly breathing layer. Pay no attention to the safari suits for the jungle - these are a relic from a time before better alternatives were invented and understood.

The only benefit of cotton blended with polyester is to make the shirt absorb more water before feeling 'clammy'. This is ok provided conditions are dry enough, or activity levels low enough, for moisture to evaporate out of the shirt faster than your sweat puts it in. Good technical polyesters won't hold as much moisture as cotton (w/w) but will hold enough to draw it off your skin, and then be much better at enabling it to evaporate again. They also retain much more of their breathability when wet.

IMHO - cotton is streetwear - cheap and comfortable in most conditions when not heavily exerting oneself. It might have some technical value in very dry climates (e.g. deserts). Otherwise, I think there are much better fabrics for technical requirements.

[Orion]

My preference is for a 100% cotton t-shirt. I wear one, provided the temperatures aren't too cold and the trip is no more than about five days or so, depending on the humidity. In really hot conditions a cotton t-shirt doesn't work for me unless it's a short trip, about a couple of days, because the salt and sweat ruin the shirt very quickly. For example, I wore cotton for a 2 1/2 day loop in Freycinet, decided against it during a (unusually hot) seven days on the South Coast track earlier this month, but was happy to have one on an eight day walk of the John Muir Trail last Septemeber.

Poly/cotton blends are the worst in my opinion. They feel clammy in warm weather and absorb too much moisture when it's cold. They suck for streetwear too. There ought to be a law against them. Bah!

[Solohike74]

Light merino is safer than cotton if its warm & less odour than synthetic. I use all synthetic as its cheaper & lightweight.

[nq111]

Light merino is safer than cotton if its warm & less odour than synthetic

Also terrible in hot + humid conditions unfortunately.

[hellsbellstaz]

Opp shop and clothes sorted.... the only cotton in my bag is underwear..