If you live in or traveling to a humid climate, and looking for an undershirt that’ll help you stay feeling dry, check this out.
Subject: Other brands of moisture wicking undershirts
So I’m looking for some inexpensive moisture wicking undershirts to wear in the Cancun humidity.
Other than the brands you mentioned, I’ve seen some from Jockey, Hanes, etc that claim to be moisture wicking and wondering if they are any good?
Kent
What’s The Goal?
Curious as to why Kent was specifically asking about a moisture wicking undershirt, I replied back with the following:
heya kent,
good to hear from you buddy and thanks for your question!
i gotta ask…
what are you trying to achieve with wearing a moisture wicking undershirt in a hot/humid climate?
moisture wicking is a generic term, the basically means almost nothing [as it pertains to undershirts].
if a brand like jockey or hanes is marketing their “wicking” undershirt, it doesn’t really mean anything other than they’re trying to put some marketing spin on a product.
in an undershirt scenario, the only thing a wicking undershirt will do better than an absorbing one is *possibly* dry faster.
i say that because there are plenty of wicking shirts that take about as long to dry as a cotton undershirt.
so the real question for you is — what problem are you trying to solve for?
are you trying to stay cool, or dry?
Kent’s reply:
Just trying to stay drier in the humidity.
I already wear a “normal” undershirt where I live, but it’s not nearly as humid, so just looking for some suggestions.
I did read some of your articles on the jockey staycool undershirts, but don’t have any personal experience with them.
Thanks,
Kent
Stay Dry Undershirts
heya kent,
ok, gotcha.
almost any undershirt made using fabric that has special “cooling” technology (i.e. jockey staycool) isn’t really going to be notably better than anything else.
generally speaking, to get cooling, you need a catalyst like airflow for you to experience any cooling.
and when you’re wearing an undershirt, the undershirt cannot be exposed to airflow because you’re usually wearing it under your outer shirt.
because you’re looking to stay feeling drier, you should focus on finding lighter weight undershirts, in a blend (some wicking, some absorbing).
some full wicking undershirts may also help you feel drier too, but they will also likey transfer more sweat to your outer shirt, which would result in visible sweat stains.
here’s a note from a reader who’s husband was testing wicking undershirts in a high sweat situation.
Just to get back to you, we ordered the Uniqlo mesh undershirt and he really liked the way it felt.
He tried it with the Lawrence Hunt shirt, and said the sweat just got through faster and ended up bleeding into the shirt part that doesn’t dry as fast near the underarm area.
most people try to avoid having visible sweat stains on their outer shirts.
but in a vacation situation, if you’re wearing a fast drying holiday shirt, it may dry fast so any visible sweat stains could be gone fairly quickly.
here is a lightweight undershirts article with some recommendations.
here is a quick drying undershirt article.
as for some average priced recommendations, from those articles, i’d recommend trying out a few:
1. uniqlo airism (wicking)
2. retro triblend (wicking+absorbing)
3. vdri (cellular fabric, wicking)
i’d recommend trying those three in cancun to figure out which keeps you feeling driest.
oh, they’re all really lightweight and thin, so they won’t take up any room in your luggage (:
for cooling alternatives, i’d recommend checking out this top cooling categories article.
hope it helps!