In the hot summer, when the sun is directly overhead, it really feels like a fire burning your skin. In summer, there are not only a variety of styles of various items, but also more choices of fabrics. If you want to wear cool clothes, style is of course important, but it is better to choose the right fabric.

Of all the fabrics, the most comfortable and cool are undoubtedly natural fabrics. Among the most common ones, cotton, silk, and linen, which one is the coolest and best for summer? Let’s analyze it with data!

Everyone must know that for the same fabric, the lighter and thinner it is, the cooler it will be. In the sun, light-colored fabrics absorb less heat than dark-colored fabrics, so they are cooler.

As for different fabrics, generally speaking, silk is cooler than cotton, but cotton also has different grades. High-count sea island cotton and Egyptian cotton are even cooler than silk. Of course, they are expensive, so our analysis today will ignore the influence of thickness and color, and only compare based on the inherent characteristics of each fabric.

1, pure cotton

Pure cotton is definitely the most common and frequently worn fabric. Whether it is a summer T-shirt, shirt or jeans, it is cheap, comfortable, breathable and durable. It is the first choice for many women for casual wear in summer.

Our common cotton items are all made of short-staple cotton, which is cheap, but cotton is divided into different grades. Some luxury cotton fabrics include long-staple cotton such as Sea Island cotton, Egyptian cotton, and Pima cotton, which can be woven into very thin, high-count fabrics. The glossiness, breathability, and comfort are not inferior to silk, but the prices are very high.

Common pure cotton has good moisture absorption and moisturizing properties, is washable and durable, and is resistant to high temperatures, allowing it to be dyed and processed in various ways. Therefore, there is a wide range of cotton items to choose from. However, its good moisturizing properties make cotton items stick to the skin once they are wetted by sweat, reducing comfort.

Summary of Cotton Fabrics:

Vantaggi: breathable and comfortable, sweat-absorbent and hygienic, durable.

Svantaggi: poor moisture-wicking properties and easy to wrinkle.

2, silk

Silk, known as the “Queen of Fibers”, is a relatively high-end natural fabric. It is not only moisture-absorbent and breathable, comfortable and soft, but also has a high-end luster. It is not sticky and cool, and is a favorite of many women in summer.

Moreover, silk contains 18 kinds of amino acids that are beneficial to the human body. Long-term wearing has a special nourishing effect on the skin, helps skin metabolism, and keeps the skin smooth and moisturized.

Silk has its own unique unit of measurement for fabric thickness: momme. The larger the momme number, the thicker the silk. From this, we can also see that silk is generally very thin, even thin and transparent, so it is very light and ensures comfort when wearing.

Although silk is thin and light, it has a good effect of isolating ultraviolet rays, and its inherent luster makes silk fabric very bright. However, the thinness of silk also makes it the most delicate fabric and not durable.

Silk Fabric Summary:

Vantaggi: The lightest, thinnest and most comfortable, breathable and not sticky, can nourish the skin, and has the effect of isolating ultraviolet rays.

Svantaggi: The most delicate and not durable, easy to wrinkle, shrink, not sun-resistant and easy to fade.

3, pure linen

The main feature of natural linen material is its excellent heat dissipation, which is 19 times that of silk. According to research, wearing linen clothing can reduce the surface temperature of human skin by 3-4 degrees compared to wearing silk and cotton, so it is known as “pure natural air conditioning.”

Moreover, linen has excellent moisture absorption, but even when it gets wet, it does not stick to the skin and can maintain comfort. It also has the effects of anti-radiation, anti-static, anti-bacterial and anti-allergic.

However, linen fibers have no elasticity, so they cannot recover naturally after denaturation, making linen fabrics very easy to wrinkle, forming what we often call “rich pleats”. However, it is precisely this color and the natural and simple characteristics of the fabric that make clothing, especially those processed into ethnic style, very popular among urban people who advocate nature.

Summary of linen fabrics:

Vantaggi: Coolest, breathable and sweat-absorbent, easy to maintain.

Svantaggi: easy to wrinkle and fade.

According to the above analysis, without considering the style, color, thickness of the clothing, and only looking at the fabric itself, we can draw the following conclusions:

In terms of coolness: linen > silk > cotton;
In terms of durability: linen > cotton > silk.

Among the three fabrics, although silk is comfortable and high-end, it is also the most expensive. Linen clothing is also valuable, and its natural and simple feel makes people who love it love it especially, while those who don’t appreciate it think it looks cheap. Therefore, as purely natural fabrics, there is no good or bad among the three. Just choose the one that suits you!