With the lighter evenings, barbecues, beach days, and so much more, who doesn’t love summer? Everyone’s mood seems to lift when the summer weather comes along, and there’s almost no downside to the middle months of the year - unless it gets too hot.
When the mercury begins to creep up, hemp comes into its own as a fabric. While many people update their summer wardrobe every year with white cotton t-shirts and khaki shorts, hemp is the sustainable fabric we should all begin to look to as we dress to keep the heat at bay.
There are few things worse than walking around in the height of summer, baking in the heat and feeling your clothes stick to your skin with sweat. This usually always happens as a consequence of dressing in the wrong fabrics. Many people barely give thought to materials when dressing for warmer climates They will simply opt for something flimsy with short sleeves, but what we wear in the heat is a decision that bears careful consideration. Popular materials such as polyester trap and hold the heat against your skin, causing you to overheat and creating the dreaded excess perspiration. Hemp garments don’t do that.
There’s an antiquated idea of hemp products. They’re thick, itchy, and insulating (but in a bad way). It may be eco-friendly and made with sustainability in mind - but wearing clothes made from hemp plants is no good for the summer. Locking heat in and making life a sticky nightmare for people with sensitive skin.
Well, between you and me, that’s bullshit. The very opposite is true. Perhaps the fashion industry as we know it today has a reason to spread such disinformation. You wearing your tinfoil hat?
How Hemp Works To Keep You Cool
Made from the natural fibers of the cannabis sativa plant, hemp’s thermoregulating properties begin at the fibrous level. Hemp fibres themselves are a hollow structure, allowing a greater natural airflow which assists in cooling the skin while wearing. It can also help regulate your body temperature, so the fibre works with your body instead of against it. Imagine yourself smugly walking by hordes of melting sun-worshippers in their polyester cotton tees, knowing you’re the coolest person around in every sense of the word.
Hemp fabric lets moisture from the body evaporate instead of trapping it. It can hold up to three times its weight in water, so it pulls any moisture (sweat, for example) away from the skin to the outer edges of the fabric, meaning you stay drier and more comfortable throughout the day. Conversely, cotton is a breathable fabric, but even organic cotton absorbs moisture and will do little to keep you dry. Anything that helps arrest those dreaded damp patches under the arms is a wise investment!
Hemp T-Shirts Won't Cause A Stink
As a double layer of protection against summertime sweats, this natural fibre also boasts antimicrobial properties, meaning it’s naturally resistant to bacteria. This means your THTC threads can fend off mould and mildew that can accumulate on fabrics in hot and humid weather. Not only can it help prevent the build-up of moisture, but it can also prevent the build-up of odours. Look good, feel good, and smell good? That’s the holy trinity of habiliment!
But the benefits of hemp clothing continue to stack up.
Hemp Can Keep You Safe In The Heat
We all know the importance of wearing sun block to protect our delicate skin from the sun’s harmful UV rays. This has become a greater priority than ever in some parts of the world as a result of climate change. Without adequate protection, UV rays can cause damage to the DNA in skin cells, producing genetic defects.
A quick search on skincancer.org will reveal over 5 million new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year in the US alone, with the primary cause being ultraviolet rays. In the UK, there are around 180,000 new diagnoses per year. Our awareness of the damage the sun’s rays can cause is more acute than ever, and we owe it to ourselves and our families to prioritise UV light protection.
Its unique ability to protect the wearer from UVA and UVB rays sets hemp apart from other fabrics. Studies carried out by SGS Testing showed hemp fiber to be 99.9% effective in blocking out UV-A and UV-B rays – even when wet - putting hemp at the top of the pile for UV-resistant fabrics. By contrast, cotton was shown to be 50.9% less effective than hemp in blocking UV rays. That statistic alone should shut down the theory of donning your best cottons on a summer’s day.
When The Heat Is On, Wear Hemp
A quick scan of the label on many t-shirts today will show them to be a blend of polyester and cotton. While cotton is a breathable fabric, polyester is not. And while polyester has semi-respectable moisture-wicking properties, cotton does not.
This means that when you buy traditional poly-cotton blend t-shits, you get the best properties of both fabrics to some degree and the worst properties of each in some measure. For sustainable fashion that’s the best-performing fabric in hot summer weather, it’s hard to see past hemp.
More than just a workhorse fabric, hemp is comfortable, durable, and, thanks to THTC, sophisticated, contemporary, and the last word in sleek urban styling. For the best summer t-shirts, choose hemp clothing. For the best hemp clothing, checkout THTC.
