Playing tourist can be
hard work, especially in the hot sun where you
are going to break a sweat! Who wants to spend
the entire day feeling wet and sweaty?
To help keep you
comfortable and dry on your trip, consider
clothing made using Moisture Wicking Technology
fabric. This fabric is most
commonly used in workout clothing and sportswear
but is now readily available in travel and trail
clothing. Moisture wicking material is designed
to pull moisture away from your skin and draws
the sweat and perspiration out to the exterior
of the fabric, helping your feel dry and
comfortable. It is a lot easier for moisture to
evaporate from the surface of the fabric rather
than when it’s trapped between your clothing and
your skin.
In hot conditions, trapped moisture may heat up
and lead to fatigue or diminished performance.
In cold conditions, trapped moisture will drop
in temperature and cause chilling and
hypothermia. Excess moisture may also cause the
apparel to become heavy, as well as cause damage
to the skin from chafing. The importance of this
material is to make sure you are as comfortable
as possible given any type of weather situation.
The transfer of moisture happens due to
capillary action, sometimes called wicking. In
clothing, the spaces between the fibers
effectively form tubes, acting as capillaries to
transport the liquid away from the surface. As a
rule, the narrower the spaces between the fibers
in a fabric, the more effectively they will draw
up moisture. For this reason, fabrics with many
narrow capillaries, such as microfibers, are
ideal for moisture transport. This action
prevents perspiration from remaining next to the
skin.
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