For being outdoors, whether you are out hunting or for many individuals when camping, there are many things to understand about heat-retaining clothing. It isn’t just to keep you warm in all weather conditions and to be comfortable when wearing. You must understand what material provides warmth even when wet.
Once you are wet, you can find your body heat plummets, and depending on the clothes you wear, you can find these to help you get colder, as they don’t offer any wicking capabilities. If you plan on camping, hunting, or even kayaking once the rainy season or cold weather starts to hit, you need to be asking: “What material keeps you warmest even when wet?”
In this guide, you can learn more about what sounds impossible. You can find materials work in specific ways, and your dress impacts how comfortable you feel. By the end, you’ll not just find the best material to keep you warm when you’re wet but also the effects of layering and how that can protect you from the weather outside, regardless of whether you’re camping or deep in the middle of winter hunting.
What Material Keeps You Warm When Wet?
It is good to understand what materials do and how they react to getting wet. Here, you can find a breakdown of most materials used in camping or hunting gear.
Cotton: Cotton is lightweight, breathable, and comfortable. However, it possesses no “wicking” abilities and actually absorbs and stays wet and heavy. Avoid jeans, t-shirts, socks, or thermal underwear made from cotton in any wet conditions.
Down: Duck or Goose Down is the best insulator. It is very lightweight, compresses well, and can last longer than most other materials. Down is, unfortunately, expensive and useless once it gets wet. It can take an eon to dry and offers no insulation until it does.
Fleece: Fleece is a synthetic material made from polyester in most cases. It offers the same insulation as wool offers yet weighs half as much. It is thin, easy to wash, and can last many years. You’ll find it offers great breathability and dries fast, so it is perfect for sweat-producing activities. The downside with fleece is that they are not good for stopping wind, making it a better insulating layer than an outer layer.
Nylon: Another synthetic material that is tightly woven and then coated in urethane to make it waterproof. Such clothing can be very thin and perfect for an outer shell layer such as a rain jacket. It can repel water yet also make you sweat.
Polyester or Polypropylene: Another man-made material that comprises woven strands of thin plastic. It offers great wicking properties making it suited as the base layer material.
Wool: Wool offers many properties. When oiled and tightly woven, it can be waterproof and a fantastic insulator even when wet.
Wool possesses natural wicking abilities and can last forever when cared for. Wool is the overall essential cold-weather material when coupled with layers of polyester. A wool sweater, for example, will absorb moisture, yet it can still keep you feeling warm.
Wool has the natural ability to trap any warm-air layer next to your skin. You can often find it used to make hats and socks, and other clothing. However, wool tends to itch and takes a long time to dry once wet.
What Is the Hunter’s Most Important Item Of Clothing?
An orange waistcoat is often touted as being the most important item of clothing when hunting. However, hunters, like campers, need to think about their clothing. It can be very easy to get cold, wet, and miserable. The effects of this could be shivering, so there’s no chance of sighting your next prey.
The correct hunting clothing has to keep you warm but causes no restrictions. Layering can be vital as you may need to shed layers if it gets warm and raise your gun or bow. Since you will most often be out in the middle of winter, layers of loose-fitting wool and polyester are advisable.
Avoid cotton, as wet cotton clings to your skin and can drain your body heat faster. Much is the same for a backpacker who wears cotton under their backpack. Cotton may feel good to wear initially, but you’ll be glad to remove it once you are wet or sweating.
What Is the Best Material To Keep You Warm?
Wool is the best by a country mile. It wicks moisture from the skin faster and better than other fabrics, including fleece. It’s fantastic at trapping warm, dry air and is very comfortable. Fleece fiber was made as one of the new fabric insulators to follow from silk, wool, or cotton, yet the fabric can’t compete out and out with wool clothing when the weather gets tough.
Fleece, like other fabrics or materials, may not offer warmth when you are in wet weather. Of all insulating materials, you can ask which material provides warmth even when wet, and you’ll come up with wool. Wool is a fiber you get from sheep, and for thousands of years, has been used to make rugs, blankets, and everything in between. Wool can keep you warm on cold days yet help keep you cool on warm days.
What Is The True Statement About Dressing Layers?
Layers offer the best insulation method, and the definition of dress in layers is to wear several items of clothing on top of one another. So, when the weather is cold, it is best to dress in layers.
You will find layers that help to keep warmth in wet weather, and much more besides. Once you feel wet, you’ll feel colder than you are, especially if wearing a fleece in windy conditions. One fabric to fight against the elements for any hunter or camper, regardless of the weather, is wool.
Wool fabric can wick moisture away from the body and offer warmth transfer, and the fiber construction is comfortable to wear. Many campers, hikers, or hunters don’t often know that wool is also fire resistant, so it can help with personal safety when in the great outdoors.
