The article makes a lot of mistakes, because I don’t think that the author actually cares about textiles at all.
Cotton is not comparable to wool at all. Full stop. If you wear wool for technical reasons–like, because you want to stay warm–then you need to know that cotton will kill you, as will all cellulose fibers that aren’t treated to be hydrophobic. Petroleum-based fibers like polyesters, nylons, etc., do not wet the same way that cotton does, but also don’t keep you warm in the same way that wool will. Wool is the gold-standard for cold-weather outdoor apparel.
Tencel–which is a type of rayon–is considerably weaker than cotton when it gets wet. The process for making rayon is usually–but not always–a very polluting open-loop system. There are closed-loop systems, but they weren’t in common use as of 2010.
Leather is irreplaceable as a protective material. Synthetic leathers lack the abrasion resistance and/or heat resistance of leather. Compare a pair of high-quality leather boots to the highest quality non-leather boots; leather will last decades longer. So you can’t compare on a per unit basis; you need to compare them based on practical lifetime costs. In regards to certain protective apparel–such as motorcycle gear–textile jackets simply do not provide the same level of repeatable protection as leather. If you ride your bike on a track, you will be required to wear leather.
The fake leather thing is real. It’s why you can reuse a leather jacket after a motorcycle crash, but not a textile one. Leather also slides better, and sliding gently to a stop after a motorcycle crash can really save you.
Can’t you / shouldn’t you be wearing a rain coat or outer shell if you think you might get wet?
I get there are some situations where its impossible to keep underlayers dry, like if your on a boat or Backcountry camping, but for the majority of people and situations some layers of cotton or synthetic under a shell should be fine.
Rule #1 of cold weather survival: You sweat, you die.
Wool isn’t going to save you. Taking off layers will. If it’s raining, wool won’t protect you any more than cotton will because neither are water-resistant. Lol.
So sad this needs to be spelled out for ya’ll, but the voting snowball effect has already taken hold.
Now we have like 10+ who legitimately believe wool will save you in a cold, wet environment where cotton wouldn’t.
wool fibers are able to accumulate the moisture (from sweat or small rain) fully in the central part (cortex) and simultaneously keep the hydrophobic surface shelves dry, thus offering relative high thermal resistance and dry (warm) contact feeling even with 30–40% moisture in the fabrics
thermal comfort properties of wool fibers and wool fabrics cannot be found in cotton and viscose fabrics, (Oglakcioglu and Marmarali 2010) where the deterioration of their thermal comfort properties with the increasing relative moisture is much stronger and quicker than in the studied woolen fabrics samples. Thus, even in case of wool and wool/PES fabrics subject to some antifelting treatment, like in our case, the thermal comfort properties of the investigated samples exhibited relatively slow decrease of their thermal resistance and relatively slow increase of their thermal contact feeling, when the relative moisture content increases. That is why the woolen fabrics belong to the most comfortable and valuable commercial textile products.
“Warmer than cotton” is not the same as “warm” lol. That’s what I’m trying to get through the people who think that if it’s cold and wet enough cotton can’t protect you when wool can.
If it’s cold and wet enough that you’re going to freeze wearing cotton, you will also freeze wearing wool.
The entire population in the Nordics had an inexplicable tick when you wrote that. Maybe not act all confident about a topic you clearly have no knowledge of?
The article makes a lot of mistakes, because I don’t think that the author actually cares about textiles at all.
Cotton is not comparable to wool at all. Full stop. If you wear wool for technical reasons–like, because you want to stay warm–then you need to know that cotton will kill you, as will all cellulose fibers that aren’t treated to be hydrophobic. Petroleum-based fibers like polyesters, nylons, etc., do not wet the same way that cotton does, but also don’t keep you warm in the same way that wool will. Wool is the gold-standard for cold-weather outdoor apparel.
Tencel–which is a type of rayon–is considerably weaker than cotton when it gets wet. The process for making rayon is usually–but not always–a very polluting open-loop system. There are closed-loop systems, but they weren’t in common use as of 2010.
Leather is irreplaceable as a protective material. Synthetic leathers lack the abrasion resistance and/or heat resistance of leather. Compare a pair of high-quality leather boots to the highest quality non-leather boots; leather will last decades longer. So you can’t compare on a per unit basis; you need to compare them based on practical lifetime costs. In regards to certain protective apparel–such as motorcycle gear–textile jackets simply do not provide the same level of repeatable protection as leather. If you ride your bike on a track, you will be required to wear leather.
The fake leather thing is real. It’s why you can reuse a leather jacket after a motorcycle crash, but not a textile one. Leather also slides better, and sliding gently to a stop after a motorcycle crash can really save you.
In what way is cotton killing people?
Wet cotton will freeze someone to death, wet wool will still keep you warm.
Can’t you / shouldn’t you be wearing a rain coat or outer shell if you think you might get wet?
I get there are some situations where its impossible to keep underlayers dry, like if your on a boat or Backcountry camping, but for the majority of people and situations some layers of cotton or synthetic under a shell should be fine.
perspiration. Sweat will sap heat just as fast as water if you’re wearing cotton
If you over exert yourself and sweat cotton underlayers are useless.
Rule #1 of cold weather survival: You sweat, you die.
Wool isn’t going to save you. Taking off layers will. If it’s raining, wool won’t protect you any more than cotton will because neither are water-resistant. Lol.
So sad this needs to be spelled out for ya’ll, but the voting snowball effect has already taken hold.
Now we have like 10+ who legitimately believe wool will save you in a cold, wet environment where cotton wouldn’t.
Laughable.
Hey look, someone studied it!
It’s totally possible that I’m too dumb to understand a scientific paper, but it sure looks like you’re a dumbass.
So… can you quote anything from it that proves your point? Or do you just link to studies and have other people read them for you?
Lol.
Sure, lazy ass.
Yes, you should.
The idea that wool will “keep you warm when it’s wet and cold” is such a crock of shit I’m surprised it’s getting upvoted like it does.
Wool will keep you warmer than cotton when it’s wet and cold. As usual, shades of grey get lost in the discussion.
“Warmer than cotton” is not the same as “warm” lol. That’s what I’m trying to get through the people who think that if it’s cold and wet enough cotton can’t protect you when wool can.
That’s just malarkey.
Bullshit, 100%.
If it’s cold and wet enough that you’re going to freeze wearing cotton, you will also freeze wearing wool.
Wool doesn’t repel water. Water passes right through it onto, guess what, you.
The entire population in the Nordics had an inexplicable tick when you wrote that. Maybe not act all confident about a topic you clearly have no knowledge of?
Wool keeps you warm even when it becomes wet, facts don’t care about your feelings.