When a runner is out on the road, they face a variety of factors that can negatively impact their experience. These include sweat, body odors, and blisters.
Breathable fabrics help keep runner cool, comfortable, and focused on their performance. This is why breathable clothing has become necessary for runners of all levels and disciplines.
Moisture-Wicking Fabrics
Sweat is drawn from the skin and transferred to the surface of your exercise clothes by moisture-wicking textiles, which can dissipate faster. This process helps your body keep a healthy temperature balance and is vital to your performance and comfort throughout your workouts.
While many fabric types can wick moisture, the best moisture-wicking materials are engineered or treated to provide this feature on a large scale and for longterm performance. The wicking process relies on capillary action, which is the movement of liquid through tiny spaces in a fabric caused by molecular forces. Fabrics can be designed to support this process by selecting a particular type of yarn, using a specific weave pattern, or treating the yarn with a unique chemical finish. For more detailed information on advanced moisture-wicking fabrics, click here to explore their design and functionality intricacies.
Whether you choose polyester, spandex, or another synthetic or natural fiber, the most effective wicking fabrics are constructed with fine yarns and large spaces between them to aid this capillary action. Additionally, they are often woven or knitted with a combination of hydrophobic (water-hating) and hydrophilic (water-loving) fibers to ensure consistent wicking throughout the lifetime of your clothing.
Wicking materials are excellent at removing moisture from the body, but they also need to breathe to let air flow freely and avoid overheating. The evaporation of sweat is critical to your comfort because it reduces the feeling of dampness, stickiness, and odors.
Compression Clothing
Compression garments are unique items that provide significant mechanical pressure to the surface of required body zones using elastomeric fibers and yarns to stabilize, compress, and support underlying tissues. They are commonly utilized in medical applications as compression stockings, bandages, sleeves, gloves, and face masks. They are also being used for general athletic and body-shaping apparel purposes.
The idea behind compression clothing is that it boosts muscle performance by promoting improved blood circulation to working muscles. This is supposed to increase the oxygen supply to the muscles and speed up the removal of metabolic waste like lactic acid.
It is essential to remember that the benefits of compression clothing largely depend on the individual athlete. A compression garment may hit the right pressure point on one person but miss entirely it on another, so a trial-and-error approach may be necessary to determine what works best for you.
There are several types of compression clothing, but the most common are compression tights and calf sleeves, which boost circulation to help limit muscle vibrations that lead to soreness and fatigue during exercise. Other compression garments include tops that help adjust posture and open the chest area for efficient movement, especially when running. In addition, full-length compression tights and pants cover the entire leg to improve circulation throughout the body.
Bamboo Fabrics
Bamboo fabrics have become popular recently because they offer high-quality performance, comfort, and style. Unlike synthetic fabric, which often requires several chemicals to have the desired properties, bamboo fibers are naturally moisture-wicking and have antibacterial and antifungal elements that help keep skin fresh and dry.
In addition, bamboo fabrics are incredibly breathable, making them more comfortable during hot weather or while hiking on steep trails. They also have impressive temperature-regulating capabilities that adapt to changing weather conditions, keeping you cooler and drier in warm and humid environments and warmer and drier in colder and drier conditions.
The sustainability of bamboo is another factor that has many consumers interested in it, as this plant proliferates and requires less water and fertilizer to grow compared with other crops. Additionally, it is believed to have carbon-sequestering powers.
However, it’s important to note that most clothing marketed as bamboo uses bamboo rayon (also known as viscose) and has been heavily processed with chemical treatments until there is no trace of the natural material left. As a result, it’s best to stick with brands that have the highest level of transparency about their fabric materials and production processes.
One exception is a particular kind of bamboo cellulose fabric that recovers and repurposes 99 percent of the chemicals used in its production through a closedloop method. It’s typically made from more sustainably farmed eucalyptus trees, though it can also be produced using bamboo cellulose.
Blends of Synthetic and Natural Fibers
Fabric blends combine the inherent qualities of different fibers to produce a new material that satisfies specific needs. For example, natural fibers are soft, breathable, absorbent, and biodegradable, while synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon, and acrylic are stretchy, durable, and fast-drying. Blends can be made with any two types of fiber, and various materials are available to meet specific fashion or performance requirements.
Blended fabrics also allow for more design creativity, as combining different fibers can create unique textures, sheens, and drapes that may not be possible with a single type of fabric. In addition, blending can reduce the cost of a fabric by using cheaper natural fibers and more expensive synthetic fibers in the same garment.
The combination of natural and synthetic fibers also improves the durability of a fabric. Although delicate natural fibers like wool and silk are prone to damage, combining them with more robust synthetic materials like polyester results in a more resilient fabric to abrasion and wear.
Another benefit of blended fabrics is that they are often easier to care for than 100% cotton. For example, a cotton/polyester blend is more wrinkleresistant and can be washed at a higher temperature than pure cotton fabric. This is especially important for running clothes, as the fabrics must transport moisture away from the body and dry quickly.
