You either love summer or hate summer, and it usually comes down to how well you handle the heat. Summer is a perfect season for brands to capitalize on, thanks to its numerous holidays and special occasions, but it’s also a challenge to work a collection around comfortably. You’d want your summer collection to be stylish but comfortable, focusing on breathability, heat resistance, and texture. So, what are the best fabrics for summer heat you can work with?
Best Fabrics for Summer Heat
Since our home base in Singapore gets pretty hot this time of year, we have a solid understanding of some of the best cooling fabrics in the industry. Here are some of our recommendations as experienced textile and fabric merchandisers:
Fabrics for Summer
Cotton
Nothing beats the classics. Cotton is a natural fiber fabric that’s usually very light and breathable, with undoubtedly the most versatility to work with in terms of apparel creation. It sports a naturally soft texture and can be made thinner for extra cooling.
You may hear about cotton being recommended during the winter as well thanks to its insulating properties, which is true, and which is why thicker cotton isn’t recommended for the summer. However, its affordability and sheer flexibility in garment creation still makes it a nice fabric to recommend. That’s why around 75% of all the world’s fabrics (yes, all) contain some form of cotton, especially in its best blends with synthetic fibers like polyester.
If you’re looking to maximize your collection’s cooling abilities, though, you can definitely consider your next option:
Linen
When it comes to hot weather, not much is going to beat linen in terms of keeping your customers from overheating. This natural fiber fabric is sewn from flax, which gives it a few unique traits like low levels of moisture absorption, leading to a quick drying surface (bye-bye sweat stains), light construction that allows wind and air to cool and pass through, and anti-microbial properties.
It’s also a favorite fabric in eco-sustainability circles. Linen lasts for quite a long time, and when washed correctly, can even get stronger as time goes on.
That being said, linen is often the higher-priced option compared to cotton and comes with a few caveats. It’s not as soft as cotton (might even feel a bit rough without a few washes!) and wrinkles easily.
Rayon
Most famously known as an artificial alternative to silk, rayon has many underrated benefits that make it one of the surprisingly nice fabrics for summer. This semi-synthetic fiber is made from a mix of plant-based cellulose (think bamboo and trees), giving it unique properties you won’t find in other choices. Among them are incredible softness, anti-wrinkle nature, glimmering surface, and, most importantly, breathability against hot weather.
All that being said, rayon comes with a few considerations, chief among them being its sensitivity. It’s the opposite of linen when it comes to washing–where linen may get stronger and tighter with continuous washes, rayon gets weaker and can shrink, especially in a warm wash.
Certain rayon types, like viscose rayon, can also be more fragile compared to modal or canvas rayon. Be sure to double-check what rayon type you’d like to work with before working it into your next collection.
Chambray
While jeans are popular all year round, even in the summer, denim’s thickness and insulating properties make it less ideal in hot weather. If you want to add a similar denim look to your collection, consider the lighter and airier chambray, denim’s slightly lesser-appreciated sibling and one of the more unique fabrics for summer.
They’re both usually made of cotton (though chambray has been made with linen and silk in the past), but chambray is woven looser to create more space between threads and allow more breathability. You can see the difference by comparing the compact threads of denim and the winding, methodical but relaxed patterns of chambray.
Chambray has a lot of the same pros and cons as cotton, though it also shows off an interesting denim-like look with a unique shimmer on the surface. It’s a great fabric to play around with as a designer and brand owner.
Jersey
A lot of great athletic fabrics are also great fabrics for summer, and jersey is no exception. This knitted fabric can be made with a variety of materials, usually wool and/or cotton, and it’s notably very airy and light despite its tight construction. It’s normally wool material also makes it quite soft on the skin.
It might be a little hard to believe that this fabric was once popularized by Coco Chanel (yes, that one) on the runway, since it’s more popularly used now as the definitive ‘everyday comfort’ material. We do have to thank Chanel for her contribution, since jersey introduces something new to the summer roster–stretchiness. Jersey blends are crazy flexible, which is probably why they’re so popular in sports like basketball or soccer.
Dri-fit
Want something that’ll really knock your customer’s socks off this year? If you’re looking for a truly premium fabric for the summer heat, Dri-Fit is definitely one of your best options.
This fabric was first designed by Nike to combat many of the common ailments runners and athletes feel during the heat of the summer. Its polyester blend construction allows it to repel sweat, fight UV rays, and fit your body perfectly–all with an incredibly lightweight feel. It’s a near-miraculous fabric, though it comes at a significant price point.
Summer is one of the perfect opportunities to boost your clothing brand this year, with some studies reporting that hotter weather in summer increases apparel sales by over 20%. You can’t miss out on this opportunity, and picking the best fabric for the summer heat is essential for your brand’s next collection.
Looking for more fabrics to choose from for your summer collection? Check out our lookbook and selections at Shirtual. Our base in Singapore gives us a unique understanding of making the best merchandise and apparel to combat the heat, and our brand experience allows us to manage everything from manufacturing, supply chains, and logistics for your apparel brand (especially in these times).
Book a meeting with us now–consultations are free!
