Clothes come in various shapes, sizes, materials and are always created for a specific purpose. Usually in the day to day life we do not reflect to much about this, we wear a set of pants, a shirt, some underwear and a pair of shoes as a basic outline in most cultures. We usually focus more on how the clothes look and feel than their actual properties and this is driving a market which floods us with these kind of clothes.
When it comes to outdoors activities, your favourite set of clothes are usually not a good choice to put on. The main material is probably either cotton or polyester, or a combination of the two. Cotton easily absorbs water and is poor at regulating heat, polyester is a type of plastic and its absorption ability is thus very low and it has no heat regulation capability.
A functional t-shirt made out of polyester is good at moving sweat from our bodies but if we then cover it with a cotton fabric it means we will soak the cotton if we are physically active which almost always is the case when being outdoors.
This then will mean that we will get wet, a lot. If it is a warm summer day it might work out fine as the sun will dry the cotton but it will drive the dehydration of our body. If its cold it can spell disaster as the wet fabric will cool down from the air around us, our bodies will then start to cool down and we will start to freeze.
To be able to regulate the temperature in our bodies and prevent excessive sweating or freezing as an example of extremes. It is important we understand how the clothes we wear function and how we can use them, to find a balanced body temperature.
How we do this is by knowing the properties of the materials we are using and how to layer them correctly to find this balance.
Materials
Wool
Wool is gathered from animals such as sheep or goats and been woven into textiles since ancient times. It has several useful qualities that make it ideal for outdoor activities and it is by far the most useful material in this area.
Wool is able to absorb up to one-third of its own weight in water, it is dirt and smell resistant, flame resistant, slow burning and self-extinguishing, it impedes heat transfer and because of its bulky nature contains quite a lot of air which makes it heat retaining.
On the backside wool is difficult to wash, expensive and most importantly it is usually quite heavy.
Depending on how it is woven and what layer it is used in, wool can be used as the prime material for almost anything. For example wool socks to keep you warm in the winter, to clothes to keep you cool in a desert. Because of this wool is the primary material for the uniforms of many occupations that risk being in contact with fire such as firefighters.
From an outdoors perspective, wool is the most useful when you need a warming middle layer. Socks, undergarment and sweaters such as jerseys are great examples of where wool is a good material to look for. Usually these can be found in a mixture of materials to give them more balanced properties but as long as the main material is wool, you should be good to go.
Wool blankets and also whole sheep skins are other useful things to keep an eye out for. A large wool blanket rolled up in the trunk of the car or strapped to your backpack is never wrong, it can many times replace the need for tents and sleeping bags. Sheep skins are great for extra insulation when sitting or sleeping on cold surfaces and goes great as insulation in a hammock.
Cotton
Cotton is gathered from the cotton plant and is the most common natural textile and second most common textile material in the world.
It is cheap, easy to clean, soft and holds no air making it a cool fabric when dry. On the backside it tears easily once damaged, absorbs almost no water making it quickly become wet, it dries slowly and it easily absorbs dirt.
Cotton is found in all kinds of clothes and in various mixes with other materials. Cheap cloth is usually made mostly out of a mix of cotton and polyester. This keeps production costs down while sacrificing material properties.
From an outdoors perspective, cotton is a good material when used as light outer layers for slow days. It serves well in mixtures when used as pants or jackets, often then mixed with other materials such as polyester. Cotton is not recommended as your inner or middle layer because of its poor water absorption and transportation function.
Linen
Linen fibre is gathered from the flax plant and woven into textiles. It is quite uncommon in modern day clothes because of the cost of making, but was before the industrialization the most common fabric for clothes.
Linen is strong, feels cool to the touch and is good at absorbing water. It is a easy material to handle as it is stain resistant, heat resistant and a low tendency to shift in size.
Clothes from linen will usually be found only as handcrafted items today and then usually as summer clothes. A tunic made of linen is the most common modern cloth and linen is otherwise mostly found in kitchen towels, napkins, table clothes etc. Linen is great though to make your own clothes and serves well as an outer layer if sewn correctly.
Polyester
Polyester is gathering of chemical substances that can be both naturally occurring or synthetic, where synthetic is the most common. There is many applications of polyester in the world, one of them being textiles where the material is made into threads and then woven into fabrics. Polyester has become one of the most common textile fabrics in the world, replacing other materials such as wool and linen.
Depending on the chemical composition, weave techniques and mixture with other materials polyester will provide different attributes to the textile. Polyester have a very low water absorption ability, it is flexible but rigid in that it do not wrinkle or change shape. It is highly sensitive to heat, which is why it should never be washed or dried in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. It is highly flammable if not treated to be flame resistant and melts quickly once on fire.
The most common application in outdoor clothes for polyester is either as undergarments where it serves to quickly transport sweat from the body, to trousers and jackets where they instead give a though and with the correct treatment wind and waterproof membrane.
Polar fleece
Polar fleece or just as it is commonly known as fleece, while being a sub category of polyester is good to mention a bit about. It was developed as a light weight replacement for wool and should be considered as such.
It shares the characteristics of wool in that it is bulky and thus contains a lot of air. The air then is easily able to be heated by body temperature. Otherwise it shares the same properties as normal polyester. Of note is that it burns even easier than normal polyester (because of the air in it) so be very careful around fires if you got fleece on you.
Fleece is a good middle layer materials, especially if used in a low intensity activity. As it don’t absorb sweat it instead easily get wet if there is a waterproof layer on top of it. It dries quickly though once in the air.
Nylon
Nylon is made out of polyamide, another synthetic material than polyester. It is a very strong material that depending on thickness can be used for almost anything It is often used in textiles for its elasticity, most sought for in clothes such as underwear, pants and trousers that need to be flexible but though. If it is not mixed with any other material nylon is waterproof and can often be found used for ponchos and rain garments.
Its most common application for outdoors activities is in ropes and camping gear. A nylon rope will flex when pulled and will stretch long before it breaks, making it a primary component in para cords and parachutes cloth that for example is used for most hammocks.
Leather
Leather is originally cured skin of an animal but could also be faked using various organic and synthetic polyester combinations. For real leather which we will cover here, depending on how it was cured and what animal it came from it will have different properties and uses.
All leather require proper care to not dry out and break. Leather must be treated with leather fat regularly and if used for boots or shoes also covered with a layer of polish to protect the leather.
Leather when treated correctly can be both water and flameproof while very resistant to wear and tear, making it ideal for boots, shoes, gloves, belts and cords.
Fur
Fur are either from the treated hide of an animal that been skinned or manufactured as a fake fur that is stitched togheter either using animal hair or more commonly acrylic polymers.
Both real and fake fur share many of the properties of wool, but is generally used as a extra isolation and comfort layer on jackets, hats and gloves. Fake fur will generally be slightly less efficient in absorbing body heat but for most people this is not noticeable.
For outdoor activities in very low temperatures fur is a great material to provide extra isolation and it is most commonly found in winter gear.
Multilayer principle
The multilayer principle is based on wrapping ourselves in several different functional layers to create the required effects we wish for. The principle is based on four layers: Inner layer, middle layer, outer layer and strengthening layer.
Inner layer
The inner layer consists of all the clothes that are touching our skin, the underwear. Depending on season and weather the amount of underwear changes but usually for a field day or weekend in the darker half of the year a full set of body underwear is good to have.
Make sure the underwear is made out of a water transporting material, that is it is poor at absorbing water. This will ensure that when you sweat it will be transported away from your body, cooling your body in the process and keeping your skin dry.
Middle layer
The middle layer is for heat retention and comes after the inner layer. This is the layer that is most important to keep in mind to adjust depending on what activity you are going to do outdoors and for what weather and season.
- For low physical activity a middle layer mainly of fleece is good as it is poor at absorbing water without becoming wet.
- For medium physical activities where you will need to move around, wool is better as it will absorb water without becoming wet and even when wet it will actually produce some heat.
- For high physical activities the middle layer should either be wool or non at all depending on how much sweet that will be produced.
Remember to manage your middle layer and especially if it could get cold outside. A warm sunny day might be fine while wet but when night comes and the temperature drops you better be dry. Make sure that your middle layer can ventilate through your outer layer, if not open up the outer layer regularly to let out the water and excessive heat.
Outer layer
The other layer is your jacket, trousers, hat, gloves and boots. Everything that is directly exposed to the forces of nature. Strive for having an outer layer that breathes well while still stopping light rain and wind, with focus on it being though and rugged. Being outdoors means sometimes getting dirty and wet, scrapping against rocks, trees or bushes as well as climbing and falling. The most common thing is sitting on rough things though, everything from rocks to tree trunks.
Many clothes designed for outdoor activities come with extra strong seems, re-enforced knees, sleeves and patches where strain is higher. They usually also offer more flexible areas as the backside of the knees, crotch and but area.
Many come in two layers, giving both a protective other layer while offering a range from small form of isolation in a spring jacket to full scale double jacket isolation for winter.
Protection layer
The final layer is the protection layer. This is probably where most try to save in or try to combine their other layer with properties from the protection layer. Which is generally a bad idea.
The protection layer consist of several kinds of different layers, all depending on what is needed. A set of proper water- and wind-proof rain cloth is the most needed and most skipped. Many instead go for extra isolation in their outer layer which results in inability to adjust that layer, often isolating moist and heat to much and causing overheating and over sweating.
Other examples is a warm jacket, camouflage layer, winter gear or signal clothes.
Recommended layers per seasons
The Vikings recommend the basic gear for each season in a temperate climate as follows:
Winter
During winter when being outdoors we are often the most challenged. Wind, rain, snow and low temperatures. If you live far north you hardly see any sun as well. So when going outdoors make sure you won’t freeze.
- Inner layer: Polyester and wool mixed full body underwear. The colder it is, the more % of wool. Extra wool socks on top of your normal ones. Make sure you bring a spare in your backpack!
- Middle layer: Wool shirt. It will keep you warm even if you get wet. If you are going to walk far or do some heavy work, take off the middle layer first. Make sure you bring a spare in your backpack!
- Outer layer:
- Polyester and nylon mixed jacket and trousers. The important part here is that they should breath, that is let air through. Make sure you bring a spare in your backpack!
- Leather boots with a sole that good a good grip, at least one size larger than your normal size so you can fit two pairs of socks which one is your wool socks in them. You must still be able to wiggle your toes in there, otherwise they are to tight and the air will not be able to isolate your body heat. Make sure you bring a spare in your backpack!
- Thin gloves made out of polyester that can work with fine details and grips, with an thicker glove above to protect from water and air. Make sure you bring a spare in your backpack!
- A hat that is warm and covers the ears. If it gets to hot take it of for a few minutes. Make sure you bring a spare in your backpack!
- Protective layer: If it is very cold, bring an extra warm jacket. Big enough to fit over your other jacket.
Spring/Fall
In spring and fall the weather offers roughly the same difficulties, it usually rains more than snow, it is windy and we are either trying to adapt from winter or from summer. This usually mean we are either to heavily clothed or to poor depending on if it is spring or fall.
- Inner layer: Polyester underwear and socks, it will keep you dry and that is the important part. Bring a spare set.
- Middle layer: A fleece sweeter, stuffed in the backpack for when it gets dark. Bring a spare set.
- Outer layer:
- Polyester and nylon mixed jacket and trousers. The important part here is that they should breath, that is let air through.
- Good boots, in spring and fall the ground is wet.
- Polyester gloves that protect your hands from water and wind. Bring a spare set.
- A warm hat to put on when the sun goes down.
- Protective layer: Rain clothes
Summer
In summer when being outdoors the heat is the most common challenger, followed by bugs and long days. Make sure you have a spare set of clothes in case you sweet through the ordinary one.
- Inner layer: Polyester underwear and socks, it will keep you dry and that is the important thing. Bring a spare set.
- Middle layer: A light polyester shirt with long arms, to protect you from bugs and stuff when you don’t have your jacket on. Bring a spare.
- Outer layer:
- Cotton or linen jacket. They are to protect you from the sun and keep the heat away.
- Good boots or shoes that breath, in summer wet feet is a problem.
- A hat or baseball cap to protect from the sun
Protective layer: Rain clothes, never know when it rains and the outer layer is geared towards heat protection.