9 Facts About Moisture Wicking Fabrics

We describe many of our best-selling bedding items and pajamas as "moisture-wicking" here at Cool-jams™, but many people don't know exactly what this means. While it's obvious that moisture-wicking fabrics help to control sweat and moisture, it's not exactly well-known how these materials work. Here's everything that you need to know about moisture-wicking fabrics and the ways that they can benefit your sleep quality.

• The phrase "moisture-wicking" refers to the way the fabric is formulated specially to pull sweat away from the skin.
• Unlike traditional fabrics, which soak sweat up and hold it between your skin and your clothing so you feel hot and clammy, moisture-wicking fabrics move sweat away from your skin to the outer surface of the fabric, where it can evaporate. Wicking and absorbing are opposites: a fabric that drinks moisture into the fibre is slow to give it back.
• In addition to pulling sweat away from your skin, moisture-wicking fabrics also allow sweat to evaporate more quickly from the surface of the fabric than traditional fabrics do.
• While moisture-wicking fabrics are common in workout clothing, they're also used in many pajamas, such as the ones from Cool-jams, as well as business casual clothing for people in hot climates.
• Moisture-wicking fabrics are just as beneficial in very cold weather as they are in very hot weather. If you exercise outdoors during the cold winter months, moisture-wicking fabrics prevent hypothermia by allowing sweat to evaporate off of the skin before it freezes or becomes extremely cold.
• Most true moisture-wicking fabrics are built from engineered polyester. Polyester is hydrophobic, so it absorbs almost no water into the fibre itself, and sweat is pushed along the surface of the fabric and out to the air instead of soaking in. Rayon and viscose, including fabrics labelled viscose from bamboo, work the opposite way. They are highly absorbent, so they drink sweat up and hold it, which is why they can feel cool at bedtime and clammy at three in the morning.
• Aside from exercise, moisture-wicking clothing is also very beneficial when it comes to sleeping. If you suffer from hot flashes or night sweats, wearing moisture-wicking pajamas can help you to stay cool and dry and improve your quality of sleep.
• The other important factor in a wicking fabric is its ability to dry rapidly. An effective wicking fabric should not only draw heat and moisture away from the body, but also dry quickly so the wearer never feels the dampness of the fabric.
• Our bamboo bedding is made from viscose derived from bamboo, chosen for its soft, smooth, breathable hand-feel against the skin. It is a different job from our sleepwear: viscose is highly absorbent rather than fast-wicking, so it suits comfort and airflow, while our NightCool sleepwear is the piece engineered to move sweat and dry fast.