Sun Protective Clothing: What is it and How Does it Work

If you spend a great deal of time outdoors and you are worried about getting a sunburn or otherwise harming your skin from too much sun exposure, you might be interested in sun protective clothing. Sun protective clothing is a special type of clothing made from fabric that provides protection from ultraviolet rays.

There are a couple different ways that clothing can be made to provide ultraviolet protection. One method has to do with the type of weave used to make the clothing. By achieving a certain thread count per inch ration, the clothing will provide an extra level of UV protection. In addition to the weave used to make the fabric, clothing can also be treated with special ingredients that help to block out UV rays.

Although some clothing is made specifically to provide special UV protection, all clothing can provide a certain amount of protection. In fact, the fiber structure used in many clothing items as well as the components included in the dyes help to provide UV protection. Therefore, simply wearing clothing with long sleeves helps to protect your arms from the sun. Wearing full length pants and a full collar is also helpful when it comes to protecting your skin from the sun.

If you are looking for clothing that will provide you with UV protection but that is not specifically marketed as sun protective clothing, you should look for darker colored clothing items. Certain fabrics such as nylon, twill, polyester, denim, polypropylene, canvas, and lycra all have good UV protection qualities. Of course, these items tend to hold heat in and are not ideal for wearing during the summer months. Therefore, you might need to look for UV blocking clothing that is ventilated in order to prevent the build up of moisture and to assist with cooling of the body.

The weave of sun protective clothing helps to prevent sun exposure simply because it prevents the UV rays from reaching your skin. Clothing that is specially treated with chemicals, on the other hand, works in much the same way as sunscreen. Since clothing can be more permanently treated than your skin, however, it is much longer lasting than the chemicals you apply to your skin. Nonetheless, specially treated clothing can lose its effectiveness over time. If it has the proper weave and is of a darker color, however, it will continue to effectively help block out ultraviolet rays.