Rethinking the dream - downsized our life to upsize our experiences.
Freedom
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Questions about Wool Clothing

After reading your post on Zen Habits, and your rule #9 about only wearing wool, I have some questions.  Hopefully you can answer them based on your experiences.

1) How is wool in hot weather?  I'm familiar with the cold weather benefits, but I live in Florida where it's hot and humid.  It rarely gets below 90F in the summer. 

2) I did a quick search online, and I'm having a hard time finding wool t-shirts that aren't tight fitting and meant to be used as undergarments.  Wool is practically non-existent in the local retail stores.  Do you have a suggestions for where to shop for warm weather wool clothing?

3) Do you find your wool garments hold up / last longer than their cotton counterparts?  They seem to be more expensive, so I'd hope they last longer. 

I'm definitely intrigued by the idea of wearing more wool.  We took a cold weather vacation and the wool did great keeping us warm and not stinking of sweat.  If it can handle the hot weather, then I may try adding a couple pieces to replace some cotton items.

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Just figuring all of this out..
EdwardCash
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So I have a random question.  

I have never actually made jeans, but I think I could potentially make a pair for myself.  Now, I say that because I was looking around in my truck today and noticed my wool blanket sitting there and thought about how it almost looks like it'd be a great fabric to use for the project. 

The only problem I noticed was the coloring of the Olive green wool.  I know wool can be dyed, but I have yet to actually try it.  Regardless of that,  I'm thinking the blanket is 80wool 20nylon.  It's an old US military surplus blanket.  I'm assuming someone here might have seen these before.  

Before I go tearing my blanket apart to make myself a pair of jeans,  is this the same type of material that the wool jeans are made of?  

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Rich
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I tried wearing a Smartwool shirt in Thailand in 90 or so weather and it pretty much turned into a sweaty towel.  I'm not sure they do too well in humid areas.

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Jonathan Davis J
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I not sure anything really copes well in Humid weather, wool does have the distinct advantage of pulling sweat away from your body and not stinking

Creator of SETT. Adventurer.
Tynan
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Hey Freedom... welcome to the site and thanks for the question.

1. Thin wool isn't hotter than cotton in the summer. It wicks sweat better, so it's probably slightly better than cotton overall.

2. Check out Icebreaker, Smartwool, and NAU. Each of them have t-shirts and polo shirts.

3. No, they hold up slightly less. I only own two shirts and I have to replace them every year (so count on around 180 days of use per shirt).

Try a few shirts from icebreaker to start... I bet you'll like them.


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Web
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Hey Tynan (or anyone else), I have a related question. Have you washed and dried your Icebreaker clothing in a washing machine/dryer? Did they shrink? I'd love to switch, but I'm afraid I won't want to wear them often if I know I have to hand wash and open air dry them. Might become too much trouble to do regularly.

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Paul
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I always wash them on 40 degrees celsius, air dry on my couch. No shrinkage as of yet.

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Web
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Knowing this ahead of time is a great help in choosing a size. Thanks Paul!

Creator of SETT. Adventurer.
Tynan
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Wash them on cold and dry on the lowest heat. They also dry extremely quickly so it's very easy to open air dry them just by letting them sit on a chair for a couple hours.

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Web
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Thanks! In that case I guess I can air dry them. Do your garments generally stay the same size after washing? Any shrinkage? Trying to decide if I should get my correct size or go up one size to allow for shrinkage.

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