Do "cooling" shirts work?

oocdc2

I'm looking at Arctic Zero, Colombia's Omni-Freeze, Duluth Trading's Armachillo Cooling Tank, and a couple of other companies for t-shirts to wear during midday summer runs. I know how they work (e.g., special weaves, airflow), but anyone who owns these shirts find they make a difference?

yirara

Sorry, no experience. Might be counterproductive, but in a very hot country with very dry air I wore cotton clothes for running. My hottest runs were at around 41 degrees (that was after sunset) and the air was so dry that it felt like my sweat just evalorated immediately without cooling me. It got sucked up by the cotton clothes though and provided a bit of cooling.

amysteri

not familiar with that brand but I have tried other brands with similar "technology" in their workout clothes. They do sort of keep me cool by preventing me from overheating when it's 90-100 F outside.

If it's really hot where you're at it might be worth a try! It's always good to invest in a good pair of workout gear.

erienneb66

I dunno I wear cooling shirts under my scrubs since I have to cover my full sleeve tattoo and I find that I'm still overheated all the time.

vespiquenn

I only have experience with Arctic Zero, and what I have found with shirts like that, they work decently well at absorbing the moisture without getting heavy or sticky. I can't say for sure if they cool me down or if it's a placebo effect, but the lightness of them garners preference over a normal cotton tank top or shirt from me.

starfruit132

We just had this debate on our tennis group. Those high-dollar really thin ones feel less hot and don't weigh as much when the sweat kicks in. But, the thick ones hold water that some like against the skin as it evaporates. The thicker shirt sleeves also stretch out with more water and start getting longer in the arms. Worth trying one to see how you like it.

Duck_Puddle

I've used Arctic zero cloths and have a shirt to try. My experience was that the cloth worked spectacularly well for cooling when it was wet and "snapped" but was otherwise just a cloth. I hesitate to try the shirt because I think it needs to be wet to provide the cooling, but feels a bit heavy/dense when dry. I suppose it's not fair of me to give an opinion when I haven't used the shirt and it may work differently than the cloth (although the material feels the same). The cloth was effective and very refreshing though.