# Sportswear designers: ditch the polyester! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648 "2008-06-12T01:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/1 "2008-06-12T01:59:21Z")
I’m a fairly active adult (tennis, volleyball) and buy a lot of shorts and t-shirts. Lately I’ve found in nearly impossible to find anything that isn’t made in that awful “moisture wicking” polyester material. Neither my husband nor I can stand that material, which is just a fancy way of marketing cheap polyester fabric. And it doesn’t wick my sweat, it makes my skin crawl. Plus it snags. So, please, sportswear designers. Could you please bring ditch the polyester and back the material that the sports gods intended us athletes to wear: cotton. 100% cotton. Thank you for listening. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/2 "2008-06-12T02:26:57Z")
You can have my polyester based wear when you pry it from my cool dry hands. 😃 Cotton gets cold, clammy and abrasive when it gets wet. What brands are you using? I have shirts from Target, cycling jerseys from Performance Bike and others of forgotten origin and have never had any problems. On the contrary, I notice a big difference. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/3 "2008-06-12T02:38:02Z")
If I had any cotton socks I’d send 'em to you. I haven’t bought any athletic gear containing cotton in decades. I definitely do not miss being cold, clammy, chafing and getting blisters. I’ll stick with my cheap polyester and wool gear thank you very much. Only difference I notice between the cheap stuff from Target and the pricier stuff from REI is that the Target stuff gets stinkier faster. Yeah, some of the Target shirts snag but at $10 for a shirt I’ll put up with it for my running and workout wear. Doesn’t look any worse once I’m dripping sweat. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/4 "2008-06-12T02:55:45Z")
My husband’s brother works for the NFL and because of his contacts with sportswear companies has gotten my husband every brand under the sun: Nike, Rebok, UnderArmour. He recently got a nice looking adidas (I think) golf shirt for participating in a golf charity event. He felt it and tossed it aside because it was 100% polyester. I finally broke down and bought some Columbia tennis shirts because cotton is so hard to find unless you want Hanes. They’re really thin and get snagged by everything. I can only tolerate them inside in the winter. Once the temperature nears 80, I simply cannot tolerate the feeling of that polyester against my skin. And the thought of wearing it in full sun on a 90 degree day seriously gives me the jeebies. I guess other people like it because nicer cotton athletic wear is really hard to find. But surely we can’t be the only 2 people in the world who like to exercise in good old-fashioned cotton. Can we? ::sigh:: ---
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/5 "2008-06-12T04:04:38Z")
I gotta agree with PunditLisa. PlayDry and all that newfangled tech sportswear sucks. I have a ton of it hanging and won’t wear it. I feel like it’s itching before I even get out of the dressing room. It just gives me the willies. Natural fiber please. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/6 "2008-06-12T14:58:00Z")
I hate cotton because you sweat and the fabric soaks it up and just keeps it. Then I’m running in a wet shirt. It feels disgusting, doesn’t cool me down and can rub and chafe my skin. I hate plain ol’ cotton for most things when it gets seriously hot. It just doesn’t dry when you sweat in it (being in a humid area adds to this, I know). It’s totally uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/7 "2008-06-12T18:56:11Z")
100% cotton for me, it keeps me the driest and coolest of any material. It seems to be the perfect equilibrium between my sweat rate and its evaporation rate. Polyesters, especially in hotter indoor workouts like basketball or racketball courts, leaves me feeling icky, slimy, and overheated in ten minutes. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/8 "2008-06-12T19:05:51Z")
Try someplace like REI, if you have one. They can be a bit pricey, but they tend to be from makers who do well-designed, well-made clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/9 "2008-06-12T19:27:19Z")
I used to love cotton. Now I’m a linen fanatic. Wicks, cools, dries. Cotton is absorbent and hangs onto liquid, but it evaporates quite neatly out of linen and feels cool and dry while you do it. Getting linen workout clothes, however… not easy. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/10 "2008-06-12T19:42:35Z")
I love linen too, but it’s fragile when wet. Another cotton lover signing in here. I was given some of that synthetic stuff that is supposed to wick away moisture, but I’d rather have ants crawling over my body than feel that stuff next to my skin. ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sportswear-designers-ditch-the-polyester/452648/11 "2008-06-12T22:51:32Z")
Yet another cotton lover. I don’t think I own _any_ of those weird feeling clothes. No thanks. I am, however, curious about linen clothes. I will have to go and find a nice linen shirt or somesuch to see how I like it. Any suggestions?