What We Wear The thought of

Why Runners Should Wear Wool

AROUND 80 PER CENT of our heat dissipation while exercising comes not from sweating, but from sweat evaporating off the skin. Clothing, especially thicker layering, is a barrier that traps heat, air, and moisture, creating what textile researchers call a ‘microclimate’ between the skin and the inner face of the fabric. As heat and moisture build, humidity rises, hindering evaporation, and therefore the skin’s ability to cool the body. One functional fabric works with the body’s efforts to thermoregulate in the cold –and yes, also in the heat: wool.

Research in performance apparel has shown that wool fibres pull moisture from that microclimate. This lowers humidity, allows sweat to evaporate faster, and cools skin temperature – which is what we sense when we’re feeling intensely hot during exercise. Dr Raechel Laing, professor emeritus at the University of Otago in New Zealand, found while researching wool as a performance fabric that polyester shirts induced slightly higher skin temperatures, earlier sweating, more feelings of wetness, and higher heart rates, and led subjects to report greater perceived effort. “Wearing garments made in wool single jersey seems to lead to a generally lesser physiological demand during exercise in both hot and cold conditions,” Laing concludes. – John Tyler Alle AVOID THE STANK WITH MERINO’S ANTI-BACTERIAL PROPERTIES.

Nature’s Wonder Fibre

LIMITING WOOL TO winter use is an old idea. Since the mid-1900s, wool’s reputation has been stubbornly knitted to the stifling acupuncture of the old wool jersey. But wool is different now: research and breeding continue to refine the fibres.

“These fine fibres, twisted tightly, can be knitted into very fine fabric structures that are used in sportswear,” says Laing. Decades of being mislabelled and misunderstood have curbed wool’s adoption into the world of performance fabrics; but now, ‘nature’s wonder fibre’, as it’s been called, is gaining acceptance in the form of lightweight merino.

The case for wool is rooted in the unique architecture of its fibres: a hydrophilic (water-attracting) core is covered by hydrophobic (waterrepelling) scales like shingles on a house. Small gaps between the scales allow the hydrophilic core to draw in water vapour, while the hydrophobic exterior causes water droplets to bead and run off. This structure gives wool fibres their famous ability to absorb 35% of their weight in water vapour while remaining dry to the touch. The chemical process driving absorption also generates a whisper of heat that can prevent chilling drops in skin temperature, and the fibres’ natural crimp prevents them from interlacing uniformly, which creates insulating air pockets when they’re spun into yarn.

CORE MERINO WOMEN’S UNDERWEAR SET R920

MATERIAL 85% merino wool / 11% nylon FABRIC WEIGHT Ultra-fine (17.5 microns), soft merino wool. Does not itch.

BREATHABILITY 7 MOISTURE MANAGEMENT 9 HEAT DISSIPATION 8

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THE RW WOOL TEST

Even though wool’s absorption capacity is so regularly cited as its advantage over other fabrics, few sound studies exist comparing it or wool’s other moisture-management properties to those of other performance fabrics. To get an idea of how much sweat different shirts could hold relative to each other, we tested them in the high-tech RW lab (i.e. the kitchen). LAB: Our experiment tested short-sleeve wool shirts alongside tops made from polyester, nylon and cotton. We fully submerged the shirts in a basin of water for 30 minutes, removed them from the basin, allowed excess water to run off for five minutes, weighed them to establish the maximum amount of water held in and between the fibres, and then weighed them at 30-minute intervals until at least one reached its original dry weight. The wool shirts held 30 to 40% more water by weight than two of the three synthetics. Interestingly though, they all dried at the same rate. ROAD, Sea Point Promenade: (5 to 10km, 25-plus degrees) A pattern emerged as we tested the wool shirts. A radiant heat would build and then subside during the first three kays. We’d feel dry two or three kays longer than when wearing the synthetics, and we finished our runs feeling drier, because while still wet, the wool never stuck to our skin. The blended fabrics proved more breathable than 100% wool. But after a month, our unwashed wool still smelled clean (the scaled surface on wool fibres discourages bacterial growth). Wool’s other reputation is for its prickle; but this was barely registered at all. – Test Team

OUR TOP WOOL PERFORMERS

CORE MERINO LONG-SLEEVE CREW T-SHIRT (WOMEN’S) CORE MERINO LONG-SLEEVE CREW T-SHIRT (WOMEN’S) / R1 250 / Soft yet durable merino wool with a slightly deeper crew cut around the neck, and designed so it can be layered; use it as a base layer, or as a normal long-sleeve top. The Nuyarn fabric is 85% merino and 15% nylon, and 125gsm (grams per square metre). 15% nylon, and 125gsm (grams per square metre).

coremerino.com coremerino.com

FORCLAZ TREK 500 SHORT-SLEEVE MERINO T-SHIRT (MEN’S) FORCLAZ TREK 500 SHORT-SLEEVE MERINO T-SHIRT (MEN’S) / R699 / The ultra-fine merino wool is soft, and non-itchy. The natural breathability makes it suitable for winter and summer, and the natural fabric helps with unrestricted movement and odour control for perspiration. movement and odour control for perspiration.

decathlon.co.za decathlon.co.za

ICEBREAKER WOMENS MERINO TECH LITE T-SHIRT / R1 199 / The Tech Lite II Short-Sleeve Tee provides stretch, comfort, breathability and odour-resistance for just about any adventure you can think of. It’s 100% merino – soft fibres that regulate body temperature in all weather conditions, and resist odours. goneoutdoor.com