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Some scientists say the right outfit could let you turn the air conditioning up by 2C (3.6) F, which adds up to real savings on both electricity bills and carbon emissions over time. This is where a well-known 1980 study on Bedouin clothing gets interesting.
Researchers who’ve spent years studying fabrics, body heat, and sweat have found that colour, fit, weave, and even how wet your clothes are can all change how hot you feel, according to a BBC report. Heather Neeberger, a stylist and fashion writer said “Your choice of fabric is crucial, according to BBC. As heatwaves have stopped being rare events and start becoming the new normal, one question keeps popping up every summer: what should you actually wear to survive the heat? Turns out the old advice, just throw on something white and loose. But it only tells half the story. For decades, the assumption was simple: the colour white reflects the sun, whereas black absorbs it, so white wins. But body heat complicates the picture. When your own body heat hits a white garment, it just bounces back at you instead of escaping. Researchers looked at why desert-dwelling Bedouin communities who inhabit desert regions in the Arabian peninsula, Middle East and North Africa traditionally wear black robes despite the scorching heat, and found that people wearing black and white robes ended up absorbing roughly the same amount of heat overall. If you’re wearing an oversized denim jumpsuit – you’re going to feel way hotter than your friend in a more constricted outfit made of gauze or chiffon.”
The trick was the fit, the robes were loose, and in windy conditions, that gap between fabric and skin created a “natural chimney effect”, letting hot air rise and escape before it ever reached the skin as the study noted. In other words, looseness cancelled out the extra heat the black fabric soaked up. The lesson: how clothing sits on your body may matter more than what colour it is though if you’re going tight-fitting, white is still the safer bet.
“In terms of clothes, it’s better to have a material that allows water vapour to pass through so that it doesn’t block the sweat evaporation.” says Rhett Allain, associate professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University. Not all “breathable” fabrics behave the same either. Other research groups have tested garments fitted with strips that bend outward in hot conditions, reportedly cooling the body by more than two degrees Celsius, while others are experimenting with “phase-change” capsules that melt as they absorb excess body heat.
What it actually concluded is, a bulky denim outfit will trap heat no matter how stylish it looks, while something airy like chiffon or gauze will let your body breathe. Lightweight woven fabrics such as cotton and silk tend to drape more loosely than knitted ones, which becomes especially important in humid weather. In dry heat, sweat evaporates easily off the skin, but in humidity the air is already saturated, so moisture-wicking fabric that lets vapour pass through becomes essential. “Some of the newer sports-based materials do this. Cotton does not do so great with this”, he added. Uncoated cotton, linen, nylon and polyester all let some heat and sweat escape, but cotton and polyester also let a good chunk of visible sunlight straight through and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers found this can actually make you heat up faster, since that light turns into heat your body then struggles to release. Linen breathes well but dries slowly, merino wool resists odour while wicking moisture, and synthetics like nylon and polyester dry fast but tend to hang onto smells. Some studies point to bamboo fabric as an underrated option, since it conducts heat poorly and stays comfortable even when damp. Big sportswear brands and university labs alike are racing to engineer smarter cooling textiles. One MIT team discovered that spinning ultra-thin nylon and polyester fibres, roughly a micrometre wide, into slightly thicker yarn created a fabric that blocks visible sunlight but lets infrared heat escape, striking a balance that keeps wearers noticeably more comfortable. Separately, scientists at the University of Maryland in the US built synthetic fibres coated so they physically expand as the body warms up, opening gaps in the weave to let heat vent out. Despite all this innovation, some experts argue the oldest hack is still the best: get wet. As water evaporates off skin or clothing, it pulls heat energy from the body to make that transition, which is why a damp shirt can feel like instant relief. And if you really want to maximise cooling, physiologists point out that wearing nothing at all is technically the most effective option, sun protection concerns aside, since bare skin allows for the fastest heat exchange with the surrounding air. So next time a heatwave rolls in, the real formula isn’t just “wear white. It’s a mix of loose fit, the right fabric, and maybe a splash of water, with science now working hard to build the next generation of clothes that do the cooling for you. Looking for trusted parenting advice? Follow TOI Parenting Circle on Instagram for expert guidance, relatable stories, and practical tips delivered every day.