Sun Protection Clothing

Are you paranoid about spending long hours strolling along the beach during afternoons? Do sunny days cast shadow on your appearance? Don’t just blame the sun. Your regular light-colored, lightweight and loosely-woven summer clothing is actually not good enough when the sun is scorching outdoors. While it is best to simply stay away from the sun to avoid any kind of risk, if you still have to step outside, remember to shield yourself with sun protection clothing to steer clear of any kind of overexposure to the sun.

Why do we need sun protection clothing?
According to the National Cancer Institute, overexposure to sun is the most common form of skin cancer in the United States. Many recent studies have indicated the growing incidence of melanoma compared to any other form of cancer. The ultraviolet rays of the sun when they come into contact with the skin lead to all kinds of skin problems. It's those accumulated effects that damage the skin's DNA and cell function. In addition to skin cancer, excessive sun exposure also causes pre-malignant actinic keratoses, wrinkles, dark and unsightly blotches, leathery skin and immune system. The Skin Cancer Foundation, US, states that a person's risk for skin cancer doubles if they have had five or more sunburns. Research has shown that sun protective clothing is one of the most effective ways to protect against skin cancer.

So how different is sun protection clothing from normal summer clothing?
Sun protection clothing is clothing specifically designed for sun protection by covering a maximum amount of skin and being made from a fabric rated for its level of ultraviolet or UV protection. Throwing on a sun protective shirt with a UPF 30+ value is a proactive decision which can simply help to live a healthier life. Laboratory tests have shown that many typical cotton T-shirts and light-weight fabrics can allow 50% of harmful ultraviolet B rays through to your skin when dry and 10% to 20% more when wet.

There are a lot of factors that affect clothing’s level of sun protectiveness: Fabric's weave, color, weight, stretch, and wetness, and also any UV absorbers that are added during manufacturing to enhance UV protection levels. In general, clothing made of tightly-woven fabric best protects skin from the sun. Heavy weight natural fibers like cotton, linen and hemp or light-weight synthetics such as polyester, nylon, lycra, polypropylene and natural or synthetic indigo dyed denim and canvas are also considered good. The color of the fabric also plays a role. Darker-colored fabrics are more effective than lighter at blocking out the sun. The only drawback some of these dark, thick fabrics have is heat retention. Only clothes with a UPF of 15-50+ may be labeled as sun-protective. Sun-protective clothing is also known to lose its effectiveness if it's too stretched out, wet, and worn and washed over and over again. Apparels that are marketed with a sun-protective tag are usually UPF 50+. The higher the UPF, the longer a person can endure the sun. There are three categories of UPF protection:

• A UPF between 15 and 24 provides "Good UV Protection;"
• A UPF between 25 and 39 provides "Very Good UV Protection;"
• and A UPF between 40 and 50 provides "Excellent UV Protection.

Sunscreens cannot provide foolproof protection
While SPF or Sun Protection Factor rating is used for sunscreens, UPF or Ultraviolet Protection Factor is the standard technique for measuring the protective value of fabrics. Sun protective clothing keeps out more UV rays than sunscreen. For example, if a clothing is rated UPF 50 then for every 50 units of UV that fall on the fabric, only 1 passes through. Which means that the fabric is blocking 49 out of 50 units of UV. The measurement of UV-A protection in clothing offers an improvement over the traditional SPF rating of sunscreens, which measures only UV-B radiation while UPF blocks both UV-B and UV-A.

As a niche market for sun protection clothing has developed, so has the sun proof fashion statements. The market today is flooded with as many varieties of swimwear and sun hats as sun-proof T-shirts, polo shirts, shorts, pants and jackets. The idea is simple – block the sun not the fun.