buttonfront shirts: nylon vs polyester

I have a number of button-front nylon shirts and use them a lot. The collar shields my neck from the sun more than a t-shirt style. The looser cut keeps the shirt from being tight to my skin in most places and that makes them pretty bug-proof (important in Alaska). I like that nylon dried faster and that I can launder with the cotton load or the low-heat synthetic load and it is clean, dry, and unscathed either way. Screw up and put the polyester in the hot dryer with the cotton load and you can crisp it a little or a lot depending on your dryer.

Nylon is a lot tougher-stronger so it holds up better when bashing through the alders or Devil's Club. My go-to shirt looks fine after 10 years of Alaskan use. I've had to reinforce a few buttons, but the fabric hasn't torn or snagged even with its hard use.

Yes, polyester gets funkier sooner and doesn't clean up as well. Berry stains, grass stains, salmon blood, bear blood, my blood (from swatting mosquitos) all wash out of the nylon completely.

The buttons don't bother me vis-a-vis hip belts. I notice my hip belt much more at 10-11 o'clock and 1-2 o'clock (if my navel is 12 o'clock). I don't get a lot of pressure from that belt, or the sternum strap) on my centerline.

I do like the button-down style (versus pullovers) for regulating temperature. I can partially unbutton and have more ventilation but still have most of the sun & bug protection. And rolling up the sleeves is easier if I'm doing dishes or filleting 20 salmon and want to keep the cuffs cleaner.

For me, the downside of the buttons is if I'm sleeping in it and rolling around a lot. Not huge, and I get used to it after the first night, but some other closure would be better for sleeping in.

"I imagine poly wicks/breathes a little better but maybe holds stink more than nylon? Is poly generally less durable?"

I find that nylon is more durable, performance difference between the two to be negligible but poly does do better, and that polyester stinks more than nylon. I realize that I stink but I don't want my clothes to smell worse than me, which was what I was finding with polyester.

All fabrics are not created equal and my Columbia fishing shirt is some sort of polyester blend, and it never stinks. But, my go-to hiking shirt is 100% nylon. I also like to wear a t shirt underneath and it's a ninety-something /single-digit something nylon/lycra blend. It doesn't stink either and dries pretty fast.

"Also, for those who hike regularly in buttonfront shirts, do the buttons underneath your hipbelt and sternum strap ever bother you? Do you sleep in your hiking shirt, or bring a separate, softer layer for sleeping?"

I've all but completely stopped using backpack belts, but from the days when I did, I just pulled the shirt over my belt. Again, I wear a t shirt underneath. I do wear a sternum strap from time to time and it has never bothered me.

Edit: David and I were typing at the same time so a lot of repeat.

I almost always wear a long sleeve button up hiking shirt. I've never had an issue with my pack's hip belt and shirt chaffing me. I always wear a wicking shirt underneath. I don't sleep in it. I sleeping in the t shirt I wear underneath or a long sleeve base layer. I honestly can't tell which material does what better. I read reviews and trial/error. I have a marmot nylon shirt that I think is awful. Doesn't breath well. It feels like plastic. It dries very fast though and is super light at 5oz. The shirt I wear the most is an old REI Sahara that is also nylon. I feel like the big difference is how they're woven. I like the feel of the Columbia Silver Ridge shirts too. They're real buttery. The tabs to hold up your sleeves are a must to me. All my shirts stink. I've never really understood the idea of worrying about a stinky shirt for backpackers. We're hiking all day for multiple days. No sort of antimicrobial treatment will help.

Hmm, so for those wearing a t-shirt underneath, the benefits of the buttonfront shirt are sun and bug protection, I'm guessing? II'll also hazard a guess that folks who layer a t-shirt underneath a longsleeve probably aren't bringing a windshirt…

"Hmm, so for those wearing a t-shirt underneath, the benefits of the buttonfront shirt are sun and bug protection, I'm guessing?"

Yes. I guess it's a habit from wearing a variety of uniforms for a few decades but not wearing a t shirt under a button down shirt is very uncomfortable for me. I've hiked with just a t shirt but have been sun burned too many times, had a biopsy (turned out to be nothing) of a growth that I suspect was the result of one of the worst burns I've had hiking, and I've just found sun block to be a poor substitute for clothing when it comes to sun protection.

I do treat my clothes with permethrin for bug protection but sun protection is the largest reason why I wear these shirts.

"I'll also hazard a guess that folks who layer a t-shirt underneath a longsleeve probably aren't bringing a windshirt…"

I still bring my Squamish but I climbed St. Helens on a windy day where I was fine with just my nylon shirt. The wind shirt is also my sleep shirt as it doesn't get all the sweat and dirt like my t shirt and button down do, and I find that helps to keep my sleeping bag clean.

I never wear inner shirt, just button up nylon shirt

Inner shirt makes it too warm and adds weight

Nylon is tight weave so its sun and bug proof

IME, the polyester ones breathe a lot better than nylon ones. Noticeably so here in the humid SE. Maybe not too big an issue out west.

That's all I've got to say about that. (Forrest Gump voice)

Poly breathes and dries a lot better and is more comfortable. Nylon has a tighter weave (I think) which makes it resistant to mosquitos. I've found this shirt to be the best of both worlds: http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/mens-long-sleeved-sun-stretch-fishing-shirt?p=52196-0

2.5-oz 52% nylon/48% polyester, with mechanical stretch and 30-UPF sun protection

does the Patagonia fishing shirt weigh?

Sounds very interesting and I did look at it on the website but didn't find much info there.

edited to add weight. •189 g (6.7 oz) (it was hiding)

David,

Your response, in my opinion, "exceeds standards" (to use a line from my old evaluations when I was working for the government). Lot of info and experience concisely summarized.

Anyone try the Montane Terra Nomad long sleeve? That Pata fishing shirt looks nice.

Ok, now that we are on the subject of button up shirts…

Synthetic, woven button up shirts confuse me. They seem to have very little air permeability. Based on a breath test (blowing air through the fabric), my columbia silver ridge shirt is less air permeable than many windshirts. How can something with such little air permeability be comfortable in hot weather?

In direct sun a physical barrier can make you cooler. The looseness of the button up allows hot air to move out. The buttons allow more air out than a full-length zipper. Some shirts have under arm or back vents to help since the fabric used is typically not very breathable.

This does beg the question though of, why not make a loose weave button up that blocks sun? Perhaps the answer is the tight weave is necessary to maintain a high UV protection but I'm just guessing.

(edit for fixing auto-correct)

"This does beg the question though of, why not make a loose weave button up that blocks sun?"

A while back there was a very loose-woven fabric called Solarveil that was extremely breathable and claimed to have a very high UPF (something about a network of microfilaments, blah blah); tests revealed it didn't actually block any sun at all and I believe the product was taken off the market. IIRC, most cotton t-shirts actually have a higher UPF after being washed because the fibers shrink, creating a denser barrier. Figuring out how to make a loose weave that offers actual sun protection will be a big leap forward. I'm not enough of an engineer to conceive of how that would be possible–loose weave plus some sort of extremely air-permeable membrane?

It looks like most of the woven synthetic shirts claim ~30 UPF, which is comparable to the claimed UPF for the Rab Aeon t-shirt I wear (although I have found a couple that claim a UPF of 50, and I'll guess that they're quite tightly woven and not as breathable). Is the increased sun protection with a woven shirt just a matter of increased coverage? I often have a bandana or buff around my neck anyway, so the high collar is a bit moot for me. Also, 1/4 zip t-shirts offer more neck coverage and more ventilation than a standard tee…

There is not much, if any, inherent different in wicking or breathablity between polyester and nylon. Those are attributes of type of fiber shaping or coating (wicking) and type of weave used (breathability). It is possible that a tightly woven nylon shirt verse a polyester of similar weave, may become slightly less breathable because the nylon fibers do absorb some significant amount of water vs polyester, and so they may swell slightly making the space between the fibers smaller?

As mentioned by others, a lot of button up nylon shirts are somewhat tightly woven and don't breathe as well as knit shirts or shirts less tightly woven. A lot of these also don't wick very well, though more companies are starting to come out with versions that do wick. Try to find the ones that do so permanently through shaped/altered fibers (Kuhl Wunderer), rather than a coating (REI Sahara-last i checked) because the coating will wash off eventually.

They are somewhat hard to find, but there are knit nylon garments that are fairly breathable but still offer decent Sun protection and some basic bug protection. The one that i have, Under Armour Iso-Chill ls shirt, also wicks very well and has decent odor prevention properties (part of that is the treatment, but as mentioned by others, nylon is less stinky and easier to wash out same than polyester). I rather like the shirt overall.

I haven't tested it much in very buggy conditions. I "suspect" that it won't work nearly as good as the typical somewhat tightly woven nylon shirts, but still offer some more casual protection (especially when moving). I also carry a wind shirt, so if bug protection is absolutely needed (stopped, overwhelming, etc) i will put that on.

I think polyester's only advantages over nylon, is that it will dry slightly quicker if everything else is equal, and it handles UV significantly better. If you set up a polyester tent/tarp and nylon tent/tarp in the Sun for awhile, the polyester one will fare much better over time. However, in normal clothes wear, probably not much of a noticeable difference unless you spend a lot of time in places like the desert or at high altitude near lower latitudes w/out shade.

But polyester is stinkier, heavier, and definitely less tough for same weight. I prefer nylon for various reasons. I would like to try shirts and pants with high percentage of nylon to low percentage of certain natural fibers (linen, hemp, or tencel) but they are not being made for the most part. I do have one shirt that has about 55% nylon to 45% tencel ratio, and i do like it a lot, but wish it was a bit more nylon and a bit less tencel for the muggy hot conditions that are common where i live/hike (ideal ratio of synthetic to tencel for a combo of comfort, wicking, and drying according to one Lenzing study is 70% synthetic to 30% tencel).

but I can't stand the feel of synthetic fabrics with the exception of fleece… maybe I just haven't tried enough? I hike in the lightest cotton or cotton/linen button downs I can find and if it's cool enough a wool base layer or sometimes just the wool… there are some really light/thin wool and cotton garments out there. I picked up a used patagonia wool shirt in the gear swap that I've been able to hike in on all but the warmest days (granted, most hikes are at elevation). Unless it's raining my cotton has always been dry in the morning. The wool dries really fast and doesn't stink until about a week or so without a wash. Buttons have never bothered me either at hip belt or chest strap.

Hey, I'm the founder at Wool&Prince and we have guys trekking around the world in our button-downs. Obviously I'm a little bit biased, but they're 100% merino wool and fight odor like no synthetic can. Backpacking light member @mdilthey did a review on his blog: https://maxthecyclist.wordpress.com/2014/10/27/gear-review-wool-princes-better-button-down/

Hi Clarence, What is the total weight on your shirts? Hint: if you want to lure the BPL crowd its nice to have product weights on your website. Thanks!

I've got a couple of wool & prince shirts… I've never weighed them, as I don't hike in them – they're a bit too nice and a lot too expensive for that. Also when I did wear one of mine bicycle touring for only a 3 day trip one of the colours of dye used faded dramatically which is pretty disappointing. Even for more urban travel I'm not totally sold on them, as I find the open-ish weave tends to pick up dirt and look pretty unclean even if odour isn't a problem… All sounds pretty negative but they fit awesome and I don't have to worry if they are 'clean' for casual friday but a shirt you can really beat up they are not… YMMV

I just finished a 500-mile thru-hike, during which I wore the same 100% nylon Mountain Hardwear button-front shirt every single day (I slept in a light fleece). Not only did it stay relatively funk-free (almost miraculous, under the circumstances), but people often remarked that I "look too clean" for a thru-hiker. Everything (including blood from a horsefly bite) seemed to wash right out of the fabric, and it didn't feel hot, even in warmer weather. OTOH, I've owned polyester button-downs, including Patagucci's… they all got dirtier and smellier very quickly, and I felt unbearably hot in them (like I was wearing a plastic bag). Entirely subjective, I know, but that's been my experience. For REALLY hot weather (Grand Canyon in June) I wear a 100% cotton snap front shirt, and I wet it down at every opportunity.

#ERROR!

In the summer in the Sierra I hike in light colored long sleeve cotton T Shirts. Cotton is cooler for those sun drenched long climbs. I wash these hiking shirts in Rit Sun Guard to increase the UPF to 30. By mid or late September I change to synthetics. Billy

2 more for nylon button downs. Nice to unbutton from top bottom or middle. Great stain resistance and quick drying as mentioned. However I have always hated buttons. Much prefer snaps and given some time Im converting all my nylon button LS's to snaps. We ran into some horrendous clouds of skeeters in a wet part of the AKD's this year. I was covered head to tow including some UL liner gloves and the only penetration point they had access to was the gap in the button up part of the cuffs. Man they chewed up my wrists before I knew they were getting in there. Seriously thinking about some UL zipper installment there as well making it not only impenetrable but much easier single handing the roll up process. I'm not great at those little cuff buttons. jimmyb

Size Large Wool & Prince button down weighs 8.3oz on my scale. Amazing shirt that I wear 3 or 4 times a week in temps from 60-100F. I wash it every 6 weeks or so. Wool is durable, but I would be a little afraid to wear one on a backpacking trip though, unless I had one dedicated for that purpose, so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting a stain or tree sap on it.