Years ago fishnet underwear was all the rage, both in cotton and in wool. The idea was that the open weave was lightweight but created many small dead-air spaces that both insulated and permitted moisture to pass. And being such an open weave if you opened up your outer clothing you got tons of ventilation and effectively neutralized the insulation. It was quite versatile.
Often the fishnet was worn between thin layers to provide extra insulation at minimal weight.
Fishnet against bare skin under a pack left a pattern on your skin, so later variants used cloth panels instead of fishnet in strategic places.
I note that in very cold weather the cotton worked fine. Otherwise you needed wool, except in the summer where I wore it alone as it kept the pack off my skin but gave perfect ventilation. Not much sun protection, of course.
I wonder if fishnet has an ultralight future as a base or intermediate insulation layer? Same idea but using modern synthetic materials.
Thoughts…?
