Any good, light weight/thin, breathable & actually “wicking” nylon shirts out there?

Hi Aaron, thanks for the suggestion.

A few questions. If you hold the fabric level and you drop some water on the inside of the main part of the fabric, does it sit on same or immediately absorb and spread?

If the latter, do you know if it's a chemical based treatment that they apply?

Is the fabric more breathable than other similar nylon shirts? If it's UPF rated, is it over 30? (that can give a clue to the breathablity compared to other shirts).

Yes, expensive! Out of my price range–i'm near flat broke after this trip to Costa Rica (which, i didn't want to go to but my wife strongly pressured me).

I have the Eco shirt and pant.
They are 30 UPF and breath excellent.
Water absorbs on the material but dries very fast.

Thank you for the answers Aaron.

I got a Columbia Super Tamiami on Amazon for $23 a couple of weeks ago. Very lightweight, blocks the sunlight, dries quickly, and stays cool. I got sweaty a couple of times this weekend with it on, and it dried in minutes.

So i went to REI Saturday armed with a little bottle with some water in it to test the wicking ability of different nylon shirts there, and to generally check out what's out there for higher quality nylon shirts. (i did ask permission and explained that i just wanted to drop one little drop of water on some shirts to test wicking).

Found that a lot of their nylon shirts did wick, but very little to no information on how this is achieved, whether through a chemical finish or through altered fiber structure etc. A lot of the shirts i found way over priced.

Liked the REI Sahara Tech LS shirt, until i got home and looked it up and found that it has a finish applied to achieve the wicking. Max, i saw the Kuhl Wunderer shirt there. Like it quite a bit. Very thin, somewhat fairly breathable (though not ideal for me), interesting fabric structure and wicked amazingly well–that one little drop o'water just kept spreading and spreading.

Unfortunately, no info anywhere about how the shirt fabric achieves this. Because of the different texture/structure of the fabric, i'm leaning to thinking it may be a permanent fiber type wicking, which is what i'm looking/hoping for. I contacted Kuhl to ask, and am waiting on response.

Meanwhile, saw this shirt pretty discounted at Gander Mountain online, low 40's and free shipping, so decided to just go ahead and get it anyway, finish or no finish.

So far, excellent suggestion Max and appreciate it. I may poke some pin holes in it to further increase breathability a bit in the main fabric.

Hi Justin,

I own a few 100% nylon shirts and pants (Eddie Bauer, TNF, and REI, etc) and they all seem to perform about the same, which fortunately is pretty good. For example, I was glissading for the better part of 4k' in just the nylon pants and shirt yesterday (forgot the damn contractor bag in my truck) and was mostly dry about an hour or so later from hiking. Not sure that I could ask much more of my clothes than that.

Edit to add: Costco had these shirts for about $20. It has some vents on the side and is my new favorite.

http://www.backcountry.com/dakota-grizzly-kenyon-shirt-long-sleeve-mens?ti=UExQIEJyYW5kOjoxOjI4OjEwMDAwMTEzNF9udWxs&skid=DGZ0014-SK-L

Hi Ian,

I guess to some extent this is one of those, you get what you pay for situations. Those previously mentioned brands you listed are pretty good ones. The shirt i got from Bass Pro, while i don't remember the exact amount i paid for it, i'm pretty sure i paid in the range of 25 to 35 for it, and the brand is World Wide Sportsman.

Also depends some on the climate you're talking about. If i had brought that W.W.S. shirt to Costa Rica, or on my past trip to Puerto Rico, i would have been sweltering because the shirt doesn't wick at all and isn't breathable enough.

But, for cooler and drier conditions, it would be fine, and i still plan to use for those kinds of conditions–it's an otherwise well made shirt. Just not good for late spring or most of summer here in VA where it can get pretty humid and hot. The more humid and hot it is, the more breathability you want and the more wicking you want. And i want that wicking to be a permanent feature, not a finish that will eventually wear off.

Thanks for the Costco shirt mention. Haven't seen that shirt at my local Costco.

I have these great pants made by Prana (got discounted), made out of 53% Hemp, 44% Recycled Polyester, 3% Lycra and they are thin and very breathable. Wish i could find a light colored LS shirt made out of this material because it's great for hot and humid conditions. Wicks well, dries fast, and doesn't build up too much stink as compared to an all synthetic and non treated fabric (the slight majority of fiber being Hemp helps a lot with that). I've only seen dark colors available for the shirt version, and the shirt version seems to have been discontinued.

Nylon would be a lot tougher and more durable, but the above would stand up to long term UV exposure much better.

Duluth Trading Co Buck Naked base layer with "93% nylon with 7% spandex fabric" that is.

http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/product/mens-buck-naked-performance-base-layer-shirt-33506.aspx?kw=buck naked&processor=content

David suggested this shirt to me last year and it's been a hit. I ended up buying another five of them for work as I need something that performs to this level for wearing under body armor.

When backpacking, I'll rinse the salt out of it every other day or so. It's completely dry within an hour. Also, no funk at all compared to other blends I've worked with that tend to get a road-kill aroma. I realize I will stink after a couple days it's just that I don't want my clothes to smell worse than I do.

I only have their Buck Naked T shirts and am assuming the long sleeve is the same weight.

Thanks Ian, looks pretty promising. Plus, you get to tell people that you're sporting Buck Naked. Unfortunately, they only have black for their ls version, and you couldn't pay me to wear black in late spring through summer.

I'll periodically check their site while crossing my fingers and hoping they will get some more colors and sizes in for the ls version.

Great prices–more reasonable and affordable than a lot of those other big name brands that charge over much. I wouldn't have bought the Kuhl shirt if i hadn't gotten it for some 40% off retail price.

Polyester base layers will wick, but a nylon button down? Not so much. You can VENT a nylon shirt, but they won't wick and evaporate sweat like a base layer. Of course they will dry, but they won't keep up with my fountain of flop sweat when working hard in hot weather. I've used REI Sahara, Ex Officio, TNF, Mountain Hardwear, etc and they are all pretty much the same stuff. The Columbia Silver Ridge style fabric has the driest feel, IMHO. I like the Silver Ridge pants a lot.

What a nylon button down will do is give good sun, brush and bug protection. I use mine for travel and around town, but have pretty much given up on them for use on the trail. A base layer and breathable wind shirt are my go-to topside combo for hikin'.

The Kuhl Wunderer nylon shirt i tested seemed to wick really well. One little drop of water spread out very quickly and widely. What i would agree with, is that these kind of nylon shirts don't tend to be ideally breathable as more baselayer type shirts, which tend to be more loosely woven.

It's hard to find mostly all nylon baselayer shirts in general and especially that also wick well (polyester and wool really dominate this area). Ian's suggestion seems pretty good, and if they ever get white or tan in, will get it.

I received an email back from Kuhl. They said the wicking was a permanent fiber feature and not a finish. If it was a little more loosely woven, it would be purrfect. Not sure if trying to poke some pin holes in it would be a good idea or not–i don't want to damage the integrity of the fabric.

I also bought a used shirt on Ebay for pretty cheap, it's 35% Linen and 65% Polyester collared button up shirt. I imagine it will be on the somewhat stinky side, but expect it's moisture handling properties for hot and humid weather will be excellent. My ideal fabric (which doesn't exist that i know of), would be a thin, somewhat loosely woven, 55% nylon to 45% linen or hemp blend.

That hasn't been discontinued. Just saw it on the REI website

http://www.rei.com/product/791763/columbia-tamiami-ii-long-sleeve-shirt-mens