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Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

> You know how styrofoam cups keep hot drinks like coffee hot and cold drinks like iced tea cold? Well, merino... keeps you cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s cold... merino’s insulating incredibleness...

That is... not true? How could there be any such thing as clothing that keeps you cool via insulation, when your body produces heat?

Pretty sure all you can have is lighter, more breathable clothing that allows the heat to disperse rather than trap it. And light-colored clothing that reflects sunlight rather than absorb it.

I mean, nobody's wearing a merino sweater to keep cool in the summer...

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Hello, 24/7/365 merino wearer here.

The same merino wool T-shirt that keeps me warm in the -25C winter also keeps me cool (and warm) in the heat.

The magic is in the fact that wool is warm even when it's wet. It also dries like nobody's business. I tried every single technical clothing brand before I discovered merino wool. Every single high-tech garment was cold AF when it drew the sweat from my body.

A merino T-shirt is still warm and dries quickly in the slightest of breezes.

And don't get me started about cotton shirts, they're just plain death traps in the cold and not much better in the warm.

Linen is the only thing that comes close to merino wool in comfort during the summers.

> also keeps me cool (and warm) in the heat.

I literally don't know what that means. Cool and warm are opposites.

And setting aside water, either a garment insulates well or it doesn't. If the former it keeps you warm in the winter, in the latter it doesn't trap heat and is therefore good in the summer. It can't be both. That's just physics.

A merino wool T-shirt breathes. Same with linen. Both have "holes" between the fibers, not just in the fabric.

It's also warm if it's a bit chilly in a way that a cotton shirt isn't, again because of the fact that it traps pockets of air between the fibres and that insulates a bit. Thicker wool clothes do the same thing, but more.

Because of the "pourousness" and the fact that the wool fibers are covered in natural fats (lanoline) it also dries really fast because the fibers don't suck in the moisture as, say, cotton does.

Yes, it won't keep you warm in gale force winds, but I've got a shell jacket for windy days.

Yeah, this blog post is mostly opinionated drivel mixed with false statements. Not based on facts at all. It’s like the author chose to talk about something they knew nothing about and didn’t even bother to do real research.

> nobody's wearing a merino sweater to keep cool in the summer...

traditionally Bedouins and other like cultures live in the hot desert and wear full coverage clothing.

It is presumably about breathability and moisture wicking.

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