There are usually four different ways to regulate human body temperature: radiation, conduction, convection, and evaporation. The combined effect of these four methods enables us to have a stable body temperature. However, the magnitude of their effects varies in different situations. So what clothes to wear in summer is cooler, not only related to the color of the clothes, but also to the environment in which the wearer is located.

If it is outdoors under scorching sun and the ambient temperature is higher than that of the human body, heat will be transferred from the air to the human body. Wearing light colored clothes will receive relatively less heat radiation, and in this situation, wearing light colored clothes is cooler. Although light colored clothing can reflect some ultraviolet rays, its ability to absorb ultraviolet rays is not good, so wearing light colored clothing is not suitable for long-term exposure outdoors, as it is prone to sunburn. In contrast, red clothes can absorb a large amount of ultraviolet rays from sunlight, so wearing red clothes during long-term outdoor activities is not only cooler, but also sunscreen.
If you are in an indoor air-conditioned room or on a cloudy or evening day in summer, when there is less sunlight and the ambient temperature is lower than the human body temperature, choose to wear dark clothes to absorb heat quickly and dissipate it quickly. Moreover, the absorbed heat will form hot and cold air convection on the body surface, taking away sweat from the body. Sweat evaporation absorbs heat and can quickly dissipate the surface heat of the skin, making people feel cooler.

Many people believe that the less they wear in summer, the cooler it will be. As mentioned earlier, the skin can only dissipate heat when the body temperature exceeds the ambient temperature. When the external temperature reaches or exceeds the body surface temperature of a person, due to the small or even negative temperature difference between body temperature and air temperature, the skin cannot actively dissipate heat. On the contrary, the skin will absorb heat from the outside, causing the body temperature to rise and making it more susceptible to heatstroke. So, wearing less doesn't necessarily make you cooler.

In the hot summer season, the heat is unbearable, and the human body regulates body temperature through the evaporation of sweat. In order to facilitate sweat evaporation, clothes with good moisture absorption and breathability should be worn in summer. Textiles made of different materials have different abilities to absorb water molecules from the surrounding environment, that is, their moisture absorption capacity, when placed under the same environmental conditions.


It is best to choose natural fiber products such as linen, silk, and cotton for summer clothing. The higher the density of textiles, the worse their breathability. For fabrics woven from the same raw materials, if the density doubles, the breathability will be reduced by half. So, the thinner the summer clothing, the lower the density, the better the heat dissipation performance, and the cooler it is to wear.


At the same time, considering convective heat dissipation, wearing loose clothing will be cooler, and the opening parts such as collars, cuffs, and pants should not be too thin or tight to facilitate ventilation and heat dissipation.