Is Nike "Dri-Fit" really that much better?

[samster]

I was looking through the apparel section here at TW and realized that most of the tennis shirts (which are not cheap$$$) are made out of polyester. What happened to good old cotton shirts? What's everyone's opinion/experience on polyester tennis clothing and "Dri-Fit" by Nike (which I believe is also polyester)?

I have a hard time believing that these synthetic shirts breathe better than cotton shirts. Thanks.

 

[zAllianceBmx]

cotton shirts get soaked and drenched in sweat. which isnt too good

 

[ffrpg]

If you were to ever play in both a cotton shirt and polyester shirt, you could tell the difference. As stated above, cotton shirts get soaked. The Dri-Fit stuff does work. I have yet to fully drench a Dri-Fit shirt. The shirt dries off in a short amount of time.

 

[Pushmaster]

Havn't you ever heard that "cotton kills"? Cotton is the worst material there is when you sweat because it asorbs sweat, is heavy and sticks to your skin. Dri-Fit wicks away sweat a million times better and doesn't weigh a ton when it's wet. I agree that the retail price is too expensive, but if you look around there are some deals to be found.

 

[tennisadict]

go to nike outlet

 

[Jon Hampton]

When I'm playing at night--that is, when it's a cooler night--I'll wear cotton because it feels like it keeps me warmer. But, anytime during the day, playing with cotton is ill-advised. The cotton becomes soaked in your sweat. I wouldn't be suprised if by the time your done playing, your cotton shirt weighs 5 lbs. Dri-fit, on the other hand. Well, even if you sweat a lot, on a minute changeover, most of it is gone. It's one of the greatest inventions for athletes.

 

[fishuuuuu]

Most any of the acclaimed "Dri-Fit" type apparel innovations work. When wearing cotton you can get hot, damp, sticky, and just downright nasty!

Wearing a polyester shirt feels like wearing nothing at all to me. Especially certain UnderArmour garments feel really nice. They wick sweat away, retain heat in cold conditions, and keep your body cooler in heated conditions.

Worth every penny, until it's over 40 dollars =P

 

[wt888usa]

A thing to note for first time polyester buyers is not to buy black if you're a heavy sweat-er, because as the sweat evaporates, the salt deposits etc. will stay and you'll have temporary white stains (until you wash), or you can bring extra shirts.

 

[Prostaffer]

dri-fit

dri-fit is great!

adidas clima cool material is very similiar and good as well.

sphere dri-fit is even classier and sexier feeling!

however reebok's playdry works just as well but seems to get stinky after a while.

the best part is these shirts RARELY FADE! I have two nike AGASSI line dri-fit polos from arond the 95-96 era and they still look brand new like the day i bought them.

 

[fishuuuuu]

Ah-yes.

The Reebok apparel line. I was forced to wear this for school team tennis. Boy does it reek after a long summer match!

Stick with Adidas Climacool or Nike Dri-Fit. If you don't mind brand disloyalty give UnderArmour a shot! It's the best I have ever tried (even though I wear Adidas)

 

[darkhorse]

If the Dri-fit and Clima Cool is too expensive for you, try the ClimaLite shirts from Adidas. They look and feel like normal T-Shirts, but they wick away sweat almost as good as the high-end stuff.

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageMAADIDAS-AMCSTS.html

 

[wt888usa]

i know some people might disagree, but if you're really budget conscious, you can go to walmart and buy those "athletic works" or "starter" brand polyester shirts for $6-$10. Although they may not be as effective or stylish as the brand name ones, they're at least better than cotton shirts.

 

[fishuuuuu]

Actually, Target carries some starter end polyester shirts for very cheap as well.

The fabric isn't as smooth as the big name brands but the temperature management and wicking technology is the same, but cheaper!

 

[Craig Sheppard]

I have two types of shirts... the Dri-Fit $30 crew and some $15 "performance" fabric ones I got at Hecht's. Guess which one is better? ha...yep the $15 one. It's a lighter fabric for one, which makes it feel cooler, and it feels less soaked after an hour or so out in the humidity. So I don't think Dri-Fit are the best even though they do work well, but they're far better than any cotton shirt.

 

[wtennis206]

I can't stand anything cotton anymore (even my undershirt for church is climacool...lol). You don't get so soaking wet.

 

[Waimea_Boy]

If you want to stay even cooler, get sleeveless shirts. The new polyesters are great, but there's still nothing better to keep you cool than exposed skin. Choose your favorite brand and get their sleeveless shirts. They all make them now.

 

[Diablo]

But guys, I was wondering if the technology abt dri-fit, climacool, do they work only in drier climates, like those in temperate countries? Afterall, nike and adidas probably designed and tested their technology in the states, and europe, and I'm not surprised it does work

For us living in the tropics, hot and humid most of the time, im not sure how well it works. I have a dri-fit crew-neck shirt but it doesnt seem to dry off fast.

Same goes for goretex. It doesnt really work here in the tropics.

 

[wt888usa]

probably would not work well in a humid climate like the tropics because the sweat that's "wicked away" from the shirt won't actually evaporate very quickly at all.

 

[texastornado]

If the Dri-fit and Clima Cool is too expensive for you, try the ClimaLite shirts from Adidas. They look and feel like normal T-Shirts, but they wick away sweat almost as good as the high-end stuff.

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageMAADIDAS-AMCSTS.html

did you know these are actually just shirts with dri-release technology? if you look at www.drirelease.com you'll see they make adidas, nike and all kinds of shirts.

 

[ragnaROK]

They do work to some extent. Since I sweat a ton, after awhile my Dri-Fit gets drenched to and takes a good hr or so to dry off.

 

[fishuuuuu]

probably would not work well in a humid climate like the tropics because the sweat that's "wicked away" from the shirt won't actually evaporate very quickly at all.

Agree on this but the wicking technology is two sided, not only the drying part counts. In Texas the weather is very up and down so sometimes the benefits are accentuated. But during damp weather wicking technology still does a lot for me. Although the sweat is evaporated the sweat is pulled away from the immediate surface of your skin and the shirt doesn't stick to build up heat in the case of hot, damp, Texan weather.

 

[Bora]

They work better than the alternatives, cotton shirts or bare skin. Even at the 80-90% humidity and high heat I am playing in now. I just have to change them more often. I went through a shirt in each set yesterday. I was using a Head brand one and the Nike Dri-Fit which are both 100% polyester.

 

[Tchocky]

Try Under-Armour...they're supposed to have the best wicking technology, although they don't specifically make tennis apparel.

 

[CheapStrings]

Some other Dri-Fit advantages:
1. Cotton doesn't breath once it gets wet while Dri-Fit type shirts have much much better air flow.
2. The better air flow evaporates sweat faster.
3. They don't get as heavy as cotton.

Some of my older Dri-Fits type shirts get snags. I have to be careful to turn them inside out when washing and not wash them with clothes that have things like zippers.

 

[Fatmike]

I like to play shirtless

 

[TennsDog]

I pretty much only buy moisture management shirts now. They much more comfortable to wear all the time: lighter, looser, and hang better on your body. When I run in a cotton shirt and get it even half soaked in sweat, I can barely even get it off of my body at all. However, when I wear dri-fit type shirts, they don't stick at all and just come right off. I just wish more companies used that type of material and that they could get normal screen printing on them for everyday stuff that cotton shirts have.

 

[wt888usa]

Agree on this but the wicking technology is two sided, not only the drying part counts. In Texas the weather is very up and down so sometimes the benefits are accentuated. But during damp weather wicking technology still does a lot for me. Although the sweat is evaporated the sweat is pulled away from the immediate surface of your skin and the shirt doesn't stick to build up heat in the case of hot, damp, Texan weather.

Yes, I agree the drifit is good enough for texas humidity, as i have had no problems. although, i've also lived in the tropics before, and let me tell ya, that kind of humidity is a different kind of beast. and well in that case, it didn't really matter what material you wore.

that's cool though, i didn't think about the prevention of heat buildup. so does that mean having the dri-fit to pull the sweat away is actually better than, say, going shirtless and having the sweat directly on the skin?

 

[ssjkyle31]

There are alot of great deals out there. Some times you can get some shirts and shorts with the moisture technology cheap from TW. If you have a very limited budget Walmart and Target have the Starter and the Champion brand.

If you have a Marshall or Ross, you can get the Nike, Reebok, Addidas and Fila stuff from the last year models (sometimes maybe three years ago) for under twenty bucks a piece.

 

[bighitter325]

dry fit nike's did stick to me alot, when it was all soaked

 

[Waimea_Boy]

Please remember to NEVER USE FABRIC SOFTENER OF ANY KIND WITH POLYESTER CLOTHING. The performance polyesters like dri-fit and climacool use static electricity (along with capillary action) to wick the moisture from the inside of the fabric to the outside. Using fabric softener will prevent it from working. No permanent damage is done, you will just need to re-wash without fabric softener (or dryer sheets) to get it working again.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Please remember to NEVER USE FABRIC SOFTENER OF ANY KIND WITH POLYESTER CLOTHING. The performance polyesters like dri-fit and climacool use static electricity (along with capillary action) to wick the moisture from the inside of the fabric to the outside. Using fabric softener will prevent it from working. No permanent damage is done, you will just need to re-wash without fabric softener (or dryer sheets) to get it working again.

thanks for an important pointer.

how about climacool in the washing mashine? they indicate only washing by hand, with cold water:-[

 

[Marius_Hancu]

They work better than the alternatives, cotton shirts or bare skin. Even at the 80-90% humidity and high heat I am playing in now. I just have to change them more often. I went through a shirt in each set yesterday. I was using a Head brand one and the Nike Dri-Fit which are both 100% polyester.

hm, then where's the advantage? I am changing the cottons once a set too. now, Montreal isn't Georgia, but we just had 99% humidity (yes!) last week.

 

[d70]

cotton sucks. i have some drifit shirts but dont wear everytime i play. cotton sticks when sweaty. drifit dries off pretty quickly. not all drifit shirts are the same. I tend to like soft, thin and loose ones.

nike outlets have lots of them and around 15-20$ good price for nike. target has champion for 11-20$. ***** has some on sale too - most of them are large sizes. adidas outlets suck coz they sell expensive ugly stuff.

 

[datsveryinterestin]

Sure it was 96 degrees and with humidity yahoo said it "feels like 106F", but my dri-fit shirt was so soaked that it definitely weighed 5lbs and even though I hung it up to dri was still damp 8 hours later!!!
GROSS!
I did lose at least 6lbs playing in a match for 2.5 hours, so with the humidity I guess it all just went into my shirt!
Now I won't make light of all the gear and bags that the pros carry.
I should've changed shirts every set at least and wristbands several times.
It was a nightmare.
I lost the match too... and my opponent wasn't that good. I was just literally DRAINED. I pulled a Taylor Dent, but there was no trainer with smelling salts to keep me going. I won the first set, spaced out in the 2nd, and had my chances in the 3rd before I think I double faulted to end it. I might have blacked out for a while!!!!
Learned a good lesson about hydration and extra clothes and cooling... My opponent was pouring cold water on his headband and taking all of this time refilling jugs of water, but he eventually wore me out.

 

[BreakPoint]

I've found Russell Athletic Dri-Power shirts wick sweat and keeps me drier than all the other more expensive name brands, like Nike, Adidas, Fila, Reebok, etc.

 

[156MPHserve]

I really do think Dri-fit works the best. I haven't tried no-name brands, but I have tried Adidas ClimaLite? i think its ClimaLite, i could be wrong though. They're both black. Anyway I was playing one day with my friend on a hot summer morning before school, and we have a cooler in the back of his car, and since I was burning by the end of our session, I decided to take some water and soak my shirt to help cool off, but the Adidas shirt never dried up. I thought it would be like my Nike one which dries very quickly but the Adidas never dried. In the end I had to borrow a shirt from a friend because the shirt was still very moist and I coudln't stand the feeling. Nike sphere doesn't work as well as Dri-fit in my opinion. It's still a thousand times better than cotton but then I think it doesn't wick sweat aways as well, and also the texture I don't like too much either. Love that silky feeling of polyester shirts =)

 

[Marius_Hancu]

I really do think Dri-fit works the best. I haven't tried no-name brands, but I have tried Adidas ClimaLite? i think its ClimaLite, i could be wrong though. They're both black. Anyway I was playing one day with my friend on a hot summer morning before school, and we have a cooler in the back of his car, and since I was burning by the end of our session, I decided to take some water and soak my shirt to help cool off, but the Adidas shirt never dried up. I thought it would be like my Nike one which dries very quickly but the Adidas never dried. In the end I had to borrow a shirt from a friend because the shirt was still very moist and I coudln't stand the feeling. Nike sphere doesn't work as well as Dri-fit in my opinion. It's still a thousand times better than cotton but then I think it doesn't wick sweat aways as well, and also the texture I don't like too much either. Love that silky feeling of polyester shirts =)

I just bought an Addidas Theme shirt:
http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageMAADIDAS-AMC2TP.htm
which has ClimaCool.
It is mostly white.

I used it on a moderate day in terms of heat and humidity. Very light indeed.

After 3hrs of light effort (I was coaching), the shirt was relatively dry, but I had to towel myself several times, esp on the sides under the arms.

Also, if one is changing them once a set, then we're not better with them than cottons, where I am doing just the same.

Also the fact that one cannot wash them (at least not Theme) in the machine, but only by hand, it's not good. It seems that the machines could rend them as they have many junctions between mesh and non-mesh parts.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

I've found Russell Athletic Dri-Power shirts wick sweat and keeps me drier than all the other more expensive name brands, like Nike, Adidas, Fila, Reebok, etc.

I like these guys: they give you an choice - they also offer cotton 100%.

 

[TennsDog]

One thing that I have yet to understand about these types of materials: you can get 2 shirts from the same brand with the same name (i.e. Nike Dri Fit), yet the acutal material is different, it is not woven the same. Hats are the same way too. How can it be the same material when it is not made the same? I have found that not all Dri Fit shirts do as good of a job of getting dry as quickly. Also, I have a couple Reebok shirts that are really quite thick and heavy, and don't seem to do as good of a job as the Speed group (ala Roddick).

 

[Shyyre]

i'll agree with pretty much everyone one else so far. those breathable fabrics are lighter, which is nice, especially when it is hot, and after sweating, they don't "cling" to you as much as cotton. they dry quickly, i'll usually take two, then hand one over the net to dry when it gets wet... when the other one is soaked the first will be dry again gross i know, but i sweat alot and am not playing with anyone who cares (just yet

nike dri fit is good but expensive ( i recommend the hats especially, light and awesome) but adidas climalite or climacool is just as good. underarmour is good as well, i own lots of different brands cuz i'm a sale junky... but in truth, evn the cheapo generic poly athletic shirts are better than cotton..

i just can't wear cotton anymore at al, i even notice it when i play golf on a hot day!

 

[Shyyre]

Also the fact that one cannot wash them (at least not Theme) in the machine, but only by hand, it's not good. It seems that the machines could rend them as they have many junctions between mesh and non-mesh parts.

huh? i own a lot of this stuff, and if you put in washer with a light detergent (woolite) andput them in dryer under light spin or no heat then they are fine.

also most of these types of clothes, shirts especially are designed to strtch a bit, so drying them with heat just shirks them slightly.

 

[Tchocky]

Can someone please start a poll? Which is better at wicking sweat? Nike, Addidas, Under Armour, etc. Good thread.

 

[TennsDog]

See my post above, Tchocky. You cannot generalize to brand -- they all have different material, some of which wick sweat away better than others. It may get responses, but it would be a pointless poll in this respect.

 

[Jack the Hack]

I live near Portland, Oregon where the Nike World Headquarters is... we have several factory outlets around town, and I have friends that can get into the employee store. My point is that I have a LOT of Nike gear...

Anyway, I love the Dri-Fit shirts and shorts I have from Nike! I have a set of 6 shirts that I take to tournaments, and that is usually enough. Back when I wore cotton, I used to have to take at least twice that many... essentially, one cotton shirt per set because they would get so drenched and heavy. The Dri-Fit stuff I have is so light, it feels like I'm almost playing shirtless... and 15 minutes after playing 3 sets, they are usually dry. Great stuff...

By the way, not everyone may have the same factory store/employee store advantage, but I have never paid more than $15-25 bucks any of my shirts. Never pay retail!!!

 

[goober]

I've found Russell Athletic Dri-Power shirts wick sweat and keeps me drier than all the other more expensive name brands, like Nike, Adidas, Fila, Reebok, etc.

I was in Sports Authority today and checked out the Russell Dri-Power shirts. they were $19.99 and very plain with one solid color. $19.99 is more than I pay for Nike Drifit stuff at the Outlet or for other namebrand stuff on sale. I probably wouldn't consider the Dri-power shirts unless their prices were $8 or less for something so plain.

 

[BlakeH_05]

so are the dri fit shirts sorta tight or can u get them a little baggyish

 

[TennsDog]

They are loose, they don't stay against the skin like compression stuff or anything. They actually fit a lot better too, partly since (often times) the shoulder seems are in front and back, instead of one right on the shoulder.

 

[uxnaitoahz]

I just wear a T-Shirt when I play tennis. I don't think it's neccessary to pay money for "Dri-Fit" or any tennis clothing. I am content as long as I am decent.

 

[Shyyre]

I just wear a T-Shirt when I play tennis. I don't think it's neccessary to pay money for "Dri-Fit" or any tennis clothing. I am content as long as I am decent.

your loss then... they really are worth investing in.. i think they make a noticable difference in comfort level, and i think you are more likely to lpay better and be more relaxed if you are more comfortable.

 

[BreakPoint]

I was in Sports Authority today and checked out the Russell Dri-Power shirts. they were $19.99 and very plain with one solid color. $19.99 is more than I pay for Nike Drifit stuff at the Outlet or for other namebrand stuff on sale. I probably wouldn't consider the Dri-power shirts unless their prices were $8 or less for something so plain.

That's why you have to get them on sale. Sports Authority regulary puts them on sale at 50% off. I bought mine from Marshall's on clearance for $7 each.