A hoodie or hoody is a warm and cosy cotton or nylon sweatshirt with a hood and great for many outdoor activites in or out of the water. Some have a front pocket to carry food or whatever.

Hoodies come in nylon, polyester or cotton of different weight. Some hoodies are thin, like hooded T-shirts. Others are thick and get very heavy when wet. This is good for resistance swimming, running and aquatic weight training.

Swimming Training

A hoodie is fun to wear in the water or as a dry warm up afterwards. You can also use it for resistance swimming training as it gets heavy when soaked and then just feels awesome. Always have a hoodie or two in your swim bag.

Keeping Cool

Cotton hoodies are quite popular in Thailand. You may wonder why they wear a hoodie in such hot weather. One reason is modesty, the other is that they don't want a tan. If they get too hot they simply douse their hoodie with water from a bottle or go for a quick swim. Wet cotton will cool you somewhat out of the water, so it's good for warm days or hot climates.

Keeping Warm

We lose about 1/3 of our heat through the head as the blood vessels can't constrict like they can do elsewhere. A hood helps reduce this heat loss, thus keeping you warmer. The hood provides good cover for your head on windy days and protects against sunburn, stings and other marine hazards.

Robin Hood, the hooded monk, was one of the original hoodie wearers. It displays a non-conformist spirit of indenpendence and freedom. Wear it with pride.


So, what do you think?

A lot of sun protection swimwear is skin tight so you can swim swiftly. The downside is that it can get a bit hot in warm climates, unless you soak it regularly. Also, when it stretches it looses some of its sun protection.

An alternative is a loose fitting hoodie. We've tested a Nike hoodie and breathable lightweight nylon shell pants in Thailand. Air temperature was about 35°C and the water of the lake was about 28°C warm. Sunshine was intense. The hoodie didn't feel hot, just cosy and snug.

Dry Test

The fabric is smooth on the outside and fluffy soft on the inside, feels good on the skin. It doesn't hold much water, but soaks up sweat and evaportates it quickly, keeping your skin fairly dry. The loose fit allows plenty of airflow. The hood can be used to protect your head from sunburn.

We tried these hoodies and tracksuit pants while trekking up a hot river valley. This got us a bit warm, but there were plenty of waterfalls to cool off. Once this outfit was wet it felt great, like wearable air-conditioning. However, it dried out soon so another "refill" was needed at the next waterfall.

Next we wore the hoodies and nylon shell pants on our way to the lake which took almost an hour by Tuc-Tuc (a motorised riksha, motorbike on the front, sofa on wheels on the back). The loose fit let a lot of wind through and felt really comfortable.

Swim Test

In the water the hoodie was just as comfortable as on land. It slows down your swimming a bit, but that is not a problem for recreational swimming. The hood comes in handy if the glare from the sun's reflections gets too intense. Just put it up, face away from the sun and you're cool.

After your swim the water runs off quickly leaving it just damp. If you keep it on in hot weather it will dry out in less than an hour. On cooler days you may want to wear a swimshirt underneath.

Cool Sound Effects

A wet hoodie creates awesome sound effects when the hood goes up on your head. It amplifies the sound around you like a big ear. You also hear the water inside your hoodie splashing around when you go swimming.

Summary

We feel this is sofar the most practical outfit for sun safety and UV protection. It has better circulation than a swimshirt, dries almost as fast and looks good both wet and dry.

Fabric: 71% Polyester, 29% Polybutylene Terepthalate (whatever that is)