According to HeatTech’s product page, “11-micron fibers capture the energy of water particles released from the body at the nano level and convert this energy into heat.” (A Uniqlo rep didn’t offer any more detail about how this process actually works Hansen said he would take the claim with a “grain of salt”.)Ĭontrary to the conventional wisdom on layers, Uniqlo markets HeatTech as something you can wear standalone.
Each HeatTech item is made of polyester for moisture wicking, mixed with fibers of micro-acrylic and rayon (a material made from the cellulose of trees) spun to one-tenth the width of a human hair. Uniqlo’s HeatTech also tries to wick sweat while insulating, using a much cheaper all-synthetic blend. “You could be wearing a trash bag over whatever base layer you choose, but if you don’t have what’s next-to-skin to help keep your microclimate or thermoregulation intact, then you’re not going to be very comfortable.” “Everything starts next to the skin,” said Sue Jesch, the company’s design director. In hiking circles there’s a lot of hype around Smartwool, an upmarket brand whose signature “ Intraknit” line uses a blend of soft Merino wool and polyester. The promise of newer base layer products with big R&D budgets is that they’ll wick sweat and insulate you. Photograph: Budrul Chukrut/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock Uniqlo’s HeatTech is made with an all-synthetic blend, which tries to wick sweat while insulating. Others are ardent believers in wool, which naturally pulls moisture into its fibers and lets it evaporate off: “you can’t feel it against your skin,” Hansen said.
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Instead, outdoor enthusiasts swear by synthetics like polyester, which has tiny channels that “wick” moisture from your skin to the fabric’s surface. It’s why cold weather hikers have a saying: “Cotton kills.” Cotton makes a poor base layer: while it traps air – good for insulation – it absorbs water and dries slowly which forces your body to give up even more heat to make the water evaporate. Here is where hi-tech features really make a difference: the best outer layers are made of “breathable” textiles like Gore-Tex, which keep wind and rain from getting in while letting your sweat out.įor the base layer, much cheaper materials can be incredibly effective, but it’s important to choose the right one, Hansen said. A third layer, called the outer layer, shields you from the elements. What actually keeps you warm is insulation: typically a separate layer worn over the base layer to keep the warm air generated by your body from escaping. The job of a base layer, Hansen said, “is primarily wicking: to get sweat off your skin and out into the environment”, so that the moisture no longer robs your body of heat. That sounds kind of the same, but it’s not.” “The base layer is not designed to keep you warm it’s designed to stop you from cooling down. Traditionally, base layers have a specific job within a three-layer system, he said. To learn how base layers are supposed to work, I spoke to Drew Hansen, a 40-year-old outdoor expert and gear reviewer who says he became obsessed with cold weather survival after experiencing hypothermia as a teenage hiker. Uniqlo has even sold HeatTech from airport vending machines.īut how much of HeatTech’s technology is actually tech, and how much is just a marketing spin on good old-fashioned thermals, and our centuries-old knowledge about staying warm? Since its launch in 2003, Uniqlo has sold more than 1bn pieces of HeatTech, boasting that the fabric used in these items “would stretch 700,000km, or 17.5 times around the globe”. Demand is particularly high this year as money-saving experts are suggesting that people who are worried about energy bills invest in base layers, with some Brits resorting to stockpiling thermal underwear. At Uniqlo stores from Manhattan to Tokyo, the items are already flying off the shelves (they’re often gone by the end of October). With frigid temperatures arriving on top of newly soaring fuel costs, it’s HeatTech season again.
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