Picking the right gear to help you beat the heat can be tricky. The summer sun can be unforgiving — quite literally limiting options in our rotation. Thankfully the Highsnobiety Summer Style Guide is here to help you keep cool during the warmest months of the year. From the latest trends to season staples, you'll find lightweight pieces that still result in heavyweight looks.
It's getting hot out there, seriously hot. July is the hottest month of the year globally and 2021 delivered the hottest one to date. This year, the weather gods seem to be seeing that as a competition, and a standard tee is proving not to be cool enough.
It's time for something more advanced — your tee needs to breathe.
They might usually be the reserve of serious runners but, in peak summer, we deserve this democratization of the breathable tee. I'd usually swear by a heavyweight, thick cotton t-shirt, but sometimes comfort needs to come first.
The best breathable T-shirts will include moisture-wicking tech — a term you'll likely hear a lot when shopping in this category. In basic terms, it means that the tee will transport sweat away from your skin to the surface of the fabric, where it'll evaporate from.
Below, we've picked out the best breathable T-shirts on the market right now, from outdoor wear experts like Arc'teryx and Rapha.
Scroll for this season's best breathable T-shirts.
Pas Normal Control Vest
Over the past few years, cycling gear has become actually cool, and Pas Normal is one of the brands leading that charge. Where once existed skin-tight dad-ready apparel now thrives fire stuff like this. The properties of this vest help with both moisture-wicking and temperature control.
SOAR Hot Weather Running Top
The introduction of summer doesn't necessarily mean waving goodbye to long sleeve t-shirts, thanks to the technology in running t-shirts. In this design, in particular, the top portion is crafted from UPF 50 fabric which offers sun protection, whilst the rest of the shirt is engineered to make moisture (aka sweat) wick away, using a three-dimensional mesh.
Arc'teryx Motus SL Crew Neck Shirt
You don't need me to tell you that Arc'teryx knows how to do outdoor gear. And do it damn well. For all the fabric nerds out there, prepare to be impressed by the superlight Phasic™ FL bi-component fabric and its exceptional moisture management.
MAAP Black X P.A.M. Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Having already established that cycling apparel has been through a glow-up, nobody is doing it quite like P.A.M. and MAAP. The collaboration is now onto its second iteration and continues to blend trippy graphics with technical fabrics found on cycling gear.
Rapha Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Rapha is an expert in all things cycling, so you can trust that whatever it releases has taken into consideration the whole breathability thing.
Nike Dri-FIT x MMW Short-Sleeve Top
As well as releasing sneakers that look as though they are straight from another planet, Nike and Mathew M. Williams' collaboration sees the Givenchy creative director use Nike's Dri-FIT fabric for technical shirts with his stylistic sensibilities.
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