---
title: "Are Dri Fit-type shirts better?"
published: 2016-01-11
updated: 2026-08-04
category: "Ciencia"
source: "https://dev-abp.massivoai.com/en/articles/son-mejores-las-camisas-tipo-dri-fit"
---

# Are Dri Fit-type shirts better?

**From what you see on the streets and at races, perhaps more than 90% of people wear "special" shirts for running: quick-drying, with super ventilation, that reduce moisture and almost come with built-in air conditioning, as a recent advertisement suggested. And it's fine, the truth is that Dri Fit-type shirts are comfortable, but are they better than simple cotton ones?**

Two recent studies tested the advantages of exercising with Dri Fit-type shirts compared to ordinary 100% cotton shirts. Dri Fit is a Nike material that contains polyester, cotton, and spandex. But it's not the only brand that has fabrics claiming to optimize athletic performance; each brand has its own with a different name: Climacool, Heatgear, Playdry, etc. To spare ourselves the details, we'll speak generally about Dri Fit-type fabrics, whose main component is polyester.

Despite being a widely accepted and used material by those who practice sports, neither of the studies could demonstrate that running with Dri Fit-type shirts had a positive effect on performance. The first[recent study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1080603213000975), from 2013, had eight well-trained men run with different types of polyester, as well as with a cotton shirt, in an environment of 32 degrees Celsius (quite hot). The test consisted of running 30 minutes at a relatively comfortable pace (70% of maximum oxygen consumption), followed by an increase in intensity until exhaustion.

Humidity levels on the chest and back were lower when they wore polyester shirts, and the sensation of heat and sweating were also lower compared to when they wore the cotton shirt. The athletes' body temperature was also lower when they wore polyester, but only during recovery. While running there were no differences in temperature. There were also no differences in heart rate, oxygen consumption, lactate levels, ventilation, and heat perception. But most importantly: there were no differences in performance.

That is, wearing Dri Fit-type shirts in a hot environment made no difference in terms of performance. Based on this, Sol y Arena could very well run in their old gardening shirt and do just as well (or just as poorly, I don't know) as if they wore their fancy shirt with aerospace technology that cost them $100.

Another[recent study](http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/25567048)compared the performance of six men and six women while wearing a white cotton shirt, black cotton shirt, white polyester shirt, and black polyester shirt. They had them run 10k with each shirt and made several measurements. They saw no difference in the athletes' pace, nor in heart rate, nor were there differences in rectal temperature or skin temperature, regardless of the color or material they used.

Only the black cotton shirt was found to have a higher temperature than the others, but this did not affect the performance of the participants. In summary, neither the color of the shirt nor the type of material influenced performance.

Based on these two studies, it could be said that the advantages of Dri Fit-type shirts are limited to a matter of perception and comfort (not in all cases), rather than a matter of performance.

A Buen Paso uses [Massivo](https://massivoai.com), the event-registration platform that powers this article.