[delicious_scent]

For me, it's rayon/viscose and it's not even close.

I have a couple shirts in pure rayon, rayon/linen, and rayon/cotton, and they all work pretty great.

The fabric is silky soft, cool to the touch, breathable, stands away from the skin, and feels luxurious. It feels how summer should feel. Doesn't seem to retain sweat or smells either.

The only con I've found in the fabric is that it shrinks a lot and is apparently fragile. I've had no issues yet from cold wash and hang drying.

I've linen shirts I wear with sports coats and casual suits, but they're not as breathable as rayon. They're also scratchy when putting them on first thing in the morning.

My least favourite fabric I've tried was cotton-linen. Maybe the quality wasn't great, but I found it the scratchiest and least breathable. Only benefit was it wrinkled less, but that doesn't matter much to me.

 

[Flanderian]

For me, it's rayon/viscose and it's not even close.

I have a couple shirts in pure rayon, rayon/linen, and rayon/cotton, and they all work pretty great.

The fabric is silky soft, cool to the touch, breathable, stands away from the skin, and feels luxurious. It feels how summer should feel. Doesn't seem to retain sweat or smells either.

The only con I've found in the fabric is that it shrinks a lot and is apparently fragile. I've had no issues yet from cold wash and hang drying.

I've linen shirts I wear with sports coats and casual suits, but they're not as breathable as rayon. They're also scratchy when putting them on first thing in the morning.

My least favourite fabric I've tried was cotton-linen. Maybe the quality wasn't great, but I found it the scratchiest and least breathable. Only benefit was it wrinkled less, but that doesn't matter much to me.

I have no doubt it is.

But the coolest, most comfortable and best performing cloth I've encountered for truly hot weather is Torri Richard's cotton lawn with their proprietary finish.

Troptopia

A mythical paradise, with a broad tip pen, is outlined in detail from the striation of leaves to the sloping ridge of the island across the sea. Printed on our breathable cotton lawn for warm-weather locales and proudly made in Hawai'i, USA. 100% Cotton Lawn, printed in Japan Proprietary hand...

toririchard.com

 

[delicious_scent]

I have no doubt it is.

But the coolest, most comfortable and best performing cloth I've encountered for truly hot weather is Torri Richard's cotton lawn with their proprietary finish.

Troptopia

A mythical paradise, with a broad tip pen, is outlined in detail from the striation of leaves to the sloping ridge of the island across the sea. Printed on our breathable cotton lawn for warm-weather locales and proudly made in Hawai'i, USA. 100% Cotton Lawn, printed in Japan Proprietary hand...

toririchard.com

Hm, are you implying you find that fabric to perform better than rayon?

If so, I'll have to check it out.

 

[ItalianStyle]

But the coolest, most comfortable and best performing cloth I've encountered for truly hot weather is Torri Richard's cotton lawn with their proprietary finish.

I haven't heard of these, so I took a look.
A big thumbs up from me for aligning the breast pocket pattern to the underlying pattern instead of the usual solution ("we'll just rotate the pocket pattern 45 deg. and pretend it's fashion, although we all know we're just cheap")

 

[Flanderian]

Hm, are you implying you find that fabric to perform better than rayon?

If so, I'll have to check it out.

Implying? No, stating!

While I can not claim to have worn every rayon cloth in existence, I find the above cotton lawn to be lighter, cooler and better breathing. One caveat is that's it's sheer, and while it lends itself to prints, can be a bit gauzy for unprinted cloth.

 

[Flanderian]

I haven't heard of these, so I took a look.
A big thumbs up from me for aligning the breast pocket pattern to the underlying pattern instead of the usual solution ("we'll just rotate the pocket pattern 45 deg. and pretend it's fashion, although we all know we're just cheap")

IMHO, Torri Richard is the pick of the litter among Aloha shirts. I've collected them for about 20 years. Unfortunately their focus on that particular style seems to have diminished. Their original genesis was the creation of novel and gorgeous prints for their shirts. Sadly, I find many of their more recent efforts less inspiring.

 

[Peak and Pine]

Just clicked the Tori Richards link.
I don't have a lotta extra $105 bills laying around (since I'm saving up for an erector set), so I'll just have to stay put with my all white, all cotton $14 Kirkland no-irons. Gawd I look good in all white cotton, but so does everybody. Enhanced in my case with ass in the grass, back against a pine reading Treasure Island for the 12th time. In really hot weather I'll thrice a shirt daily. But it's Maine and we haven't had a sirocco since the time the moon went navy, with pin stripes if you squinted.

 

[William Kazak]

Everyone has their own preferences. I prefer linen shirts in the summer in the Midwest. Long sleeves look the best but short sleeved linen shirts are more practical to my way of thinking. I certainly have both long and short sleeved linen shirts.

 

[drpeter]

Gawd I look good in all white cotton, but so does everybody

Astute observation, Peaks!

 

[Matt S]

If you find linen or cotton/linen scratchy, you need to find a different variety. I have some linen/cotton that feels very soft.

The most comfortable summer shirts I have are seersucker. They breathe well and they look great too.

 

[andrewstonnis]

Rayon is always on the extreme level of comfort, it provides such a good and comfy vibe, i also do have a some shirts in this material, and they are my favorite as well. I also love to wear cotton shirts, they are also good for you if you are attending a formal event so.

 

[delicious_scent]

Implying? No, stating!

While I can not claim to have worn every rayon cloth in existence, I find the above cotton lawn to be lighter, cooler and better breathing. One caveat is that's it's sheer, and while it lends itself to prints, can be a bit gauzy for unprinted cloth.

Okay, now I definitely have to try these out.

As someone who can't wear tailoring past 80F, I've had to find different looks and I've found it difficult.

I'll take "Permanently on vacation" look any day over business casual. For me that's white camp collar shirts in prints, loose fatigue pants in a lightweight poplin, and Birkenstocks.

Astute observation, Peaks!

I've grown fond of cream lately. Looks less harsh than white.

If you find linen or cotton/linen scratchy, you need to find a different variety. I have some linen/cotton that feels very soft.

The most comfortable summer shirts I have are seersucker. They breathe well and they look great too.

I've tried seersucker too, and found it ok. Didn't find it too different from a cotton poplin shirt.

Most of the linens I've tried are from Spier & Mackay and Proper Cloth. The Proper Cloth ones are labelled are Irish Linen.

Not sure what kind of variety to look out for, linen doesn't seem to be labelled as well as cotton. Only thing I know is to avoid twill weaves.

 

[Matt S]

I've tried seersucker too, and found it ok. Didn't find it too different from a cotton poplin shirt.

Most of the linens I've tried are from Spier & Mackay and Proper Cloth. The Proper Cloth ones are labelled are Irish Linen.

Not sure what kind of variety to look out for, linen doesn't seem to be labelled as well as cotton. Only thing I know is to avoid twill weaves.

I'm surprised you've found seersuckers shirts like that. When I wear the three that I have, I feel like I'm not wearing any shirt.

Irish linen is not so good for shirts. Italian linen is lighter, softer and overall better for shirts.

 

[delicious_scent]

I'm surprised you've found seersuckers shirts like that. When I wear the three that I have, I feel like I'm not wearing any shirt.

Irish linen is not so good for shirts. Italian linen is lighter, softer and overall better for shirts.

Where do you get your shirts?

Italian linen sounds right up my alley, but unfortunately not available in plain colours on Proper Cloth's website. I'm not sure why irish linen is so common for shirts, it seems better suited to suits.

 

[Matt S]

Where do you get your shirts?

Italian linen sounds right up my alley, but unfortunately not available in plain colours on Proper Cloth's website. I'm not sure why irish linen is so common for shirts, it seems better suited to suits.

These shirts are from Mason & Sons and Orlebar Brown. I'm not sure what's available currently. Mason & Sons can probably do them MTM.