My friend and local Maine Track Club membership chair Sandra Walton asked me recently about my Atayne shirts and what I thought about how well they wicked sweat away from you.
I’ve never really noticed a problem with my shirts. I’ll be the first to acknowledging that the shirts are a little heavier than some of my other shirts, but I thought that the major problem that Sandy was having was due more to the extreme humidity that we were having the past week than to the shirts themselves.
Rather than relying on opinions, she decided to get to the truth of the matter…
Okay, I had to prove it to myself. If it was just a matter of high humidity that gave me a super soaked shirt, then I didn’t want to continue to speak negatively about the Atayne shirt’s wicking properties, SO…
I did a little experiment with the help of my bachelors-in-chemical-engineering husband, Casey. Thanks, Brock, for the idea.
The Experiment
I took 5 different brands of shirts, and ran on the treadmill in each one for exactly 5 minutes after a 10 minute warm up. I weighed the shirts in grams before the run, immediately after the 5 minute run, 5 minutes after the run, and 10 minutes after the run.
The Data
| New Balance | Brooks | Atayne | Asics | Nike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry Weight | 134 g | 131 g | 163 g | 117 g | 107 g |
| Immediately after 5 minutes of running | 142 g | 145 g | 178 g | 132 g | 124 g |
| After 5 minutes of air drying time | 141 g | 144 g | 177 g | 132 g | 124 g |
| After 10 minutes of air drying time | 140 g | 144 g | 176 g | 132 g | 123½ g |
| Difference after 10 minutes | 2 g | 1 g | 2 g | 0 g | ½ g |
My Analysis
The New Balance and Atayne shirts had 2g of sweat evaporate out, with Brooks at 1g, and the others not at all – after 10 minutes of ‘air time’.
One big difference I saw while running is that the Atayne shirt is quite heavy and definitely felt hotter – I almost felt like I was putting on a jacket (compared to the others), especially when compared to running in the lightest, the Nike shirt, in spite of the fact that Nike didn’t wick/dry as well.
In any case, that was enough for me feel that with all the other plusses about the Atayne company (green, Maine company, community service) and shirt (design, odorless, colors, softness), I can give my full support towards Atayne for this project and any other race that we put on!
…I can admit when I’m wrong! 🙂
By the way, I lost 69 grams or 2½ ounces of sweat in just the shirts in 25 minutes — drink up!
…and now I have lots of laundry to do…
Sandy
(Photo Sources: Sandra Walton – Sasha Wolff)
I always thought the wicking shirt was designed to do two things, 1. pull the sweat of your body to allow for better evaporation, thus cooling and 2. to disperse the sweat at an adequate rate from the shirt.
What the test didn’t show is how the weight or heaviness of the shirt affected the sweat rate of the person and also was the shirt retaining more sweat because the person was sweating more (because of the properties of the shirt as in the Atayne feeling hotter)
The Newbalance only retained 9g of sweat (the least amount) and the Nike retained 17g of sweat (the most)
Assuming the sweat rate was the same for each shirt, than the New balance left a lot of sweat on the body (so not so good) and the Nike removed more sweat but didn’t disperse it well.
If that is true than it would apear then the Atayne retaining as much sweat as the Asics and more sweat than the Brooks yet still dispersing 2g would seem to be the best choice.
But what if a shirt is dispersing sweat while you are running and the New Balance actually pulled the 14-17g off the body like the others but was able to disperse 5-7g while running. This might mean that over a longer run,the New balance would be the best choice.
It seems there are many more factors that could be incorporated which could easily change the results.
So, I think it boils down to personal preference rather than wicking action. If it works for you and you feel comfortable then wear it.