> Other than optimal temperature, what does the human skin need to feel "comfort?"
Water... Humidity control and water transport is a huge aspect.
This is why wicking is a big deal for base layers. And there is different types of wicking as well: moving to the next layer or just absorbing the water. There are pros and cons to both methods. The synthetics usually transport moisture... but this really sucks if your outer layer is waterproof which is often the case.
This is one of the many reason why wool is often used as a base layer. Wool has great humidity control via absorption with out loss of temperature. Some fabrics via absorption become like heat sink conductors (cotton) and others like neoprene (wool).
Otherwise you get chaffing, extreme heat loss, fabric freezing to skin, difficult to dry among other things... there is hackneyed expression that hikers have: cotton kills.
However wool can only absorb so much water. One of the fundamental problems is that it is really hard to create breathable fabric and waterproof fabric (despite gore-tex marketing claims).
But yeah if you had nanotech adjusting to heat/cold and water... sure it would be possible.
>This is one of the many reason why wool is often used as a base layer.
Wool is itchy and scratchy. Lots of people hate wool.
>there is hackneyed expression that hikers have: cotton kills.
Yes, cotton is terrible as a base layer. That's why high-quality hiker's socks have a lot of nylon, the thing you claim in another post is "pretty damn uncomfortable". My hiking socks aren't uncomfortable at all.
> Wool is itchy and scratchy. Lots of people hate wool.
And synthetics stink like crap after short use. Today's Merino Wool is not as scratchy as yesteryear (e.g. smartwool, icebreakers, etc).
> Yes, cotton is terrible as a base layer. That's why high-quality hiker's socks have a lot of nylon, the thing you claim in another post is "pretty damn uncomfortable". My hiking socks aren't uncomfortable at all.
Nylon is fantastic for feet particularly if mixed with other fabric. DarnTough and Smartwool use a merino nylon mix.
Your feet are different than the rest of your body and my previous comment was alluding to 100% nylon.
If you think a 100% nylon shirt is comfortable (or even warm for that matter) I must admit I will be amused.
> Tons of women seem to have no problem with nylon hosiery. And tons of men are now wearing fairly similar "baselayer" leggings made of nylon.
And there are tons of women that do find it uncomfortable. In fact I don't know of a single woman that enjoys being in nylons all day.
As for men wearing nylon leggings (which I assume non hosiery but for active wear) it is a blend of fabrics. Usually it is a mixture of nylon, spandex, polyester maybe some wool. To be honest spandex is more of the key component (not by total % but giving it the stretch) in leggings these days.
EDIT your reference to yoga pants/tights is amusing but you do know that yoga pants/tights aren't made of 100% nylon?
They are made just like work out leggings which might have nylon as component. The key ingredient for tights these days is spandex and not nylon.
>In fact I don't know of a single woman that enjoys being in nylons all day.
Maybe you aren't talking to the right ones then. Considering how many young women I see dressed casually in tights these days, apparently a lot of people do like them. If you're talking about business-wear, it's probably because business-wear in general isn't very comfortable; men's suits are horribly uncomfortable too, so I imagine women's business skirts and jackets are just as awful. If you want to see what's comfortable (or at least not horribly uncomfortable), look at what younger people are wearing away from the workplace.
Your reference to yoga pants/tights is amusing but you do know that yoga pants/tights aren't made of 100% nylon?
They are made just like work out leggings which might have nylon as component. The key ingredient for tights these days is spandex and not nylon.
> If you're talking about business-wear, it's probably because business-wear in general isn't very comfortable; men's suits are horribly uncomfortable tooa
Men's suits made with wool are not uncomfortable unless we are talking extreme heat. They are silk lined and the wool is ultra fine. Is it as comfortable as cotton? maybe not.. but is for damn sure more comfortable than 100% nylon. I remember thinking men's biz wear was uncomfortable when I was younger and bought crap.
> so I imagine women's business skirts and jackets are just as awful
They are worse. I won't go into the details but women's clothing is more volume based than quality. Also almost all men's dress clothes are tailored and it is rare for women's clothes to be tailored.
You know what is uncomfortable that is apparently casual these days is "skinny" anything. Skinny jeans are damn uncomfortable.
>Your reference to yoga pants/tights is amusing but you do know that yoga pants/tights aren't made of 100% nylon?
Actually, no, I'm talking about tights, not yoga pants. If I had meant yoga pants, I would have written that. Tights are just thicker versions of women's pantyhose.
>The key ingredient for tights these days is spandex and not nylon.
Untrue; go look at the labels. Spandex is usually in the single-digit range as a percentage, and never more than 15% from what I've seen. I guess you could call it a "key ingredient" like egg is an essential ingredient many baked goods, even though it's a small portion of the overall volume, while the majority is wheat flour. But no one makes anything out of mainly spandex; it's added in as a small component for its extremely elastic properties.
>You know what is uncomfortable that is apparently casual these days is "skinny" anything. Skinny jeans are damn uncomfortable.
Tons of young people seem to disagree with you. Most likely, they have spandex added. It probably also helps a lot to not be fat.
> Actually, no, I'm talking about tights, not yoga pants. If I had meant yoga pants, I would have written that. Tights are just thicker versions of women's pantyhose.
Well I admit it seems I have mixed up the word tights. Apparently tights can mean hosiery.
I meant the black pants you see around college campuses. They don't wear skirts with them but I suppose skirts can be worn.
> I guess you could call it a "key ingredient" like egg is an essential ingredient many baked goods
Yes that is exactly what I meant.
They make cotton spandex leggings.
> Tons of young people seem to disagree with you. Most likely, they have spandex added. It probably also helps a lot to not be fat.
Hmm I'll make sure to put on my nylon spandex pajamas on tonight.
When I google lounge wear there seems to be trend of things being"relaxed" fit... which seem to be loose. Even the term "relaxed" sort of implies comfort.
The main reason why they put nylon in anything is to make the garment stronger and not for comfort.
Wool can be itchy and scratchy, but it absolutely doesn't have to be. The typical coarse wool-sweather can be fairly scratchy. "functional" merino-wool underwear/t-shirts are a dream, not just for hiking (what they are typically marketed for, since the stuff stays extremely non-stinky even if worn while exercising)
Would the below work?
[ Body | A layer of comfortable fabric that is only a few atoms thick | Pockets of air | A layer of light+strong magic material like spider silk ]
and nanobots embedded throughout the clothing that sense your skin's temperature and heat/vent the air pockets accordingly.