I have been researching today and found there are some new synthetic clothing which say “Active Cooling” on the label. I think it was @bojack who said some synthetics and naturals can be good.
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When I said active cooling I meant something with air conditioning inside, hence “active cooling”. I wonder if it’s possible to have a small AC unit that generates cool air only inside your clothing, and then your clothing can be insulating to keep the heat out.
You really only need to remove about 2-300 watts of heat from inside your clothe to keep you comfortable (or even freezing). I think this is something that can be done with peltier based cooling (basically some kind of semiconductor that gets cold on one side and hot the other side when electricity is applied). These can then be run from a battery (similar to ones for powering laptops) to provide some cooling…
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I went synthetic (on pants at least) and never looked back. Cotton feels good on your skin, but it’s heavy and really slow to dry. A good high-tech synthetic is super light, wicks moisture away from your skin, and dries almost instantly. I’d never go back to cotton.
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I am nearly cotton on everything but since this allergy took over my life, I will try other things; during the summer at least. 
Is there an example of this? I am almost always cotton because it feels really good and I hate synthetics because it just feels wrong… you know those polyester T shirts come to mind.
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Sounds expensive.
I presume this is not your average polyester shirt/jersey that the nightmarket sells cheap?
What’s so different about these compared to cheap poly shirts? I hated poly shirts because they trap heat and it’s uncomfortable as hell
Dri-Fit doesn’t feel like polyester on your skin at all…it feels almost like cotton. It can be expensive, but you can find it on sale if you look. When I’m in the U.S., I can often find new Dri-Fit clothes at thrift shops for really low prices. Also, for pants, I like the ones made out of thin, breathable nylon fabric (sometimes blended with other materials). The nylon and nylon-blend stuff is usually really reasonably priced. A lot of this stuff is made in Taiwan, so you can sometimes find it at 外銷成衣 stores super cheap.
I prefer wearing jeans, unless they make ones like that but still feels like denim.
Or do they make Dri Fit T shirts?
In that case, I can’t help you. I would never wear jeans in Taiwan…way too heavy. The synthetic pants I wear are fifty times more comfortable than jeans.
Yes, they make Dri-Fit everything.
That’s a great tip because the pants ain’t cheap. But yeah, I doubt I’ll ever go back either.
I have a half dozen Kühl pants, including a couple of very lightweight pairs and one pair of heavy, fake corduroy pants that I absolutely love but that I only break out for maybe 4 weeks every winter in Taiwan. Made in Utah, USA.
I was in Decathlon in Hsinchu the other day, and they had some lightweight cargo-pocket hikers on sale. One style in particular was sale priced at nt499. I almost bought a pair, but the temptation passed.
Dri Fit tee-shirts are fast taking over my closet. I haven’t bought a cotton tee in years.
Unfortunately, I’ve never seen Dri-Fit pants in thrift stores…only shirts, shorts and track jackets.
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Always wear shorts here Jan - Dec and go commando when it gets warmer, natural ventilation.
There are no thrift stores I am aware of in Taiwan, so most likely Dri Fit clothing will cost a LOT. I wish there was because all the clothing you find that are cheap is such a low quality that I wouldn’t even use it as rags.
But honestly for anything that’s going to keep heat away all I can think of is wear as little as possible without breaking the law, and that’s why sometimes I wish there are active cooling for clothing, especially for summer months and you must wear more clothing during those time. In particular any point of contact (such as backpacks) becomes a hot spot. Even just a plate on the back of backpacks that turns cool when the power is applied must make a really big difference.
Do you shop at 外銷成衣 stores? If not, you should. You can get high quality made for export clothes for very low prices.
Where do they have them? There used to be a shop in Ximen inside that wannien building that sold a lot of high quality T shirts. Most often band shirts and pretty dragon lady and stuff, but they stopped selling those and went online only.
This is my favorite, and there are plenty of others.
來自臺灣服飾 MADE IN TAIWAN
No. 53, Yongheng Road, Yonghe District, New Taipei City, 234
Search around the site…there have been threads on this topic before.
Update.
I bought both the creams that @bojack and @Hanna suggested. The Aveeno and Cetaphil.
I bought the former from Watsons and the latter online. Cetaphil is expensive to buy in a store but can be bought at a much better price online.
They are both excellent creams and achieve similar results. Aveeno is cheaper but much more has to be used per application than Cetaphil.
I bought a variety of different trousers, the best being from various retail outlets and made of man made fibers! My skin allergies are about 70% down. Now to change my laundry detergent as @hanna suggested. Will update from there.
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