You may hear the term 'breathable' or 'breathability' when looking at sportswear. But what does that term mean? A breathable piece of clothing allows any moisture to escape from inside, without actually letting any moisture in from the elements.

Whether you're out on the slopes, on a hike or on your bike, any kind of physical activity will cause a sweat. And the more the sweat builds up on your clothes or skin, the warmer, wetter, stickier and the more uncomfortable you will end up being. This is where breathability comes into the clothing equation.

When a garment is breathable, it is able to help remove that sweat away from the skin, which in turn helps you to feel more comfortable. With the way that the fabric works, it is able to wick away moisture without actually letting any moisture in either, which prevents any risk of condensation. When you're looking for high breathability, then look for the word permeability, if a garment has high permeability, it shows that the garment has a high level of breathability.

There are a few ways in which the breathability of clothing can be tested. All of these tests measure how much water vapour passes through the fabric in x amount of time.

Moisture vapour transmission works on an existence of a difference in both temperature and pressure between the inside and the outside of the piece of clothing. That means if the air inside the jacket (for example) is warmer/wetter than the air outside, the jacket will be able to help move the moisture out.

Another form of testing involves finding out the resistance of evaporation of a textile. The lower the resistance, the more breathable the garment is. That can be tested in ways like the inverted cup test and the upright cup test. Both of these tests use water in a cup (as the name suggests) and they all measure how much water has passed through the fabric by seeing what is left in the cup. Anything with a RET of 30+ is not breathable at all, with 0 being the highest level of breathability.

Waterproofing and breathability go hand in hand. Here at Dare 2b, our waterproof and breathable fabric technology is called ARED. We have different level of our ARED fabric protection, each offering higher amounts of breathability and waterproofing. Our ARED 30K/30K provides industry high levels of both waterproofing and breathability. You can find out more about our ARED fabric technology in it's own dedicated blog - ARED: Explaining our Waterproof and Breathable Fabrics.

As well as the fabric, breathability in garments can be increased by other features, mainly venting. Different examples of venting include pit zips and other body zips which allow more air flow without exposing your skin to the elements. Some breathable trousers come with zip off sections, which means you can change them from full length trousers to shorts or 3/4 length pant, again for more air flow. Another form of venting is mesh areas. Mesh fabric is very loosely woven fabric which allows more air to pass through it and in turn increases the level of breathability.