What raw jeans for hot weather?

[mat_wue]

For really hot weather Edwin 55 chino pants made from selvage canvas might a nice alternative to jeans (they are even available as bermudas ). I have a work shirt made from the same selvage material and it feels and looks really nice, I imagine it to make a great (and light) pant, too. The canvas weights 8 oz has a very nice blue tone which is not really captured on the photographs below (from a shop).

It is not raw though but rinsed. And the fit is somewhat too tapered for my taste. I would still like to try them on, though, but so far no luck finding them.

[shinobi2000]

so loose weave = cooler because the air passes through

and tight weave = hotter because the air is trapped?

or

loose weave = hotter because of all the hot air hitting your legs

tight weave = cooler because it blocks heat from getting close to you

how does one know how tight the weave is in their denim?

i'm no expert but using my own distorted logic, I vote for tight weave = hotter. You might think it blocks external heat from entering but don't forget it will also block INTERNAL heat from EXITING. Besides, it's not like a reflective shield, it's not going to bounce away the sun's heat or blow away the surrounding hot air.

[thirdhand]

so loose weave = cooler because the air passes through

and tight weave = hotter because the air is trapped?

or

loose weave = hotter because of all the hot air hitting your legs

tight weave = cooler because it blocks heat from getting close to you

how does one know how tight the weave is in their denim?

Looser weave fabric better than tighter because humans cool themselves by sweating. Sweating cools the body through evaporation of moisture. Air circulation speeds up this evaporation (that's why a fan works, even in a hot room. Fans don't cool rooms, they cool people by increasing the amount of air moving around your body). Tightly woven fabric will not feel as cool because air has a harder time passing through to the skin. Surface to mass ratio also plays into it.

How tight is the weave? Hold it up to the sun. Can you see light through it? How easily does water pass through the fabric? Does it look more like cheese cloth or a wash cloth?

If the goal is to be as cool as possible while wearing jeans then you, ideally, should look for jeans with the following criteria:

• All natural fibers (not a problem in the high-end jeans world).
  
• Fabric woven from fibers that "wear cooler" than cotton -- linen, hemp, silk, and sugar millet.
  
• Cuts that don't cause the fabric to cling to the body - Think 30s/40s 501s. Not 511s/510s.
  
• Lighter color fabric.
  
• Fabric with puckered texture like seersucker or shijira-ori because the puckered nature of the fabric means less of it is in contact with the skin.
  

All that said, looks like Naked and Famous makes a number of jeans that hit several of these marks. Hemp/cotton denim, linen/cotton denim, silk/cotton denim all in lighter weights than your run of the mill Japanese selvage. I can't personally vouch for them because I've never owned any of their N&F though. I do, however, wear Sugar Cane jeans and can vouch for their Sugar Millet fabrics. Okinawa Rainbows are ideal summer jeans for me because of the workwear cut and slightly lighter weight. This summer I'm trying out a pair of Hawaiis -- heaver fabric, so we'll see.

Final tip: High waters keep you extra cool. If you have stacks on stacks, no air is getting up into your crotch. Hem and cuff.

Doctor Denim Science signing off.

P.S. To the heavyweight champs in 18oz+ all day every day: I salute you. I tried an 18oz tighter weave denim last summer and I could not hang here in Southern California.

[thirdhand]

p.p.s. Show me some indigo seersucker trousers and I'd be on it like that. These, however, would be a misguided purchase without a doubt.