Suited to the season

  Posted by: electime      17th July 2026

The right summer workwear can help you stay comfortable and productive all day, but knowing what to look for takes a bit more thought than grabbing whatever’s in the wardrobe. Nick Poulson at Carhartt explains

Ask most electricians what they wear on site in summer and it’s probably a battered T-shirt and whatever shorts are clean. But workwear has moved on. Manufacturers are now using technical fabrics specifically engineered for working in the warm weather: lightweight materials that wick moisture, dry fast, block UV and move with you. All without compromising on-site safety

The sun problem

Electricians who spend time working outdoors are exposed to ultraviolet radiation for hours at a time, often without even noticing. Research shows that working under the UK sun potentially causes one skin cancer death and five new melanoma cases every week, with construction and trade workers at the top of the at-risk list.

The UK sun is strong enough to cause skin damage on any day between mid-March and mid-October, as UV penetrates cloud cover, which catches a lot of people out. Sunscreen is a good habit and the HSE recommends SPF 30 as a minimum applied to all exposed skin including hands and the back of the neck. But it needs reapplying throughout the day and is easy to skip. Clothing that’s specifically designed for sun protection is far easier as you don’t have to remember to top it up.

What UPF means

Most people know what SPF means on a bottle of sunscreen. UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) is the same idea applied to clothing. It measures how much UV radiation gets through the fabric and reaches your skin. A standard cotton T-shirt rates around UPF 5 which means it lets in around 20% of the sun’s rays. Stretch it or let it get damp with sweat and the protection drops further.

But there are specialist UPF fabrics engineered to block harmful UVA and UVB rays. Carhartt’s Sun Defender™ range for example, is rated UPF 40+, meaning it blocks over 97% of UV. There are short and long-sleeved t-shirts available along with trousers, and all are designed to be light enough to wear in warm weather without feeling heavy or hot. For anyone doing a decent amount of outdoor work in summer, it’s an easy upgrade.

Choose materials carefully

Cotton is soft and comfortable, which is why it’s often the summer workwear default. The problem is, cotton absorbs moisture and holds it, so once it’s damp, it stays damp and you can end up feeling heavy and uncomfortable for the rest of the day. Cotton-polyester blends handle sweat much better. They pull moisture away from the skin and dry faster which makes a real difference when you’re working hard.

Carhartt’s Force®mrange uses a cotton/polyester mix with FastDry™ technology built in. The T-shirts have mesh panels to keep air moving, flat seams to prevent irritation and enough stretch to let you move easily. Force® also has antimicrobial properties to prevent the growth of odour-causing bacteria.

Tencel™ is another good summer option. It has a noticeably soft feel but is more durable than you’d expect given how light it is and stands up well to site work. Because of the way the fabric drapes, air circulates more freely than with most standard workwear materials. Carhartt’s Tencel™ Fibre range for women includes T-shirts, tank tops, joggers and sweatshirts, all built to be comfortable on site without going soft on durability.

Colour is worth thinking about too, though the trade-off isn’t straightforward. Darker colours absorb more UV so they offer more protection, but they also absorb more heat. Lighter shades stay cooler but let more UV through. Which matters more depends on your work: mainly outdoor or mainly indoor, how much direct sun you’re in, how physically demanding the job is.

For trousers and outerwear, ripstop fabrics are worth considering. Plenty of tents are made out of ripstop but don’t let that put you off. Ripstop is very lightweight; it’s the crosshatch grid structure of the fibres that make it strong and resistant to tearing. Cordura® fabric is also excellent in summer. Originally designed for military use and up to 10 times more durable than standard cotton canvas, Cordura® is highly resistant to abrasions, tears and scuffs but it’s also lightweight, breathable and moisture-wicking so is perfect for summer workwear.

And the rest…

Eyes take a lot of punishment in bright conditions so safety glasses are a must to protect eyes both from flying debris and the sun’s rays. Polycarbonate lenses are the practical choice for safety glasses as they block 100% of UV, are around 10 times more impact-resistant than standard plastic and are lighter too. Safety glasses with ventilated temples will also stop heat building up against the side of your head over the course of a long day.

Feet are worth thinking about too. They swell during the day, particularly in heat, which is why Carhartt designs their boots to fit half a size larger than standard. It seems like a small thing but it makes a difference once you’re into the afternoon. When choosing safety boots, fibreglass safety toes are lighter than steel and offer the same 200-joule impact protection without weighing your feet down. Moisture-wicking insoles are also important to help with the build-up of sweat inside the boot.

None of this is about spending money for the sake of it. The point is that workwear designed specifically for summer solves problems that old shorts and a T-shirt don’t. The industry has put a lot of investment and engineering into this and the results are noticeable, particularly on the kind of long, hot day where staying comfortable isn’t just nice to have, it affects how well the job gets done.

To view the Carhartt range visit www.carhartt.com