Is Acrylic Warm Enough For Winter? (Hats, Socks, Blankets)
Being warm is important. When the winter chill comes it is hard to get moving especially if your bones are a little beyond their peak years. The right fabric will help keep the chill off and keep those older bones nice and warm. Sometimes a good blend will do the trick.
Is acrylic warm enough for winter? Acrylic is quite warm and should handle most winter temperatures with ease. The fabric doesn’t breathe so you may overheat if you pile on too many layers of socks, hats, and blankets made from this fabric are known to be warm especially when blended with Merino wool.
To find out more about acrylic just continue to read our article. It has the information about acrylic you want to know about. Learning about its characteristics is essential and helps you use the fabric in creative ways.
Acrylic Warmth 101
Is Acrylic Warm?
This material was created to mimic cashmere wool. That means it is soft to the touch and is quite warm. If you want to keep your feet very warm while outside in the snow, just wear 100% acrylic socks. The material does not breathe and your body heat stays next to your feet.
But, if you want them to be comfortable, buy those acrylic socks that have been blended with merino wool. Not only will your feet stay warm, but they will also stay comfortable as the merino part of the blend handles the heat regulation and breathes quite well.
Then some people don't find acrylic to be that warm and that is possible if it is a thin material that was used to create your hat or sweater. But thick acrylic sweaters can be as cozy as a wool one. The same should apply to hats as well. The thicker the acrylic fabric, the warmer you should be.
The best combination for warmth should be a wool and acrylic blend.
Acrylic Fabric for Winter
When you want a nice soft fabric that holds up well against the cooler temperatures, acrylic is a nice substitute for natural fabrics. It keeps you as warm as wool and some thicker cotton, plus, its price tag is not as high as wool. That makes it an ideal substitute when you are upgrading your winter wardrobe.
On top of that, the material is wrinkle resistant and is perfect for those people who do have wool allergies. The early versions of acrylic were made so close to wool that you even got that itchy feeling when wearing the fabric.
Another good reason to use acrylic for winter is that the clothing item holds its shape very well. frequent washing should not stretch the item out of shape. The one drawback to this material is that it will pill on you. You should have a fabric shaver in the closet to handle that problem when it arrives.
Does Acrylic Stay Warm When Wet?
Acrylic fabric is known to be hydrophobic. That long word only means that it repels water and does not absorb it. While acrylic was designed to replace and mimic wool it does not have that wool property of insulating well when wet.
What acrylic does is keep the water away fr4om itself and you by its tendency to repel the moisture that hits your clothing. You should stay warm but once acrylic gets saturated, you may feel a lot cooler.
That would mean that the looser weaves making this fabric are not good at insulating at all and explains why some people do not find that fabric to be warm. It is best to keep covered up when wearing acrylic so you get the full benefits of its warming nature.
It may be a better fabric for the middle layer than the outer one unless you are wearing a hat or coat with acrylic fur around the hood.
Acrylic Fabric Warmth
According to one scientist who conducted tests on wool and acrylic, acrylic has about 20% more warmth factor than wool does. But scientific tests do not always cover all weaves or situations and your experience may be different from that conclusion.
Looser weaves tend to be cooler no matter what fabric is being used in winter. there are just too many places for your body heat to escape from and the cold air to get through to your body.
Tighter, thicker weaves are ideal if you want to stay warm in the winter season. Your body heat stays close to home and the cold air is kept out as it should. There are many fine warm acrylic hats, sweaters, coats, and socks that will help keep you warm when you go outside.
As we said previously, the best way to stay warm and comfortable though is to have a blend of wool and acrylic. With wool being the dominant fabric in the blend.
Does Acrylic Make You Hot?
Yes, it can and you do not really want to wear acrylic on a warm day or when one of those cold winter days suddenly has a shift in temperatures and the cold gives way to +60 degree weather.
Acrylic does not breathe that well and your body heat does not have an opening where it can escape from. You will stay very warm in acrylic hats, socks, and sweaters if they are woven correctly.
For you to stay comfortable and not overheat you either need a loosely woven acrylic material or one that is blended with a fabric that breathes really well. Wearing a blend on occasions helps keep your costs down and makes laundry time a little easier.
Acrylic only shrinks when the heat is applied and it does not wrinkle. You save on ironing time as well. The blend will make sure you do not overheat when you apply those layers to go outside in the snow.
Does Acrylic Make You Sweat?
This material is known to trap body heat next to your skin. As the body heat has nowhere to go, your skin starts to get hot, and soon you will see yourself sweating. So yes, acrylic contributes to your sweating because it does not let your body heat escape into the air.
There are ways you can avoid this situation and one is to wear a looser acrylic weave. or buy the fabric when it has been blended with a material that breathes well. Regulating your body temperature helps you enjoy your activities or duties more and lets you concentrate on what you are doing.
Unless the region of the country you live in is extremely cold. Then you may want that insulating and heat-retaining power that comes with wearing 100% acrylic. Staying warm in the winter months is vital as your body does not handle cold very well.
Are Acrylic Sweaters Warm?
The answer to this question is going to be a matter of experience. Some people have found that when they wear acrylic materials outside, they do not stay warm for very long. Instead, they find the warmth factor to be less than wool and other natural fabrics.
Other people have found acrylic sweaters, hats, and socks to be quite warm and the difference may be in how the material was woven or the quality in which it was made. Loose weaves will not trap the body heat and will let it escape thus the difference in people’s experiences.
When you shop for a good acrylic sweater that keeps you warm, look at the quality and the weave before you buy. You may pay more but that extra expense may be worth it in the long run as you avoid getting sick or chilled to the bone.
Do Acrylic Socks Keep Feet Warm?
Yes, acrylic socks will keep feet warm, and for the same reasons, acrylic hats and sweaters will keep you nice and warm. Acrylic does not breathe so when you go out into the cold morning to start your car, your feet should not feel the cold.
Your body heat should stay close to your feet adding an extra layer of insulation to protect those feet. It is possible that you may experience a little overheating when wearing acrylic socks, so to stay comfortable and keep the heat down, buy socks that have acrylic blended with merino wool.
This blend is said to be the best when it comes to thermal socks and your feet should not overheat but stay nice and comfortable. This is the ideal though and we cannot speak for everyone’s experiences.
Check the quality before you buy to make sure the socks are up to the task you have in mind for them.
Are Acrylic Hats Warm?
Yes, they can be but it will depend on how those hats utilize the acrylic fabric. Like we have said previously, a lot will depend on the quality of the material and how it was woven.
Hats with acrylic ‘fur’ around the edges tend to keep you nice and warm as that ‘fur’ blocks the cold from getting to your head and stops the heat from escaping. generally, though acrylic hats should keep you warm as your heat loss through your head will be stopped.
If you want to be cautious and avoid overheating, then like socks, you should buy a wool and acrylic blend hat. The wool will regulate your body heat allowing some of it to escape so you stay nice and comfortable while you are out in the cold weather.
The quality of the wool matters as much as the quality of the acrylic material.
Are Acrylic Blankets Warm?
This style of blanket is listed in the top 6 fabrics for blankets that will keep you warm. While it is a man-made material its job is to mimic wool even when made into a blanket. You should stay very warm on cold nights using this style and you may be able to lower your room’s temperature and save a little money.
Also, when you go camping you may want to have an acrylic blanket along for the adventure just in case. its lack of breathability means that when those mountain temperatures drop at 2 a.m., you should still be warm.
The one thing you have to watch out for when using this blanket on your next camping trip is that it is a very flammable material. Acrylic will burn quickly and ignite fast. You do not want to use it around the campfire or other types of heat sources.
Are Acrylic Coats Warm?
These clothing items do well in the winter but they are probably not the warmest fabric you can wear when summer disappears for another hiatus. The best acrylic coats are the ones that come with faux fur made from the same fibers. That is when you know you are getting good insulation.
But there are other fabrics made into winter coats that do a better job of keeping you warm. While acrylic does not breathe you may find some varieties of coats too warm and need a blend to help them lower that risk.
Wool is a good fabric to have blended with acrylic for when the coat gets wet, the wool will still insulate you and keep you warm. It just needs to be the dominant fiber in the blend to do that.
If you buy a 100% acrylic coat you are doing anything wrong, it is just that there are better choices if you want to pay the higher cost.
Some Final Words
For many people staying warm in winter is a yearly event. For those who live in very warm regions of the country or the world, cold is relative. An acrylic pair of socks, a hat, sweater, or coat may just be the fabric for your winter conditions.
When you live in extremely cold regions, you may want to add a little wool to the acrylic to make sure you stay very warm.
