Comments on: Western Snap shirts vs. Sun Hoodies- Hot and Dry Weather

By: Renee

Renee — Sat, 02 May 2026 21:50:43 +0000

In reply to Del Gray.

Del – excellent question. This my experience, YMMV:
I wore a series of women’s dress shirts from the thrift store for years – backpacking and doing trail maintenance. I now wear a nylon/poly blend button-down shirt from NRS, just because the stretch fits my needs for movement with trail maintenance. The durability and function of the full-cotton dress shirts was amazing and even after accidentally cutting my shirt with a saw, it kept holding on for a year. The sun protection was great until the shirt was nearly thread-bare at the shoulders. At this point, the shirts were 10+ years old!

I would do a 60/40 dress shirt from a thrift store, no hesitation. I really like the look and flexibility of my NRS shirts, but if a loose-fitting dress shirt showed up in my life again I’d wear that too.

By: Randy Martin

Randy Martin — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:18:49 +0000

I have observed the same thing about the hood trapping heat and so have largely abandoned use of sun hoodies. I prefer the use of a buff and baseball cap solution for head and neck sun protection. I find that the buff being in contact with my skin much more readily evaporates and cools

By: Paul Mags

Paul Mags — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:26:57 +0000

In reply to Del Gray. The dyes help a fair amount with UV in addition to the weave vs white color and weave of material like a dress shirt from my understanding. The snaps also come off easier (better for barbed wire…usually not a problem on maintained trails but oddly useful on our usual hiking nowadays! Ha!)
The western snaps also reinforced in the shoulder for better sun protection . Finally, the plaid hides stains better. Also, more so in my small desert town, thrift stores more of a crap shoot.

By: Del Gray

Del Gray — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:34:40 +0000

But those metal snaps are soooo heavvvyyyyy!
Seriously though, what advantages do you see in this Western snap style shirt over a simple 60/40 button up dress shirt from a thrift store?

By: Stan Allison

Stan Allison — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:52:41 +0000

Amen brother! I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one that prefers long sleeved, cotton button up shirts to hoodies for hot and dry weather. I’ve tried hoodies and find that they just hold too much heat in for all of the reasons you mentioned. Like you, I do like my hoodie in cooler weather where I can benefit from the additional warmth. Hopefully some folks who have never tried western snap shirts will give them a try after reading your article.