The simplest way to keep the hot summer rays at bay? Wear sun-protective clothing, the Skin Cancer Foundation (SCF) suggests.  

“We say clothing is your best defense against the sun because it’s not washing away like sunscreen will,” Becky Kamowitz, executive director of the nonprofit organization, told Sourcing Journal.

“There’s such a proliferation of misinformation around sun exposure and skin cancer and sunscreen, we saw this relaunch as an opportunity to acknowledge that and say you can come to the Skin Cancer Foundation for the answers you need to keep you and your family safe; that we are going to dispel these myths,” Kamowitz said. “We’re really trying to meet people where they are.”

That said, ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) is a rating system. It indicates how much UV radiation—both UVB and UVA—can go through a fabric and reach one’s skin. A UPF 50 fabric, for example, blocks 98 percent of the sun’s rays and lets the remaining 2 percent penetrate.

Think of it like this: UPF ratings are to fabrics what SPF ratings are to sunscreen; they indicate what fraction of the sun’s ultraviolet rays can penetrate any given fabric. A UPF rating of 25, for example, means the material allows a 1/25 (4 percent) of UV radiation in, while a UPF 50 garment lets in 1/50 (2 percent).

“People actually just really like the sun,” said Steven Wang, chair of the SCF’s Photobiology Committee and Johns Hopkins University Press-published author. “They want to go to the beach in their bikini and get baked. That’s a real issue.”

It’s one of the reasons why the Skin Cancer Foundation (SCF) developed its Seal of Recommendation program in the first place.

Comprised of board-certified dermatologists, the “backbone” of the Seal program is the volunteer committee, which sets the standards for the program. That includes making medically reviewed recommendations for minimum sun protection factor (SPF) and critical wavelength (CWL) standard for sunscreen, as well as UPF for fabrics.

“Humans are strange creatures. We don’t do things rationally,” Wang continued. “Just like your mother tells you to eat broccoli, you don’t want to eat broccoli. But how did we get there—why is broccoli bad? And why don’t you like not like broccoli? Once you understand those questions, and some other things, it becomes easier to explain.”

Since 1981, the SCF has provided the industry-recognized seal as a service to consumers, given the gap between public interest and availability of legitimate science—and products—the public has access to. The foundation’s first Photobiology Committee established SPF 15 as the minimum for adequate sun protection. In 2005, standards for UPF were introduced, with the foundation expanding the seal into sun-protective clothing and fabrics as well as outdoor shade products like umbrellas and awnings.

This year’s Seal of Recommendation criteria update required fabrics to have a minimum UPF 50. Hats must have a minimum 3-inch brim all around, with hats for babies and toddlers at a 2.5-inch brim minimum.  

“The actual seal artwork that we give to partners to use actually says ‘protection only for covered areas.’ We want to make that really, really clear,” Kamowitz said. “We don’t give the seal to specific pieces of clothing; that’d become overwhelming if it was every T-shirt. It’s actually the fabric—the textile itself—that earns the seal. And then we make sure people understand that it’s for the areas that it covers.”

To recap: In order to be labeled sun protective, UPF brands must apply for certification.

Brands, such as BloqUV and Vapor Apparel, send their fabrics to independent, third-party labs for testing to ensure unbiased results. In the United States, this standard of testing is set by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC). To test UPF and measure how much UV light passes through a given fabric with an artificial light source, the labs use either a spectrophotometer or a spectroradiometer to measure the UV rays that seep through. The SCF can then review those third-party-tested results and dole out Seals of Recommendation as warranted.

“One of the things we try really hard to do is encourage the public to adopt a complete sun protection strategy; we hear ‘I didn’t think skin cancer could happen to me until it did’ a lot,” Kamowitz said. “While some people who get skin cancer will have it removed, maybe get some stitches, and become better about sun protection; that’s the end of their ordeal. But for thousands of others, it’s just the beginning.”

For Miami-based BloqUV, that’s sort of exactly what happened. After founder and president Corina Biton began running on the Florida beaches, she developed sun damage in less than a year despite wearing long-sleeve cotton. While she knew UPF clothing existed, the sun-protective products she found were rather drab—certainly not what she wanted to wear, at least.

“I came up with a brand that’s something we’d wear in Miami and California, not wherever you would wear a frumpy gardening shirt,” Biton told Sourcing Journal. “And here we are, 16 years later, in about 800 stores nationwide. We actually just started BarkUV for pets.”

Roughly 95 percent of BloqUv’s business operates around the brand’s proprietary, nylon-based fabric, BloqTek. The activewear label’s chemical-free UPF 50-rated material (which blocks 98 percent of the sun’s harmful UV rays) is designed to wick away moisture to dry quickly. When wet, it provides a 5-degree cooling effect. The sun protection is inherent to the fabric, so it won’t wash out or wear off, either.

“You’re also saving yourself $10 on the sunscreen you don’t have to slather on your body—just the exposed areas,” Biton said. “Same thing with kids; how many kids do you know want to put on sunscreen? Instead, here’s a hoodie. The kid’s head is covered, he’s zipped, you just got to take care of his face.”

The same trust parents afford to sunscreen brands like Coppertone should be applied to the SCF’s seal.

“Having the Seal of Recommendation gives you solid standing in that industry; it’s like a five-star resort rating, right,” Biton said. “There are a lot of brands not telling the truth about testing. That it what makes it so beneficial to work with the Skin Cancer Foundation; there’s no BS.”

Wang feels the same frustrations. Imagine a brand that made a special swimsuit with a UPF of 1,000, he said. It’s fantastic—way better than UPF 50. But they only make bikinis. Now the consumer gets their hands on it and thinks, “I’m wearing a UPF 1,000. I’m really protected.” Common sense should signal that the protection only extends to where (and what) the bikini covers.

“They’re not being deceptive, necessarily; I mean, it’s a competitive market, right? Everyone’s tried to make a differentiation, a unique selling proposition, but at the end of the day, they tried to make a quick buck.” Wang said. “Whereas a brand that’s been there for a long time, really cared about sunscreen so they really care about skin cancer and UV protection, they’re more conscientious to design and create products that actually matters.”

One of those brands was founded in 2004 by veterans of sublimation and polyester. Vapor Apparel leveraged some 30 years of experience in the textile industry to fill an identified gap in the market: sublimation. Around 2010, the South Carolina company began to specifically focus on sun protective apparel—a transition determined after identifying a need within specific niche markets, like the fishing industry.

“When we first developed the market, we were probably working with around 70 private label fishing brands at the time,” Jackson Burnett, president of Vapor Apparel, said. “That’s really where we started, making sun protective clothing for the fishing world.”

The company connected with the SCF in 2016 and earned its first Seal of Recommendation shortly thereafter. It wasn’t a massive lift, considering the team had already done some seven years of work in the space. Plus Burnett’s eight years with Unifi.  

“My background was the polyester industry, right, so we knew what tests we had to do,” he said, noting there was never a need to reverse engineer the company’s supply chain as a result. “Once we figured out how to do it, we did. It’s an algorithm.”

That algorithmic approach relies on a combination of intentionally designed fabrics and a commitment to rigorous testing. The brand focuses on factors to enhance UPF (such as dense weaves and tight knits to minimize UV penetration) with reflective materials and permanent antimicrobial treatments, as well as moisture-wicking and cooling technologies.

Of course, it’s not perfect. Not every fabric is suitable for UPF—or, if it is, it will certainly be expensive.

“Apparel is a very price sensitive industry,” Burnett said. “What can I do without increasing the cost of this fabric or changing the feel of it? What can we do, based on what we know? If I’ve got a 15 UPF garment, can I get it to 30? It may not qualify for a seal of approval or recommendation. But you still got a 30 UPF T-shirt, right?”

There’s also the element of covering one’s bases. When developing fabrics, Vapor Apparel wants to make sure its offerings test out with ratings higher than what they’ll claim. But what if there’s a hiccup at the mill? Or a slight variation from the spec?

“Whenever we have a fabric that we get approved, we want to make sure we’re completely overshooting where the threshold is, just to make sure,” Burnett said. “If you test out at 52 and then the mill makes the fabric a little lighter and then suddenly it drops to 45 but you’re claiming 50? I want to sleep well at night knowing that all our products clear the hurdle without any question.”

The overshoot mentality makes sense, given Vapor’s other alternative approaches.

“There are other brands that usually target an older demographic; they’ve got pictures of skin cares and melanoma—that’s fine. Our messaging is just different,” Burnett said. “We want to encourage a lifestyle feel, because otherwise, you’re not going to have that younger demo engage.”

With that in mind, Vapor partnered with local brewery Two Blokes Brewing on Seize the Ray, a hazy pale ale brewed with the summer (and its sun) in mind.

“There’s a big opportunity there for us; we’re just trying to create awareness,” Burnett said of the craft beer world. “And we let the science feed our marketing—things like the fabric technology and cooling properties, we let those things formulate the story.”

That formulation spans direct-to-consumer outlets, the promotional products market and boots-on-the-ground school visits and open houses. Just last week, Burnett was in Lubbock, Texas, to spread the (protective) word of UPF.

“You’ve got all the schools out there, the banks out there, just all the businesses and I think everybody in that market is tired of getting cheap swag,” he said. “So, when you have something that’s meaningful and intentional—like a UPF garment—we’re just out at extremely positive event with within users, which are businesses, right? That’s kind of how we go to market; a little bit different than straight retail.”

That difference means creating awareness is no easy feat. Unless a brand is out shouting about UPF, the retailer isn’t going to do much, Burnett said. He doesn’t know how to change that behavior.

It’s the same reason Wang encourages collaboration between brands and scientists. Only through such interactions, he said, can a significant public health impact be achieved in preventing skin cancer for future generations.

“The problem is, having this knowledge and actually trying to change the behavior—that’s just a completely different question, another factor,” Wang said, emphasizing that no one is advocating for people to stay in the cave. Just be more aware of the shadows.

“We understand there’s a lot of benefits associated with outdoor activities,” he said. “But, you know, wear a hat.”