Hi! As heatwave scorches Europe, the second problem I’m a little afraid of (especially as someone without any melanin in my skin) is the sun. I’ve seen someone mentioning a sun shirt but trying to find real information online is very confusing, especially with EU in mind ( I see US has something called UPF) and if you are not looking for ads. Maybe someone knows something about it?
Clothing with a UPF rating just means its level of protection has been measured; it doesn’t necessarily imply unrated clothing doesn’t protect also. That is to say, I don’t think sun protective clothing has any high-tech coatings or other special sauce the way waterproof/breathable clothing does.
Just wear something made of synthetic fiber and/or with a dense weave, colored a dark color, and that covers as much skin as possible. And most importantly, a wide-brimmed hat.
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Why dark colors? All of my sun clothes are as light of a color as I can possibly find so they reflect the sun instead of absorbing it.
The structure of the cloth in UV clothes is designed to be opaque to light while being cool, breathable and quick drying. I’ve never gotten a sunburn under my blue jeans and I’m sure they have a quite high UPF, but they are not sun gear in my opinion.