Organic Cotton

Faith,

I doubt that cotton (organic or not) is as "quick drying" as some of the synthetic materials. Some of the Tilley travel clothing I use is 70% polyester and 30% cotton and it seems to dry fairly quickly (overnight?).

Organic cotton will be functionally no different than any other cotton. It just means it was grown without pesticides. The boll weevils were happy. It probably has a higher cost because of this, and a higher perceived value to the customer.

What Karen said. Organic is about how the cotton was produced not about a difference in the material.

That said, a very lightweight (thin) cotton will dry reasonably well but you still have the problem with stretching/losing it's shape and wrinkling badly after hand washing/wringing/hang drying.

Organic cotton performs the same as regular cotton, which means it has the same disadvantages for travel clothing.
However, I have found that cotton clothing that contains spandex/Lycra (around 5 to 10 %) dries much more quickly than regular cotton. Not in hours, but overnight. I do take this type of clothing on my travels.

I wonder if you have been looking at Patagonia clothes? They make an orgaic cotton/polyester/spandex fabric called Vitali that is nice for shirts and skirts. They also make clothing in other fabrics suitable for travel, and their women's clothes are younger, and more stylish-lookig than most other "travel" clothing.

You can find Patagonia and other travel-friendly brands in Toronto at MEC and at Eurpoe Bound Travel.

Cotton is cotton. And, IMO, should be avoid if looking for quick drying. Many of the synthetic blends perform much better.

Well, Faith, here are my two cents worth: I wear LL Bean Pima Cotton teeshirts summer and winter (long and short sleeve ones). They come in many colors and look dressy with scarves, jewelry, etc. I took six or seven on my last trip, different colors, washed them in the sink and hung them on a hanger I brought. They dried wrinkle free overnight. The watchword here is pima cotton. It's a smooth, long staple cotton that's more expensive than other cotton. They pack really flat, are lightweight and the many colors make for variety. They don't fade and last years.

Hey Lola,

Yeah, I've been looking at Patagonia styles and they seem quite nice. I was also eyeing the Patagonia Lithia skirt because it could do double duty as a top and a bottom: do you have any thoughts on that one?

And thank you to everyone for the replies! I'll definitely keep a look out for pima cotton, thank you Anna.

:D

I like the India gauze type of cotton shirts. They dry in a jiffy, are thin and cool to wear on hot days and take up little space. No need to iron, as wrinkles seem to be a part of the look. Great to have a long sleeve one to wear in churches, as they are not any where near as hot as other fabrics, plus you could wear it unbuttoned over a tee shirt for dressier evenings or when it gets breezy out. As they are so light, they can be folded up and carried in your bag.

I am a big Patagonia fan---I like their commitment to product qualty and functionality, and to th e environment. They make serioous high-tech clothing for adventuring (skiing, hiking, mountaineering, etc.), and then they also make nice travel clothing---so you can get to wherever you are going in the world for your adventures in comfort. And I like the fact that their travel clothing doesn't look just like their hiking clothing.

That Lithia skirt/top would be a nice "multi-purpose" piece. I see they have several wversions of that idea. The cotton/Tencel fabric is one of my favorites.

And I also agree with Jo on the cotton gauze for shirts. I have one that I tested--it dried in a few hours on a hanger, and looks great.