Stack

Sun and heat

Bright and hot, with the sky doing the opposite of raining.

Two of the rungs this condition asks for are filled by listings that state nothing measurable. The third is filled by five that do. This page describes what that figure is, who publishes the method behind it and how it is allowed to be labeled, and it stops there. This site makes no statement about people, and none about health.

The rungs, in order

1. The shirt layer

   Closed by Button-Down Shirts

   A woven front layer. None of the eleven listings here states a rating of any kind.

   The shirt layer · Button-Down Shirts

2. The sweatshirt layer

   Closed by Men's Hoodies

   The rung where the rated listings live. Five of the eight print a UPF figure; the other three describe fleece and print nothing.

   The sweatshirt layer · Men's Hoodies

3. The unlined outer layer

   Closed by Denim Jackets

   A woven cotton layer that covers the arms and shoulders. These listings state no rating at all, so this rung is filled as a covering layer and not as a rated one.

   The unlined outer layer · Denim Jackets

What the listings actually say

Five listings use UPF wording. Three of them state UPF 50+, one states UPF 50, and one states the letters with no number after them. UPF is a rating of how much ultraviolet radiation passes through a fabric, produced by a laboratory test method that AATCC publishes, and ASTM D6603 is the specification governing how such a figure may be labeled. None of these listings names the method that produced its own figure. That is the whole of what this site says about it.

What to check instead

• Whether a figure is printed at all, since one listing states the letters without a number
• Whether the figure is stated as 50 or as 50+, because two listings from one seller differ on that
• Whether the listing pairs the rating with words that carry no method, which two of them do

The words this condition runs into

• UPF 50 and UPF 50+
• Breathable and quick dry

Sources

• ASTM D6603 — Standard Specification for Labeling of UV-Protective TextilesThe specification that governs how a UPF figure may be printed on a textile label.
• AATCC — Standard Test Methods and ProceduresThe published list of AATCC test methods, including the ultraviolet transmission method and the hydrostatic pressure method by name.
• Federal Trade Commission — Policy Statement Regarding Advertising SubstantiationThe FTC statement that an objective product claim has to have support behind it.