The return of double-digit temperatures doesn’t necessarily mean stripping off. While it’s tempting to reduce your wardrobe to shorts and string vests, such a restrictively ‘capsule’ approach doesn’t leave room for much creativity.

So keep the style and swerve the sweat with these four natural fabrics that were built for spring and summer.

Cotton

Adaptable, affordable and readily available, there are few corners of your wardrobe cotton hasn’t conquered. In fact, as the most widely used natural fibre in the world, you’ve probably worn it every day this year.

“Cotton makes a great fabric for warm weather due to its vast capabilities,” says Eleanor Cockrell, Technical Product Developer at Reiss. And as much as cotton’s a year-round workhorse, it’s when things really heat up that it comes into its own.

The Pros

It Breathes

Crucially, cotton is an extremely breathable fibre. Which means it won’t trap that fug of hot, moist air between you and what you’re wearing. What’s more, its natural moisture-wicking properties will actually help to draw moisture away from your body.

It’s Soft, Lightweight & Retains Its Structure

Cotton fabrics start out as tiny puffs which look as though they’d feel like a cloud if you touched them. Luckily – when they’ve been woven beyond recognition into tees, shorts and blazers – that same soft handle lives on.

It’s not all fluffy charm though. As cotton is a very fine fibre, it’s lightweight and can be transformed into weaves that are thin yet strong and structured too.

The Cons

Nobody’s perfect, not even cotton. Like all overachievers, it’s got some less than desirable downsides to counteract all that sartorial brilliance.

It Wrinkles. Fast.

If yours is the kind of ironing routine that doesn’t actually involve an iron, being more a case of “It’s bound to fall out eventually!”, then cotton’s probably not going to do you any favours.