Hopsack Versus Fresco: Which Is The Better Summer Fabric?

When it comes to dressing tailored in the summer, so many men throw in the towel due to it being too warm to wear a jacket on top of the rest of their clothing. The secret is to wear clothing with the right fabric weave, and today, we will take a look at two of the most prominent contenders. Today we are looking at hopsack and Fresco to determine which is best for your summer wardrobe.

Fresco

First off what is Fresco? Fresco is technically a trademarked name for a fabric that uses a high twist yarn in an open weave. What that means practically speaking is you have a very airy and breathable fabric that is also a bit more rigid and resistant to wrinkles. The rigidity of the cloth does make it a bit more coarse to the touch but helps provide the breathability. It is an ideal cloth for travel as it wears like steel and can be virtually wrinkle free with just a few hours hanging in the closet.

Hopsack

Hopsack, like Fresco, is an open weave fabric that comes highly recommended during the summer months. This cloth is soft and light, perfect for keeping you cool all summer long. It is also relatively wrinkle resistant though not to the degree that Fresco is. Hopsack does wear out more quickly than Fresco and is not ideal for trousers due to the loose weave.

When Should I Choose One Over The Other?

There are a few factors to consider when trying to decide which cloth is best for you. For example, do you want a suit or just a jacket? Do you prefer a softer fabric or is slightly more coarse just fine? Do you want maximum wrinkle resistance for hard daily use and travel? We are going to describe three scenarios that will hopefully answer this question for most of you.

When you want a suit, go with Fresco.

Fresco is a hardy fabric, unlike hopsack. While both share many common qualities, this is one place where they diverge. Hopsack fabric is so lightly woven that it is unsuitable for use in trousers. On the other hand, the very tight, but open, weave of the Fresco makes it the perfect travel suit pant as your wrinkles will likely be gone before you notice them. To be fair hopsack is also a great summer option when it comes to wrinkle resistance just not entirely on the same level.

When you want a textured jacket, go with hopsack.

If you like the textured look and you want a jacket hopsack will be the way to go. The drape and breathability on this fabric are excellent! Often Fresco is a better fit when looking for patterns and colors. Hopsack can come with patterns but is usually a solid color whereas Fresco frequently comes in both. The significant differences here are the softness and texture of the cloth.

When you want maximum breathability, Fresco wins... Slightly.

Fresco does breath better of the two fabrics, so if you want the maximum breathability that is going to be your best choice. If you do not live in a tropical climate, it may be splitting hairs, so don't let that be the only factor, but it is good knowledge to have. Our recommendation is to go with what you love. Either of these fabrics is going to provide excellent breathability and going with a material you don't like for a slightly better or worse cooling effect is not going to be worth it.

A note here, both of these fabrics can have low opaqueness, meaning that they are somewhat see through. The weight of the material will also affect this, so if you are worried about that, you may want to look at a heavier weight fabric. You can line the jackets in both of these fabrics to increase opaqueness, but due to the qualities of jacket lining, most of the benefit of these fabrics will be lost in doing so.

Some options.

Having seasonal, tailored clothing is the best way to build a wardrobe, in our opinion. We love both of these fabrics for the summer and know you will be happy with either if you suffer from overheating in your current suit. Take a look at some of the options below if you want to upgrade your existing wardrobe.