Best Sun Protection Shirts

Best Overall Sun Shirt

Mountain Hardwear Canyon Long Sleeve

Sun Protection Level: 50 | Coverage: Long-sleeve, collar

As the sun peaks over the horizon for yet another day of adventure, the Mountain Hardwear Canyon is the shirt we love to grab. Whether you're planning to work in the yard, commute on your bike, or run on a beautiful trail and then grab some beers and tacos with friends, this shirt has you covered. It's versatile enough to excel at all these mini-missions while still looking stylish, keeping you cool, and — most importantly — keeping you protected from the sun. Durability is also top-notch, making the Canyon a true all-around winner.

The Canyon pulls off this brilliant equilibrium using a few tactics. It has a looser fit than a regular shirt and employs a tough dobby weave fabric with a UPF 50 rating that's still light enough to be attractive and comfortable. It also has many features you'll find useful: buttons, pockets, and sleeves that can easily roll up and stay in place with the help of discreet tabs. Add your favorite wide-brim hat, and you're ready for wandering all over on your own canyon adventure.

Read review: Mountain Hardwear Canyon Long Sleeve

Great Value for a Button-Up

Columbia Silver Ridge Lite

Sun Protection Level: 40 | Coverage: Long-sleeve, collar

The Columbia Silver Ridge Lite, with its Omni-Shade and Omni-Wick fabric treatments, feels great to the touch and floats around the torso. Columbia calls it "a more modern take" on a classic design, and we agree. This shirt looks as good as it functions, protecting against burns without making you look like a safari guide. The sleeves offer ample length below the wrists when needed, and the hem does the same, laying flat under backpacks and, in general, staying in place when it's supposed to. As a travel shirt, the Silver Ridge packs a bit larger than others in our review but makes up for it in comfort and smart pocket design — roomy without being bulky, the pockets are supportive enough to hold a passport or minimalist wallet with ease.

Shoppers will find the Silver Ridge has a couple of slight drawbacks, such as the annoying sleeve capture tabs being difficult to fasten with one hand and the fact that, without the collar button attached, the suprasternal notch is open to sun exposure. However, this means that the collar doesn't feel restricting when buttoned-up, allowing easy and natural movement. Yes, this shirt is a bit big in fit, but that's a natural byproduct of its design to beat back the sun. If you're looking for a lot of shirt for not a lot of bucks, this is definitely worth a gander.

Read review: Columbia Silver Ridge Lite

Best Bang for Your Buck

Baleaf UPF 50 Hoody

Sun Protection Level: 50+ | Coverage: Long sleeve, hood

Proper protection from the sun shouldn't be the last thing you remember to do before setting off on your next adventure, but often, it is. If your budget is already stretched to the breaking point, the Baleaf UPF 50 Hoody has (literally) got you covered. With a price tag that's well below the next lowest option in our review, the basics are covered: 50+ UPF rated fabric, a generous hood to protect your neck and head, and thumb loops to let the extra-long sleeves rest over your hands up to your knuckles. Sure, it's not the most fashionable accessory — the fit is quite relaxed — but knowing that you're avoiding a sunburn while out on the water or on top of a mountain is a great feeling indeed.

There are a few details about the Baleaf we wish were more thoughtful. The hood tends to fly off in a slight breeze, and the fabric is thicker than most any other shirt we've tested, making it a little less breathable. There's no anti-microbial treatment either, so you'll want to wash this shirt regularly, but don't worry: it's made of tough enough material to survive regular washings. When it comes down to value, this one is hard to beat, and we think you'll be pleased.

Read review: Baleaf UPF 50 Hoody

Best Hoody

Patagonia Tropic Comfort II Hoody

Sun Protection Level: 50+ | Coverage: Long sleeve, hood, thumb loops

We couldn't find another hooded sun shirt that's quite as good-looking, breathable, and versatile as the Patagonia Tropic Comfort II Hoody. The secret to its success is the lightweight and comfortable fabric, the low profile, and the minimal stitching. A UPF 50+ rating is about as high as you can get for sun protection, and this hoody has it. If you were to close your eyes, you'd be hard-pressed to know if you were even wearing this shirt at all. But, happily, this comfort doesn't come at the price of performance: the Tropic Comfort covers up everything from the waist up, helped out by its looser fit, generous hood, and thumb loops. Small features, like the neck button and elastic trim, keep everything in place while allowing the rest of the shirt to move freely with the body. Additionally, the fabric has an anti-microbial treatment to help you feel fresh even after days in the sun. This means less washing, which hopefully means a longer-lasting piece of gear.

Although we're impressed at the entirety of the Tropic Comfort, we think durability could be its weakness. In the long haul, it may not last in the harshest of environments. If you're always bushwhacking to your favorite fishing spot, working a sunny outside job in the dirt or with power equipment, or combing the beach and climbing on rocks, you're going to test this layer a little more than it's made to handle. Also, beware if you have a significant other than loves to borrow your best gear — this is going to be one that will inevitably find a new home on them, as much as it is on you.

Read review: Patagonia Tropic Comfort II Hoody

Why You Should Trust Us

Justin Simoni is a Boulder, CO-based athlete, adventurer, and backpacking guide. He specializes in ultra-long distance, self-powered, and self-supported challenges in the mountains of the American West. Simoni has put these shirts to their limits while wandering all along the Front Range of Colorado on long bike rides, trail runs, outdoor workdays, and at the crag. He has been working closely with outdoor gear companies helping with research, design, and testing for over a decade, bringing his experience and expertise to the table.

Our testing process began with extensive research on the hundreds of sun shirts currently available on the market. We then hand-picked the strongest candidates and purchased them at full retail. From there, we spent weeks wearing these shirts for every imaginable activity. We ran, hiked, biked, climbed, scrambled, wandered, slacklined, and napped — all under the eyes of the glorious sun. We even took our sun shirt picks on job sites and lumberyards to see how well they worked while we worked. We noted each shirt's strengths and weaknesses in different scenarios and, with that data, came up with some great advice to help you pick the best product for your needs and budget.

Related: How We Tested Sun Protection Shirts

Analysis and Test Results

The primary job for all these seemingly simple shirts is to protect the wearer from excess exposure to the sun, be durable enough to make it through life's adventures, and offer enough breathability that it's realistic to wear in the hottest of situations. Versatility is also of importance — if one shirt can fulfill multiple roles, it's one less piece of gear that you need to pack, which delights pack-weight-conscious folks. This is also important when you're trying to pack a suitcase with everything you'll need for a once-in-a-lifetime trip. We made sure to use each of the shirts in this review as thoroughly as our testing period would allow — read on to learn about what we discovered.

Related: Buying Advice for Sun Protection Shirts

Value

We believe value to be of great importance and something we pay mind to when testing. Ultimately, we want to make sure you're investing in your gear wisely. But it's a subjective factor, so it doesn't factor into our performance evaluations of each shirt. With some gear, the more you pay, the more you get — but that's not always true for sun shirts. Sometimes you're just paying for features that aren't really necessary. So, which shirts showed a great value?

The Baleaf UPF 50 is sold at a hard-to-beat price and bestows upon you a durable shirt that will last for many of your future adventures. The only shirt that came even close in price is the Columbia PFG Terminal Tackle Hoodie, which doesn't bring much more to the table, except a slightly thinner, more comfortable fabric, but no thumb loops.

Even though the minimal Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily Hoody is a little more expensive, it packs so much comfort that we feel it's a great value and deserves mention. Similarly, for the price alone, the Columbia Silver Ridge Lite fulfills almost everything on our wishlist that we're looking for in a button-up at a price that beats out most of the other button-up shirts we've tested.

Comfort and Fit

Probably the most critical facet of any sun shirt is how it feels when it's on. After all, UPF protection won't mean much if the article of clothing it covers doesn't feel good to wear. The shirts we selected for our test largely all did well in this category.

The VOORMI River Run Hoody won us over from first blush with its wool/polyester blended fabric, but we weren't bowled over by the rest of its performance — especially the durability of the fabric itself. Given how expensive the shirt is — by far the most expensive shirt in our lineup — it would be a shame to ruin such a stylish piece of gear just by getting lost on a trail and having to find a "shortcut" through some brush. We'd only suggest the River Run as a casual lifestyle piece or for water adventures where having a little bit of extra warmth from wool is ideal.

We were more impressed by both the Canyon and the Silver Ridge Lite — two button-up shirts that feature an updated cut of a classic idea. Generally, this means that the cut is a little more fitted than the almost smock-like options that usually flood the market. Both these felt great while wearing them, which just made us want to wear them for everything.

The Outdoor Research Astroman also rates high for comfort and fit, no doubt due to the very stretchy nylon/spandex blend of its fabric. This shirt works really well where mobility is tantamount. Gymnastic climbing moves at the crag is a place where this shirt excels.

When it comes to hooded sun shirts, both Patagonia hoodies, the Capilene Cool Daily and the Tropic Comfort II seem cut from the same comfy cloth, only differing in the extra features the Tropic Comfort II boasts. The fabric of these shirts seemed to emanate a cooling sensation whenever it was near our skin.

Sun Protection

UPF, or ultraviolet protection factor, is a rating system specific to apparel's ability to block ultraviolet radiation. The rating runs from zero to 50, and each number indicates a percentage of the sun's rays allowed through. Thus: UPF 25 = 1/25th, or 4%, of the sun's radiation can pass through the fabric. It's one important factor, but it's certainly not the only one.

Fabric type is another key to sun protection. Synthetics perform the best, while more natural garments, like something made of bleached cotton, have a natural UPF rating of around 5. Polyester has been rated as the top option. All of the shirts tested here, except for the 52% wool/48% polyester blend of the River Run and the 85% nylon/15% spandex blend of the Astroman. Both these blends have a lower UPF rating than any of the 100% polyester shirts.

The cut and fit of a sun shirt also play a big role in making sure you're protected. Many of the button-up shirts we've tested feature generous sleeve and seam lengths, as well as collars that can be popped up. The hooded sun shirts very obviously feature a hood to keep your head covered, and most have thumb loops to keep the sleeves over your hands.

Of the hooded sun shirts, the Tropic Comfort comes out on top for sun protection. Its generous hood covers the head twice over, and we really appreciate the lone button at the front of the neck that both helps cover the neck and keep the hood from floating away in a brisk breeze. The generous sleeves and thumb loops do similar work in keeping the arms and hands covered up.

Similarly, the Patagonia Sol Patrol II rates the highest for sun protection alone. The fabric used seems to be the toughest and most protective of all the shirts we've tested. If you're hanging around casually in the sun for hours on end, it's the shirt you want — as long as you pair it with at the very least a floppy hat. It's not a great shirt for active users, as it will probably cause you to overheat. It was designed for all-day fishing missions, where the sun reflects off the water, and you may be thigh deep in a freezing creek.

For more active pursuits, consider the button-up Canyon, which boasts a high 50 UPF rating, but features a thinner, more breathable fabric and most of the bells and whistles of the Sol Patrol II.

Breathability

A shirt won't be much fun to wear in the sun if it feels like you're wearing a wet blanket 30 minutes into your hike. And, on top of that, some fabrics become less protective when wet. Thankfully, polyester, which most all of the shirts in this review are made of, isn't one of them.

Most of the shirts in our test dried equally well when left to the sun after a soaking. A fabric's breathability also helps it resist odor by letting air pass through, and specialized treatments, such as the Polygiene permanent odor control of the Capilene Cool Daily, performed well in our campfire smoke test.

The most breathable shirt in our lineup is the Silver Ridge Lite. It has a more relaxed fit and thinner fabric than the other button-ups in our review, which helped it score at the top. Button-up shirts usually feature a few different options to enhance airflow, including rolling up the sleeves, unbuttoning some of the front buttons, and vents on the back.

Taken as a whole, most all the shirts we've tested did a little above average in breathability, except two outliers: the Sol Patrol II and the PFG Super Tamiami, which fared much worse. It's no wonder, as both of these shirts are modeled after the classic, blousy fishing shirt, and they promote sun protection and durability at the cost of breathability. You won't be running the 800-meter sprint in one of these, though — that's not what they're designed for — so the lower breathability scores may not matter as much in more sedentary applications.

Versatilty

Can you wear the same shirt to the crag and the dinner table? Can you go to work in the morning, then go fishing in the evening without having to change your top? Can you backpack for six days and then check out the town for a day without having to pack two shirts? Can you go traveling cross country, make the regional board meeting, then take a trail run? That's what we're talking about when we talk about versatility. "Versatility" doesn't weigh in as much as other metrics we use; it's too personal of an opinion. But it's still an important facet to consider. People who perspire easily may not find any of these shirts too versatile and will always opt for a specific shirt for high-octane activities.

The Canyon scored highest in this category, thanks to its unique dobby polyester, which looks and feels great, especially in the neutral, sleek color option we tested. The Silver Ridge Lite also looks good, feels good, and has just enough features to make it useful on and off the trail, without looking too weighed down with accessories no one needs.

Both Patagonia's Tropic Comfort Hoody II and Capilene Cool Daily Hoody are also worth mentioning here. They simply look great to us, and we wouldn't feel strange wearing them off-trail to casual events or just when hanging out around the house all day.

Durability

Fabric integrity matters in a sun shirt because worn and loose material exposes the skin to a greater risk of UV radiation. Thankfully, testing revealed most of our shirts could hold up to what was thrown at them with no problems.

The Sol Patrol II is a knockout in regards to durability. It's what the cockroaches will be wearing after the apocalypse. Durability and sun protection often go hand in hand when the material used is thick, and that's the case with the Sol Patrol.

If you're looking for a different button-up that's similar, the Columbia PFG Super Tamiami shares many of the same characteristics to the Sol Patrol, durability being one of them. Utilizing a burly, thicker, and less breathable fabric than some other options, it's firmly in the "traditional" camp of shirts we've tested.

Both the Terminal Tackle and Baleaf UPF 50 scored high in durability, and both feature a little more breathable fabric. The hooded design lends itself to being a little more comfortable as well.

Conclusion

What's wonderful about sun shirts? There's a wide variety to choose from, so you can find the perfect piece of wearable gear for your favorite sunny weather activities, from blousy button-ups to super comfy sun hoodies and everything in between. We hope our rigorous selection process and months of testing helps lead you to your perfect new layer.