Over the years, I've heard people say that why buy expensive athletic, sport, or workout clothing when they can do the same with cheaper ones. In this discussion, I would keep sharing information on why some clothing might be more expensive than others.
Of course, one would buy clothing based on several factors, however, having knowledge of why something might be more expensive should be of value when deciding to buy.
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From http://acam.typepad.com/communitytable/2010/08/whats-your-work-out-...
"For athletic wear," said Yiqi Yang, a professor of textile chemistry at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, "you want [the fabric] to wick water as good as cotton, but you don't want it soaked."
From http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3773666
The effect of athletic clothing aerodynamics upon running speed.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the wind resistance of athletic clothing upon running speed in sprinting and in distance running. Wind tunnel tests of clothing materials, hair, and shoes show that it is possible to lower the wind resistance of a runner from about 0.5% to over 6% by improved aerodynamics. Mathematical models of sprinting and distance running are developed to predict the effect of lower wind resistance upon race times. By lowering the wind resistance of a runner 2%, the models predict the effect of lower wind resistance upon race times. By lowering the wind resistance of a runner 2%, the models predict time savings from 0.01 s in the 100-m dash to 5.7 s in the marathon. This is the equivalent of lead distances of about 0.1 to 31 m. The sprint model may be used to predict the effect of altitude upon running speed. At the altitude of Mexico City, the model predicts an improvement of 0.08 s in 100 m and 0.16 s in 200 m. This is conservative compared to actual time savings. The results show that it is possible to lower the wind resistance significantly by improving clothing or by trimming or covering the hair, and that a small aerodynamic drag reduction can result in a significant performance increase.