Nylon
$76
84 percent nylon, 16 percent spandex. Four way stretch, sweat wicking, firm collar, U cut hem, pre shrunk. The one that goes to dinner after.
Nylon or Polyester Polo: Which Performance Fabric Is Right for You
Two polos, same rack, same price, same fit. The fabric is the only thing you are actually choosing between. Nylon runs smoother, softer and stronger against abrasion, and it drapes cleaner, so it reads dressier. Polyester holds color and print better, dries faster, resists stretching out over a long hot day, and takes texture well. If you want one shirt that passes as a shirt and not as gear, take nylon. That is the David Polo, 84 percent nylon and 16 percent spandex, $76. If you want print, color that stays put and the fastest dry time, take polyester. That is the Steven Polo, 88 percent polyester and 12 percent spandex, $76. Same fit, same price, two different hands, two different jobs.
Both of these fibers breathe. Both wick when they are knit and finished to wick. The real difference sits one level down, in the chemistry, and it shows up in your hands the second you pick the two shirts up.
Fiber oneWhat nylon actually is
Nylon is a polyamide, and the amide links in that chain are the reason it behaves the way it does. Those links have a mild attraction to water molecules, so nylon takes a small amount of moisture into the fiber itself. Standard moisture regain for nylon sits around 4 percent of its own weight. Polyester sits under 1 percent. That single number drives half of what follows.
Nylon was engineered as a silk substitute, and it kept the traits that made it one. It can be drawn into very fine filaments. It is less dense than polyester, so a yarn of the same thickness feels finer. It has excellent elastic recovery, which means it bends and returns rather than fracturing. In abrasion testing, nylon is the toughest of the common apparel synthetics. It is the fiber you find in a pack strap and a climbing sling for exactly that reason.
What that buys you in a polo is a smooth, cool, almost liquid surface and a fabric that falls instead of standing away from the body. Nylon is dyed with acid dyes, and it takes deep solid colors beautifully. It is not the fiber you use for a busy print.
Fiber twoWhat polyester actually is
Polyester is PET, the same polymer family as a clear drink bottle, spun into filament instead of blown into a shape. Its chain is built on ester links, and there is almost nothing in it for water to hold onto. It is hydrophobic in the truest sense of the word.
Polyester is dyed with disperse dyes under heat and pressure. The dye migrates into the fiber and sets there, rather than bonding to reactive sites on the surface. Once it is in, it has very little reason to come back out, which is why polyester is the reference standard for colorfastness to washing and to light in synthetic apparel. Polyester also heat sets well, so a texture knit into the fabric stays knit in. And because the polymer resists stretching under load, a polyester shirt holds its shape through a hot day better than most things you own.
The comparisonTwo fibers, side by side
Read this as two jobs, not as a winner and a loser. Every advantage on one side is a trade you are making on the other.
Nylon
The David Polo
- Smoother, softer surface. Cool to the touch on first contact.
- Best abrasion resistance of the apparel synthetics.
- Drapes closer to the body, so it reads like a shirt.
- Takes deep solid color. Navy, Black, White.
- Holds a little more moisture in the fiber, so it dries a step slower.
- Less happy about chlorine and long unbroken sun.
Polyester
The Steven Polo
- Drier hand. Textured rather than slick.
- Absorbs almost no water, so it is the faster dry.
- Best in class for holding color and carrying print.
- Resists stretching out over a long hot day.
- Better with chlorine and sustained sunlight.
- Never as soft to the hand as a fine nylon at the same gauge.
Nylon
$76
Same 84 percent nylon and 16 percent spandex build in white. Classic athletic fit. The cleanest way to test whether nylon is your hand.
Hand and drape
Nylon feels softer and cooler. That is not marketing, it is physics you can verify with your palm.
Two things create that impression. Nylon can be spun into finer filaments, and finer filaments mean more of them in the same yarn, which means a smoother surface with fewer points pressing into your skin. And because nylon carries a little moisture in the fiber, it conducts heat away from your hand slightly faster on first contact. Your nervous system reads that as cool. Polyester, holding almost no water, reads as dry and neutral instead.
Drape follows from the same place. A fine nylon knit has less internal stiffness, so it falls along the body rather than standing off it. The David Polo hangs like a shirt someone tailored. Its firm collar keeps a point on the frame while the body of the shirt stays quiet. That combination is what makes nylon the safer answer when you are not sure how dressy the room is going to be, which is the same logic behind our breakdown of fit, fabric and collar in a golf polo.
The Steven Polo goes the other way on purpose. Polyester holds a knitted texture, and texture is a look. A textured surface catches light unevenly, which hides a little sweat and gives the shirt some visual weight. Some days that is exactly the point.
SweatMoisture and dry time
Both wick. Polyester dries faster. Neither of those statements cancels the other.
Wicking is a construction property, not a fiber property. It comes from the knit, the yarn shape and the finish moving liquid along channels between the filaments and out to the surface where it can evaporate. Both of these polos are built to do that, and we go deeper on the mechanism in the explainer on how moisture wicking fabric actually works.
Where the fibers separate is what happens to the water once it is there. Polyester holds almost nothing inside the fiber, so nearly all the moisture sits on the surface, ready to leave. Nylon absorbs a small amount into the polymer itself. That water has to come back out before the shirt is fully dry, which is why nylon runs a step behind on dry time.
What nylon gives you back is that it stays comfortable while it is damp. It does not go cold and clammy the way a heavier absorbent fabric does, and the small amount of water it carries is part of why it feels cool rather than plasticky. If you are walking eighteen in August and you want the shirt bone dry by the turn, take polyester. If you sweat in bursts and care more about how the shirt feels for the other twenty three hours, take nylon.
What the fabric carriesColor and print
Polyester wins this one outright, and it is not close.
Disperse dye lives inside the polyester fiber rather than clinging to its surface, which is why polyester consistently outperforms nylon on wash fastness and light fastness testing. Bright color stays bright through more cycles. Nylon is dyed with acid dyes, and while a good nylon holds a solid color well, it is more willing to pick up loose dye from other garments in a hot wash and more willing to shift in strong sun over years.
That is the entire reason PILLAR puts its patterns on the Steven Polo. If a shirt is going to carry Brew, Floral, Texas, Zona or Pillar, it needs to carry them at full saturation for the life of the shirt. Polyester does that. We keep the David Polo in Navy, Black and White for the same reason in reverse. Solids are where nylon is at its best.
Polyester
$76
88 percent polyester, 12 percent spandex. Textured feel, four way stretch, sweat wicking, U cut hem, pre shrunk. The print that reads quiet from ten feet.
Polyester
$76
The loudest thing we make, held at full saturation by the polyester underneath it. Classic athletic fit, four way stretch, sweat wicking.
Nylon is the one that reads like a shirt. Polyester is the one that holds the picture. Buy the job, not the fiber.
PILLARSun, chlorine and heat
Polyester takes the abuse better. Nylon takes the friction better.
Chlorine is the clearest split. Polyester is largely unbothered by chlorine because its chain gives the oxidizer very little to attack. Nylon is more vulnerable to it. If a shirt is going to sit near a pool deck all summer and get rinsed in pool water more than once, polyester is the safer purchase.
Sun is the same story, softer. Both synthetics screen ultraviolet better than a loose cotton weave simply because the fibers are dense and the knit is tight. Over years of unbroken exposure, polyester holds its strength and its color with less change than nylon does. Neither shirt is going to fall apart on you in a season. This is a five year difference, not a five round difference.
Heat is where you should pay attention, because it applies to your dryer. Both fibers soften well below the temperature at which they melt, and the spandex in each shirt is more heat sensitive than either base fiber. That is the real reason for the care rules below.
StretchWhat the spandex is actually doing
Both polos are four way stretch. The 16 versus 12 is about recovery, not about range.
Spandex is the elastic component. It is what lets the fabric extend across the shoulders on a backswing and then pull itself back to shape instead of staying stretched. More spandex generally means more elongation and a stronger snap back. The David Polo runs 16 percent, and paired with nylon, which already has strong elastic recovery of its own, you get a shirt that moves close to the body and returns cleanly.
The Steven Polo runs 12 percent, which is plenty of range, and it needs less help because polyester resists stretching out under load on its own. That is the point. The polyester body is doing part of the recovery work that the spandex has to do in the nylon shirt. Two different routes, one destination, which is a polo that fits the same at hour eight as it did at hour one.
Fit is identical between the two. Both are classic athletic fit with a U cut hem and both are pre shrunk, so if you know your size in one, you know your size in the other.
CareHow to wash both of them
Cold water, no fabric softener, low heat or no heat. That is the whole rule for either shirt.
Fabric softener is the one people get wrong. It works by depositing a waxy film on the fiber surface, and that film is exactly what blocks the capillary channels a performance knit uses to move sweat. Softener does not damage the shirt. It just turns off the feature you paid for. Skip it. Skip dryer sheets for the same reason.
Wash cold and inside out. Cold protects the spandex and, on the Steven Polo, keeps the print from having any reason to move. Inside out spares the printed face from abrasion against the drum. Then hang it, or tumble on the lowest setting and pull it out slightly damp. High heat is what shortens the life of the elastic and sets odor into synthetics. Our full routine for keeping performance fabric looking new lives in the care guide for athletic wear.
The callBuy this one if
Two short lists. Pick the one that sounds like your week.
Take the nylon David Polo if
- You want one shirt that works at the course, at the office and at dinner without changing.
- You care most about how the fabric feels against your skin.
- You wear solids. Navy, Black, White.
- You want the shirt to read tailored rather than technical.
- You are hard on clothes and want the better abrasion resistance.
Take the polyester Steven Polo if
- You want print, and you want it still bright in three years.
- You are outside in real heat and you want the fastest dry time available.
- You want texture, not slickness, against the skin.
- Chlorine and long sun are part of your normal week.
- You want the shirt to hold its exact shape from the first tee to the last beer.
Still undecided at $76 either way, buy one of each and let your own hands settle it. The rest of the range sits in the polo collection, and when the morning starts cold, the Alec Quarter Zip in Blue goes over either one.
Polyester
$76
88 percent polyester, 12 percent spandex, textured feel. Four way stretch, sweat wicking, pre shrunk. Large is gone at the moment.
Layer
$98
The layer for a cold first tee. Goes over the David or the Steven and comes off at the turn without wrecking the collar underneath.
Questions people actually ask
01
Is nylon or polyester better for a golf shirt
Both work. Nylon is better if you want the shirt to look like a shirt and feel smooth against the skin, and it is the stronger pick for a round that ends at a restaurant. Polyester is better if you are playing in real heat, if you want a print, or if you want the fastest dry time. PILLAR builds the David Polo in nylon and the Steven Polo in polyester at the same $76 for exactly that reason.
02
Which one dries faster
Polyester. It absorbs almost no water into the fiber itself, with a moisture regain under 1 percent, so nearly all the sweat sits on the surface where it can evaporate. Nylon takes on around 4 percent of its weight in moisture, which has to leave the fiber before the shirt is fully dry. Nylon still stays comfortable while it is damp, it just takes a bit longer to finish.
03
Does nylon or polyester hold color longer
Polyester. It is dyed with disperse dyes that sit inside the fiber rather than on the surface, and it consistently outperforms nylon on wash and light fastness testing. That is why every PILLAR print colorway is on the polyester Steven Polo and why the nylon David Polo is offered in solid Navy, Black and White.
04
Will a nylon polo feel hot
No. Nylon usually feels cooler than polyester on first contact, because finer filaments make a smoother surface and the small amount of moisture the fiber carries pulls heat away from your skin slightly faster. Heat in a polo comes from the knit density and the fit, not from choosing nylon over polyester.
05
Can I put either one in the dryer
Low heat or no heat. Both fibers tolerate a warm dryer, but the spandex in both shirts is the weak link and high heat shortens its life. Wash cold, skip fabric softener and dryer sheets because they leave a film that blocks wicking, then hang dry or tumble on the lowest setting and pull the shirt out slightly damp.
06
Which polo should I buy if I only buy one
Buy the nylon David Polo. It covers the widest set of rooms, because a smooth fabric in a solid color with a firm collar passes almost anywhere, and the fit is identical to the Steven Polo so you can add polyester later without guessing your size. Buy the Steven Polo first only if you already know you want a print or you live somewhere hot enough that dry time decides everything.
Pick your fabric, then pick your color
Nylon for the smoother shirt. Polyester for the print and the faster dry. Same fit, same $76, both waiting in the collection.
See every PILLAR polo