UV Protective Arm Sleeves

One of the great things about life is being outside and enjoying the sun. Be it work or play, sun can be damaging in excess. Sunlight’s warmth produces ultraviolet (UV) rays. Being exposed to them can lead to aging of the skin, sunburns and skin cancer. At Uparel, we went to great lengths to design arm sleeve materials to protect against these harmful rays. Our Arm Sleeves have the highest sun protection rating with UPF 50+.

This article will cover:

  • Why we went to great lengths to add sun protection to our sleeves
  • What is UPF?
  • Our specially designed fabrics
  • What to look for.

Why we went to great lengths to add sun protection to our sleeves

Most sports and activities are out in the sun. We can apply sunscreen but ultimately it wears off or is impractical to apply. We noticed that many of the sleeves in the market don’t have adequate protection. So we decided that we need to make an arm sleeve that provides the highest sun protection.

What is UPF?

You may be familiar with SPF sunscreen which protects you from the sun. The higher the SPF the higher the protection on your skin. Clothing has a similar system called UPF. Clothing must go through a stringent certification process like sunscreen to get an UPF rating.

When you shop for clothing looking for higher UPF ratings will provide greater coverage. Here is a chart that shows the various UPF ratings.

UPF RatingProtection CategoryEffective UV Transmission (%)
15, 20Good6.7-4.2
25, 30, 35Very Good4.1-2.6
40, 45, 50, 50+ExcellentLess than 2.5

Why nothing under UPF 15?

Fabrics under UPF 15 are considered not suitable to be called uv protective clothing. A t-shirt for example provides almost no sun protection at all with a UPF rating of 5.

Our specially designed fabrics

Many manufacturers use polyester nylon for their sleeves. Our testing showed very low UPF ratings. That is why we worked with fabric material manufacturers that specialized in UPF protection. We looked for a stretchy fabric that we can apply our favorite designs. Also, the fabric must have properties like moisture and odor control. After several costly tests we found the perfect fabric with a rating of 50+. This makes our sleeves the highest rated sun protective sleeves on the market.

What to look for

When looking for an arm sleeve make sure that they have the highest UPF+ rating possible. If there is no rating? It not considered uv protective and will not provide the benefits of an UPF 50+ certified arm sleeve