Clothing Color and Perceived Warmth: Why Warm Colors Look Hot but Near-Infrared Absorption Decides Real Temperature
Published
Same material, same shape—only the color differs. When light strikes the fabric, how high does the thermometer climb?
The intuition that "red looks warm, pale blue looks cool" was measured from both sides—survey responses and light-irradiation experiments—in a study published in the Journal of Home Economics of Japan.
The Paper Covered in This Article
This article introduces a single paper published in 2025 in the Journal of Home Economics of Japan. The study is "Physical Verification by Light Irradiation Experiments of the Psychological Thermal Sensation Received from Clothing Color" by Tetsuya Takahashi and Yoko Tsurunaga (Shimane University), and Akane Morita, Yojiro Arai, and Tadashi Matsuba (Iwami Ginzan Gungendo Group Co., Ltd.), published in the Journal of Home Economics of Japan, Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 269–283, 2025 (DOI: 10.11428/jhej.76.269).
The research consists of three procedures: a survey in which participants viewed T-shirt-shaped fabric samples and rated their thermal sensation; a light-irradiation experiment measuring temperature change when the same fabrics were exposed to a reflector lamp; and spectral analysis of transmitted and reflected light through the fabrics. Psychological ratings, measured temperatures, and light absorption rates are all placed side by side on the same set of samples.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Physical Verification by Light Irradiation Experiments of the Psychological Thermal Sensation Received from Clothing Color |
| Authors | Tetsuya Takahashi, Yoko Tsurunaga (Shimane University) / Akane Morita, Yojiro Arai, Tadashi Matsuba (Iwami Ginzan Gungendo Group Co., Ltd.) |
| Journal | Journal of Home Economics of Japan |
| Volume, Issue, Pages | Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 269–283 |
| Accepted / Published | Accepted February 3, 2025 / Published July 2, 2025 |
| Keywords | hue, thermal sensation, light irradiation, near-infrared light, solar transmittance, solar reflectance |
| Access | Journal Free (full text available on J-STAGE) |
| DOI | 10.11428/jhej.76.269 |
Below, the study is summarized in plain language, followed by the full abstract, the questions the research posed, the facts confirmable from the abstract, and what can be read from them. Experimental conditions and measured values appear in the original text (pp. 269–283); this article covers what can be confirmed from the bibliographic information and the published abstract.
Plain-Language Summary
In One Sentence
Clothing in warm colors such as red and yellow feels warm just by looking at it, while how readily fabric actually heats up under light is determined by how dark the color is and how well it absorbs near-infrared light.
What Kind of Study Is It?
The research asks how changing clothing color changes the way heat and coolness are perceived. Participants were first shown T-shirt-shaped fabric samples in various colors and asked how warm each appeared. Red and yellow fabrics were felt to be warm, and within the same color, darker samples appeared warmer still.
Next, the same fabrics were exposed to strong light and their peak temperatures measured. In every color family, the darker fabric reached a higher temperature. In some cases blue fabric reached a higher temperature than yellow fabric, showing that visual impression and actual heating are separate matters.
Analysis of light passing through and reflecting off the fabrics then revealed a relationship: fabrics that absorb more light—including invisible near-infrared light, the wavelengths that carry heat—rise in temperature more readily.
Why Is It Interesting?
The habit of choosing white clothing in summer appears to connect to both visual coolness and resistance to heating. Because color impression and light absorption work independently, clothing that looks cool is not necessarily cool.
Abstract
This paper measures the psychological thermal sensation—"looks warm" or "looks cool"—received from clothing color from the physical side, using light-irradiation experiments and spectral analysis on the same fabrics. Placing the warm-cool sensation of color, long discussed as a psychological quantity, alongside measurable quantities is the core of the study. Below is the full abstract published on J-STAGE (translated).
To investigate the psychological influence of clothing color on human thermal sensation, a survey on thermal sensation was conducted by presenting research participants with T-shirt-shaped fabrics in different colors. As a result, participants showed clearly higher thermal sensation toward fabrics in warm colors such as red and yellow. Within the same color family, dark fabrics showed higher thermal sensation than light fabrics. Next, the same fabrics were irradiated with light from a reflector lamp and their temperature changes measured. In every hue, the maximum temperature reached by dark fabrics was higher than that of light fabrics, in accordance with light absorption. However, the temperature rise from light irradiation did not necessarily match psychological thermal sensation: in some cases, blue fabrics—a cool color—reached a higher maximum temperature than yellow fabrics, a warm color. Spectral analysis of transmitted and reflected light was also performed on these fabrics. The sum of solar transmittance and solar reflectance across a wavelength range including the near-infrared region showed a high correlation with the maximum temperature obtained by reflector lamp irradiation. In other words, it became quantitatively clear that the higher the proportion of light—including near-infrared light—absorbed by a fabric, the more readily that fabric rises in temperature.
——From the abstract, Journal of Home Economics of Japan, Vol. 76, No. 6
The Questions
The questions this research posed can be organized as follows (this is an organization by shikisai101, not the authors' own wording).
- How does the thermal sensation received by a viewer change when clothing color changes?
- Is there a quantity corresponding to that sensation in the physical process of light absorption?
- Where do the ordering of psychological thermal sensation (warm colors feel warm, cool colors feel cool) and the ordering of measured temperature rise overlap, and where do they diverge?
"Psychological thermal sensation" and "physical thermal sensation" are separate quantities. The former is a rating—how warm something looks or feels; the latter is a measurement—the temperature of the fabric. The title's phrasing, "physical verification of psychological thermal sensation," points to this structure of comparing the two on the same samples (organization by shikisai101).
Facts
What Can Be Confirmed from the Abstract
- Survey — Research participants were presented with T-shirt-shaped fabrics in different colors and asked about thermal sensation. Clearly higher thermal sensation was shown toward red and yellow fabrics.
- Light and dark within a color family — Within the same hue, dark fabrics showed higher thermal sensation than light fabrics.
- Light-irradiation experiment — The same fabrics were irradiated with a reflector lamp and temperature changes measured. In every hue, the maximum temperature reached by dark fabrics was higher than that of light fabrics.
- Where perception and measurement diverge — In some cases, blue fabrics (a cool color) reached a higher maximum temperature than yellow fabrics (a warm color).
- Spectral analysis — Analysis of transmitted and reflected light showed that the sum of solar transmittance and solar reflectance across a wavelength range including the near-infrared region correlated highly with maximum temperature.
- The authors' conclusion — It became quantitatively clear that the higher the proportion of light, including near-infrared light, absorbed by a fabric, the more readily that fabric rises in temperature.
Fabric materials and color samples, participant numbers and demographics, reflector lamp output, distance and irradiation time, measured maximum temperatures, and correlation coefficients appear in the original text (pp. 269–283). This article covers what can be confirmed from the abstract.
Interpretation
The warm-cool sensation of color has long been discussed from the perceptual side. This study layers onto that a reproducible procedure any third party can replicate: shine light on the same fabric and measure the temperature. Rather than pitting psychology against physics to see which is correct, it places a physical yardstick alongside the psychological rating.
The results can be read along two axes.
- The lightness axis (dark vs. light) — Perception and physics pointed the same direction. Dark fabrics looked warm and did reach higher temperatures.
- The hue axis — Perception and physics were determined separately. Red and yellow looked warm, while in maximum temperature blue sometimes exceeded yellow.
What explains this divergence is the absorption rate including the near-infrared region. Visible color is determined by reflectance in the visible range; temperature is determined by total absorption extending into the near-infrared. The same fabric yields different answers because the wavelength ranges under observation differ.
Color has two layers: the layer of appearance (hue and lightness in the visible range) and the layer of thermal behavior (absorption rate including the near-infrared range). Across light and dark within a color family, these two layers worked in the same direction; across differences in hue, they worked separately.
When choosing within the same hue, lightness offers a basis for judgment. In this experiment, lighter fabrics reached lower maximum temperatures in every hue. When comparing across hues, perceived warmth and measured temperature rise move independently.
The study compares fabrics along two axes: differences in hue (red, yellow, blue and so on) and light versus dark within the same color family. Applying the same framework, comparison pairs might look like this.
- Lightness axis: Sumi-iro (ink black)
#1A1A1A/ Kinari (unbleached natural)#F5F0E8 - Hue axis: Shu-iro (vermilion)
#C8392B/ Mizu-asagi (pale blue-green)#6BA3B8
These four colors were chosen to illustrate this article and are not the sample colors used in the original study.
References
- Takahashi, T., Tsurunaga, Y., Morita, A., Arai, Y., Matsuba, T. "Physical Verification by Light Irradiation Experiments of the Psychological Thermal Sensation Received from Clothing Color," Journal of Home Economics of Japan, Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 269–283, 2025. DOI: 10.11428/jhej.76.269
- J-STAGE article page: Journal of Home Economics of Japan, Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 269–283 (Journal Free)
- Full-text PDF: PDF on J-STAGE
The content of this article is based on the bibliographic information of the above paper and the abstract published on J-STAGE. For experimental conditions and measured values, please refer to the original text (pp. 269–283).
