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Copley News Service

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Looking for sun protection that doesn't wash off, wear off or need to be reapplied every few hours? You're not going to get it in a bottle. But you will find it on the clothing racks in sporting goods stores, some department stores and in an increasing number of catalogs and Web sites.

Long popular in sun-savvy Australia and New Zealand, sun-protective clothing is becoming more available in the U.S. for good reason: It offers continuous sun protection without the hassle or the mess.

Just as sunscreens offer a sun protection factor (SPF) to indicate the degree of protection, sun-protective clothing has an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) to indicate how much of the sun's ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the fabric. A shirt with a UPF rating of 50 allows only one-fiftieth, or 2 percent, of the sun's UV rays to pass through the fabric.

Unlike many sunscreens that offer only UVB (burning) protection, sun-protective clothing offers protection from both UVB and UVA (aging) rays and the protection lasts as long as you wear the clothing and for 25 to 30 washings. The clothes protect skin in several ways. Many protective garments are constructed with tight, more complicated weaves to block the sun. Some garments from companies such as Coolibar, are made with titanium dioxide fibers, the same ingredient used in white, opaque sunblocks.

In addition to being offered by sportswear makers like REI or Columbia, there are now more than a dozen manufacturers of sun-protective clothing, including Solumbra (sunprecautions.com); Coolibar (coolibar.com); Sun Solutions (sunsolutionsclothing.com); and Solartex (solartex.com).

One form of sun protection is never enough, warn dermatologists. It's still imperative to wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen on exposed hands, faces and feet.