If you’re anything like me, you’re a mosquito’s favourite meal. I bet you’ve tried everything to stop the bug bites, from bug repellent (both natural and tropical strength varieties) and citronella candles to vitamin B and armbands, but nothing seems to work. I feel ya. No matter how much repellent I apply, I still come away from tropical countries absolutely covered in itchy red bumps. It’s just not fair!
So when I came across the Craghoppers Nosilife clothing range that has mosquito repellent technology built into the fibres, I couldn’t wait to give it a try. This Craghoppers Nosilife Review shares my own personal experience with the range of adventure clothing.
Disclaimer: Even though I paid for all of the clothing featured in this mosquito repellent clothing review, as an Amazon and Craghoppers affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What is Craghoppers Nosilife clothing?
Nosilife is a range of outdoor clothes that claims to be 90% effective against insect bites. It’s got an insect repellent technology permanently built in to the fabric, but not in the way you think! Nosilife doesn’t smell, nor is it completely soaked in the mosquito repellent you can buy from the shops. That means you can wash it just like normal laundry and its effectiveness won’t reduce over time. Much better than buying lots of plastic bottles of mosquito repellent for the rest of your life, right?
Even if you’re not that bothered by what the bites do to your body (the bites I get are incredibly painful and can often blister due to allergies!), it’s important to repel mosquitoes and other biting insects to stop the spread of horrible diseases in countries rife with malaria or dengue fever, like Costa Rica and Kenya, for example.
Beyond its insect repellent technology, Nosilife clothes are made from light and breathable materials with antibacterial properties too, making them perfect for active holidays or trips to tropical countries. They will also protect you from the sun and UV rays so you’ll want to wear the clothes every day – not just when there’s a risk of bites!
Review of women’s Nosilife clothing
Craghoppers has designed a whole range of mosquito repellent clothing for women, with items from classic tops and insect repellent trousers, to dresses and even scarves.
While the range may not be as fashionable as the clothes you’d wear at home, everything is really practical and comfortable. Much like most outdoor clothing, the basic pieces are quite plain, but there’s also a selection of hoodies, leggings and pretty tops available so you’re likely to still find something that’s to your taste.
The clothes I tried were long trousers, lounge pants, a long-sleeved Erin top, hoodies and socks. I wanted to try a full outfit that I could completely cover up on days out in the jungle, wear in bed at night or mix and match with other things in my suitcase on days around the cities. Having a few different pieces certainly helped to spread everything out as far as possible into my trip!
Like the shoes? They’re my Allbirds Mizzles and I love them! Check out my Allbirds Mizzles review while you’re here.
The Sydney hoodie was really useful to wear to keep warm in the evenings but was also light enough to wear over short sleeved vests and t-shirts throughout the days without overheating. The Clara trousers also certainly did their job – they were very quick drying and kept the mosquitoes at bay. I also really liked the fact they had slim legs, which felt much more fashionable than most other walking trousers I’ve tried in the past. While the socks felt too woolly and thick at first, they were very comfortable to walk and hike in and I never once got bitten on my feet whilst wearing them.
The long-sleeved Erin top was my favourite piece of clothing from the Nosilife range, as it matched some of my other clothes in style. The boat neckline, however, left a little too much of my back exposed and I ended up getting a bite just above my shoulder where it wasn’t covered.
I also found that when I mixed and matched, I did still get bitten on areas that weren’t covered by the Nosilife clothing. So it’s not enough to wear a Nosilife cap on your head and expect no bites on your feet, for example. I also can’t therefore vouch for the effectiveness of the dresses, shorts or vests as they only give limited coverage. I still felt the need to wear mosquito spray on areas of my body that weren’t covered by the clothing. Still, this was much better than on days where I didn’t wear any Nosilife clothing and came away with itchy, swollen red bites on my legs.
View the full range of women’s Nosilife clothing on the Craghoppers website
Men’s Craghoppers Nosilife review
There’s a great selection of Nosilife clothes for men as well as women. There’s insect repellent trousers, shirts, jackets, shorts and t-shirts too. All of them boast the same great mosquito repellent benefits, as well as the fact they’re made from a material which can wick away sweat. Great for hot countries!
Though my husband, Tim, isn’t as prone or allergic to insect bites as I am, he was still keen to try some Nosilife clothing to reduce the risk of spreading Dengue Fever.
He tried out a couple of long-sleeved t-shirts, a short-sleeved t-shirt and a Tilpa hoodie from the Nosilife collection. He loved the lightweight material, and its ability to wick away sweat so he stayed comfortable even in the crazy humidity of Costa Rica.
The hoodie was especially useful on slightly cooler days, helping him layer up with other t-shirts and shirts that weren’t mosquito repellent.
His Craghoppers Kiwi Pro trousers aren’t strictly Nosilife, but they had something slightly different called NosiDefence, which means they’re made from a fabric that biting insects can’t bite through. That seemed to do the trick, as he didn’t once get bitten on his legs while he wore them.
Check out the men’s Nosilife clothing available from Craghoppers
Where to buy Nosilife clothing
You can find Nosilife clothing on the Craghoppers website as well as other outdoor clothing websites like Cotswold Outdoors.
If you like what you’ve seen in this post, you can shop the look now:
- Women’s Erin long-sleeved top
- Women’s Clara pants
- Women’s lounge pants
- Women’s Sydney grey hoodie
- Women’s Nosilife socks
- Men’s grey Tilpa hoodie
- Men’s long-sleeved t-shirt
- Men’s short-sleeved t-shirt
- Men’s Kiwi Pro trousers
Does insect repellent clothing actually work?
The all important question still remains… does Craghoppers Nosilife technology actually repel mosquitoes? Well, I can’t be 100% sure. Having the clothes with me seemed to make me a lot more conscious about covering up, meaning I was less likely to get bitten. There’s no real way to tell whether this was a direct result of the Nosilife technology, but one thing’s for sure… I definitely got bitten a lot less than I normally do.
For that fact alone, I’ll definitely be bringing my new insect repellent wardrobe on a lot more trips to mosquito and insect ridden countries in future!
Check out the full range of insect repellent clothing available on the Craghoppers website
