>>1273914Yes. Cotton fibres have almost no stability, causing them to collapse the moment they get wet. once they've collapsed, they no longer insulate (since water is pretty good at transfering heat) and don't try of properly either (since the reduced surface reduced vaporization rates). If that happens, hypothermia is pretty much unavoidable.
>>1275118It's not as risky, but they'll get hot quicker and sweat more than they would with linen or wool of equal thickness. Just make sure they wear loose clothing (to reduce skin contact) and get plenty of hydration and salt. If they wear loose cotton dresses (like the arabs do), the disadvantages of cotton actually become somewhat of an advantage, as the wetted cotton will stop the moist, sweaty air from leaving the clothes and stop you from loosing moisture to quickly. That is still uncomfortable of course, but preferable from dying of thirst, which is why many desert tribes dress this way.
