Are swimming clothes or any clothes with a claim of an SPF better than regualr clothes?”
It’s true that clothing does produce some level of SPF, depending on the fabric, weave, color, thickness, and a variety of other factors. The problem is that it doesn’t provide a consistent or easily identified SPF level. An average t-shirt can provide protection around SPF 4-10, but you probably wouldn’t spend a few hours out in the sun using SPF 4 sunscreen. The benefit of SPF specific clothing is that they tell you how much protection you’re getting, and depending on the manufacturer, it’s often consistent wet or dry, which isn’t necessarily the case with standard clothing. Of course, the easiest and least expensive alternative is just to apply sunscreen underneath the clothes before you put them on. This alleviates the need to buy special clothes, but if you’ll need to reapply during the day, you have to remember to reapply under the clothes, with may be difficult depending on your location and gender 😉 So are they worth the money? They can be, if you want to know how much protect
