How hot are certain fabrics?

Question

I'm planning on spending 2 years in Mali with the Peace Corps and I wanted to know if anyone out there knew anything about how hot certain fabrics were. I know that cotton is a good fabric for letting your skin breath. My mother thinks that non-cotton fabrics would be too hot for the 90+ degree heat...

what do you all think?

Answer 1

Pure cotton is good, so is silk. Both let your skin breathe.

Answer 2

100% cotton material in white or ligher shades of color would be the coolest.  On the other hand, 90-100 degree weather is normally ok if you are wearing shorts and a t-shirt.