Quick answer: The cooling gear that matters for pickleball and tennis is a 100% polyester performance shirt, a light colour, and shade between games. Court Sportswear makes the shirt; it does not sell cooling vests, towels or ice gear, and this page says which is which. Start with Pickleball Lite (All The Dinks) ($26.95), Tennis Water (Probably) ($26.95) and Pickleball Brew (Est. At The Net) ($26).
Cooling gear starts with the fabric. Here is the pickleball performance tees — starting with Pickleball Craft at $26.95.
What we actually print for this
The pickleball prints we put on the A4 N3142 performance blank -- 100% polyester, moisture-wicking, UPF-rated. The cotton versions of the same designs exist and are not this.
Pickleball Craft — Men's Pickleball Performance Tee$26.95
Pickleball Lite (All The Dinks) — Men's Pickleball Performance Tee$26.95
Pickleball Tall Boy — Men's Pickleball Performance Tee$26.95
Printed to order in the USA. Free US shipping on orders $50+, $4.90 flat below that.
What we sell and what we do not
Starting here because the search that brings people to this page is often looking for a cooling vest, and we do not make one. Court Sportswear makes performance shirts, hoodies, tanks and stickers for tennis and pickleball. If you want a phase-change cooling vest or an ice towel, buy one from someone who makes them.
Short answer. The only cooling gear Court Sportswear makes is the shirt. We do not sell vests, towels or ice packs. US shipping is $4.90, free over $50.
What each of these is printed on, and whether it wicks
| Garment | Blank we print on | Fabric | Weight | Moisture-wicking? | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-Shirt | A4 N3142 | 100% premium polyester | 4 oz/yd² (68 g/m²) | yes | $25.95 |
| T-Shirt | Bella + Canvas 3001 | 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester) | 4.2 oz./yd.² (142 g/m²) | no -- cotton | $25.95 |
| T-Shirt | Bella + Canvas 6400 | 100% combed ring spun cotton | 4.2 oz/y² (142 g/m²) | no -- cotton | $26.95 |
| Tank Top | Bella + Canvas 3480 | 100% combed and ringspun cotton | 4.2 oz/yd² (142.40 g/m²) | no -- cotton | $29.95 |
What we make, and what it costs
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The Volleyer — Men's Tennis Performance Tee$25.95
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Two Courts, One Hour — Funny Pickleball Unisex Tee$25.95
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Victory Pose — Women's Tennis Tee$26.95
Next: Shop hot-weather tennis apparel
Sources: fabric, weight and composition are the blank manufacturer's own published figures, resolved per SKU from Printful catalogue data; shipping figures transacted against the store's own rate engine and held in config/facts.json
What we can tell you is which parts of the heat problem the shirt actually solves, and which parts it does not, because that is the part most gear pages get vague about.
Why pickleball runs hotter than people expect
The court is smaller, so the assumption is that it is easier. In practice recreational pickleball is played in long continuous blocks with short rotations, often on an unshaded converted tennis court whose surface radiates heat upward all afternoon. You spend more consecutive minutes on court than a tennis player playing sets does.
That changes the requirement. It is not about surviving one hard hour; it is about a shirt that is still working in the fourth game of an open-play rotation.
The shirt: what to look for
A 100% polyester performance knit, lightweight, in a light colour. Sweat moves to the surface and evaporates between points instead of soaking in. Court Sportswear's performance tees are built on exactly this, printed to order in the USA, in sizes S-2XL.
A tank maximises airflow and freedom through the serve or the overhead; a tee adds sun coverage on the shoulders. Both work. Fabric weight matters more than which cut you pick, and the difference between the two is smaller than the difference between polyester and cotton.
The things that actually cool you, ranked honestly
Shade between games does more than any garment. Then water, taken continuously rather than in one large drink at a changeover. Then a dry shirt, which is why a spare in the bag beats a better single shirt. Then colour. The garment is genuinely fourth on this list, and a store telling you otherwise is selling, not advising.
What a good shirt does buy you is that the first three keep working. A saturated cotton shirt cancels the benefit of shade and water by holding a warm wet layer against you the whole time.
Common questions
cooling gear for pickleball and tennis
A 100% polyester performance shirt in a light colour, shade between games and continuous water. Court Sportswear makes the shirt; it does not sell cooling vests or ice towels.
cooling vests for pickleball and tennis
We do not make cooling vests. If you want one, buy from a specialist. For most recreational players a wicking shirt and a spare do more than a vest that has to be recharged between sessions.
Is pickleball clothing different from tennis clothing?
Functionally no -- the same wicking knit and the same range of motion requirements. Pickleball is often played in longer continuous blocks, which makes the spare shirt matter more.
What else helps in the heat, and none of it is ours
We make shirts. Everything in this section is gear we do not sell and are not paid to recommend, listed because a hot-weather guide that only talks about its own shirts is not a guide. The reason each one is here is stated, and it comes from published specifications or from how the thing physically works — we have not tested any of it, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
We do not sell any of the gear below and we are not paid to recommend any of it. No links here are affiliate links.
Electrolyte tablets or powder — sweat carries sodium, not just water, so replacing water alone over a long hot session leaves sodium low. Every brand prints sodium per serving on the label, and that number is the one worth comparing
UPF-rated arm sleeves — UPF is a measured fabric property under AATCC 183, so it is checkable rather than a marketing word. Unlike sunscreen a sleeve does not need reapplying halfway through a match
Broad-spectrum sunscreen, SPF 30 or higher — SPF is a regulated standard; the variable that actually decides the outcome is reapplication, which is why a stick or a spray you will genuinely use at a changeover beats a higher number left in the car
An absorbent towel-style overgrip — in heat the handle is usually the first thing to fail. Overgrips come in two published types, tacky and absorbent; the absorbent kind is the one made for sweat
SPF lip balm — lip skin is thin and gets no protection from anything else you are wearing on court. It is the cheapest thing on this list and the one most often skipped
A cooling vest, if you play in blocks — these work by holding cold mass against a large area of blood flow, and they have to be recharged between uses. That makes them suit a long day of back-to-back matches far better than a single social hit
A courtside shade umbrella or a clip-on shade — shade between games does more than any garment can. If the court has none, bringing your own is the single highest-value item here