"I've personally come to feel cotton is vastly over-rated as a clothing material for anything but cost-saving goals (which certainly is an important factor.) Of course there's the old adage "Cotton Kills", referring to cold weather ..."
FWIW, cotton is very useful as an underlayer for firefighting.
It's very important to not have any synthetic fabrics as underlayers - especially in a wildland/forest fire situation where a flash of heat that might only result in a first degree burn of your skin melts the synthetic fabric to your skin.
That’s fair. Since you mentioned it, I think I’ve read something to that effect. Without having searched the topic myself yet, is wool an alternative in that use case? Seems it’d be far superior though certainly not as cheap nor convenient as a large multi-pack of cotton undershirts.
Wouldn't you want to use Nomex for this kind of thing? It's synthetic and extremely flame-resistant, which is why it's used for clothing for firefighters, race car drivers, and military pilots.
It is an option but it is neither particularly breathable, nor flexible, nor inexpensive.
For some PPE all you are looking for is no-melt (which would leave molten goo on your skin that would increase the damage)or provides a minimal level of protection, e.g. NFPA 70E PPE level 1 for arc flash, suitable to your expected risk exposure.
FWIW, cotton is very useful as an underlayer for firefighting.
It's very important to not have any synthetic fabrics as underlayers - especially in a wildland/forest fire situation where a flash of heat that might only result in a first degree burn of your skin melts the synthetic fabric to your skin.