meanwhile , unconcerned at all by their skin color , the damp heat clung to them tenaciously , just as it did to everyone else in that undulating crowd , and started to make the non-natural fibers most of the men wore smell ( reminding him of the musty steamer wetsuits arden used to wear when he went surfing as a teenager ) , and their polyester and nylon funk not only stuck fast to the air , it also clung stale and solidifying on the skin .