A firefighter's protective garment including an outer shell, moisture barrier and thermal barrier in which the thermal barrier is constructed with spacers on its inner surface such that air can circulate between the garment and the firefighter wearing it. The garment redistributes metabolic heat over a larger surface area, and increases metabolic cooling and firefighter comfort. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the spacers are strategically attached to those areas of the thermal barrier which find themselves opposite those parts of the human body having the highest rates of perspiration and metabolic heat transfer.