We’re speaking about $80 (or extra) T-shirts right here, so that is legitimate query. I feel merino T-shirts are well worth the funding. They provide appreciable advantages over cotton and different pure fibers, in addition to synthetics. Merino presents nice temperature regulation, wonderful moisture wicking, and so they do not odor, which implies you’ll be able to put on them extra and do not want as a lot of them. Three merino T-shirts in your wardrobe will final you as many days as 10 cotton shirts, so from a monetary angle it is a wash.
This is a fast rundown of a number of the advantages of merino wool:
Odor-resistant: Certainly one of merino wool’s superpowers is that it’s naturally immune to odors. This implies you’ll be able to put on a merino T-shirt a number of instances earlier than needing to clean it. What number of instances? I would say that relies upon the place you’re and what you are doing, however normally three to seven instances. Our high decide is, in spite of everything, known as the 72-hour shirt, as a result of that is how lengthy you’ll be able to put on it earlier than it wants a wash.
Thermoregulation: Merino wool can preserve you heat in chilly climate and funky in heat climate. Sure, there are limits to this—no T-shirt goes to maintain you cool on a sizzling summer time day within the tropics—however merino far outshines cotton and synthetics.
Moisture wicking: This is a vital one for something you are carrying whereas mountaineering or on the fitness center. Merino wool is superb at transferring moisture away out of your pores and skin, by the material, the place it could possibly evaporate rapidly. Because of this it makes such a superb base layer.
Versatility: Merino wool shirts are nice for journey, mountaineering, backpacking, and as on a regular basis shirts for round city. They may also be used year-round, even within the chilly, as a part of a superb layering system.
Packable: Merino wool T-shirts are inclined to pack up smaller than cotton and lots of synthetics, which means they take up much less room in your bag when touring. Mix this with the odor resistance above and your have the last word journey T-shirt.
The one place cotton and nylon mix T-shirts would possibly presumably have an edge is sturdiness. Merino wool is not actually any much less sturdy in my expertise, however it could possibly tablet, which is the place the wool fibers break and tangle collectively in tiny knots, forming little balls in your T-shirt. Some pilling is not an enormous deal, but when a T-shirt capsules so much it is manufactured from very manufactured from quick wool fibers, somewhat than longer steady fibers.
Sadly, most producers do not promote the size of their spun fibers, which is the place our testing is available in. I hate pilling, and I’ve eradicated all of the T-shirts which have pilled on me, besides one, which I like anyway (the pilling shouldn’t be that dangerous).
