We’re speaking about $80 (or extra) T-shirts right here, so that is legitimate query. I feel merino T-shirts are definitely worth the funding. They provide appreciable advantages over cotton and different pure fibers, in addition to synthetics. Merino gives nice temperature regulation, glorious moisture wicking, and so they do not scent, which suggests you possibly can put on them extra and do not want as lots 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.
Here is a fast rundown of among the advantages of merino wool:
Odor-resistant: One among merino wool’s superpowers is that it’s naturally proof against odors. This implies you possibly can put on a merino T-shirt a number of occasions earlier than needing to clean it. What number of occasions? I would say that relies upon the place you’re and what you are doing, however normally three to seven occasions. Our high choose is, in any case, known as the 72-hour shirt, as a result of that is how lengthy you possibly can put on it earlier than it wants a wash.
Thermoregulation: Merino wool can maintain 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 scorching summer season 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 gymnasium. Merino wool is great at transferring moisture away out of your pores and skin, by way of the material, the place it will possibly evaporate shortly. This is the reason it makes such base layer.
Versatility: Merino wool shirts are nice for journey, mountaineering, backpacking, and as on a regular basis shirts for round city. They can be used year-round, even within the chilly, as a part of a good layering system.
Packable: Merino wool T-shirts are likely to pack up smaller than cotton and plenty of synthetics, that 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 probably have an edge is sturdiness. Merino wool is not actually any much less sturdy in my expertise, however it will 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 tablets lots it is made from very made from brief wool fibers, slightly 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 is just not that unhealthy).