the everyday awesome-ness of merino

I've completely changed my approach to everyday wear since discovering merino. For everyday wear I have 4 undershirts total – a white SW microweight v-neck, a grey SW microweight v-neck, a grey SW microweight singlet (think wife beater), and a grey SW midweight crew.

Normally I'll wear one of the v-necks as an undershirt. Since I'm at a desk job, I can wear one of these for an entire week with no problem. Usually I'll wear each one for about 3 days total before washing though. I also have the singlet for under certain shirts where I don't want a visible undershirt and I have the midweight crew to wear under button-ups for sweater-type warmth on cold days.

I also have two microweight t-shirts to wear to the gym. I just wear it for the 1-2 hours I'm working out and then hang it up to air out when I get home. I can easily wear one for 5-6 workouts (probably even more) before washing it, whereas with cotton or synthetic shirts I'd have to wash a shirt after only one workout. Same thing with athletic socks for the gym. I have a four pairs of ultralight wool socks to workout in and just let them air when I get home, wearing each about 3 times before it gets washed.

Finally, living in Minnesota, I wear long underwear almost daily this time of year. I have two pairs that I'll wear on a daily basis – a microweight and a midweight, depending on how cold it is. Worn over normal boxer briefs, I would be fine going weeks without washing these, but I typically will throw them in whenever I'm doing a load of laundry anyways.

Basically all of this has allowed me to go from a drawer full of 8-10 undershirts, 3-4 singlets, 4-5 long underwear tops, 4-5 long underwear bottoms, 8-10 pairs of athletic socks, and 8-10 workout shirts to the 12 clothing items I described above. I do laundry about as frequently as I did before, but instead of two large loads it's usually just one small one.

I still wash underwear daily since sweat accumulation isn't exactly the only concern with those, but I've toyed with the idea of wool boxer briefs as well.

"Alas my hanes t shirts have shrunk…"

Dude, how did this happen?

If it was possible, I would wear an oversized merino track suit everyday.

actually they shrunk from the bottom up. think 80's belly button shirts. now i'm a hairy beast. so next time you are eating out, think of your cook being slightly overweight, sweaty, hairy, and to top it off, his shirt only comes to his belly button.

now think of a slightly overweight, non-sweaty, clean cook.

your choice…

I'll concur with Ben and Kenny and add my thoughts on wool socks. Unlike cotton socks, I found I could wear wool socks for several days between washings. They don't get mashed down near as much as cotton does.

And all of advantages of wool for around town use apply even more when I travel for work – I can pack a small bag with I'm gone for 3-6 days. Likewise, my wool business shirts stay fresh and look pressed much longer than cotton.

Many of us have outdoor gear that we subsequently got better, lighter stuff and no longer use it on trips. So move it from your gear pile to your everyday wear. Run it into the ground in the office, around town and in the garden.

What type of wool business shirts do you own? I've seen some merino polo and button-up options from Ibex and Icebreaker, but there isn't much of a selection.

The main thing that got me to switch to so much wool clothing is the amount of traveling I do. The fact that this stuff resists wrinkling and requires very infrequent laundering means that I can go on very long trips with a very small amount of clothing.

A comfortable cook is a happy cook, hopefully a happy cook makes a good cook. I think a belly shirt in merino may be the best of both worlds. ;-)