What is the best wicking t-shirt?

I could be wrong, but I am wondering if you might be reading the ads too literally (e.g. this tee shirt will wick sweat away from you and keep you comfortable and dry no matter the temperature…). A lot of this is simply "marketing speak".

Summer in Texas? Hot AND humid, right? I guarantee you that you will sweat — A LOT — hiking under the sun no matter what tee shirt you wear. Heck, you will sweat profusely even hiking nekkid!

A really good synthetic tee shirt is supposed to first wick moisture away from you, then rapidly evaporate out that moisture. That can work in hot and dry places, but NOT when it's both hot and humid. A cotton shirt will also feel comfy initially as the cotton absorbs the sweat away from your body. But in both cases, synthetic and cotton will soon be overwhelmed and saturated and feel completely wet on you — the difference being just a small matter of timing.

The actual difference between synthetics and cotton is simply that once you move indoors or rest up in the shade, the synthetic will dry faster whereas the cotton will take much longer to dry. In other words, when hiking and all, you will sweat no matter what — and your tee shirt will become wet — but once you get into the shade and stop sweating, the synthetic will dry sooner and thus get you comfortable quicker. I mention synthetics vs. cotton to illustrate what synthetics can and can't do.

My favorite tees are actually the very inexpensive Duofold tees carried by Campmor. They are very comfortable, quick drying — and unlike some of the more expensive counterparts, they don't exhibit much of a "stink factor". I've worn them for up to five days without any problems or complaints (my hiking buddies are not the polite types).

>What's a great product that I can use on the trail, and also for working out

Try WalMart's Athletic Works tees; they're made of 80% polyester/20% lycra and they flash off perspiration quickly. Same mix of fibers as Under Armour, but much cheaper. I wear them hiking in Hawaii.

Capilene is often cited as the gold standard, but for my money it starts to smell worse, sooner and it's too pricey.

Ben and Douglas already mentioned my top 2 suggestions. Duofold is quite inexpensive, thin, light, and pretty durable. Be aware that they start to 'pill' after a while, but as long as you're not fashion-obsessed, you'll be fine. And the Wal-Mart Athletic Works body-hugging tees are great, too–I prefer the long-sleeve models. I don't know how it does it, but the skin-tight cooling feels pretty nifty.

-Mark

Both capilene and merino wick well, but capilene reeks. I never realized it did not have to be that way until I tried merino wool. Wool not only does not smell nearly as bad, it keeps ME smelling less. I returned all my Patagonia capilene and use only wool 1, 2, or 3 now.

Unlike capilene, wool seems to have a wider range of thermal comfort. More noticeable in long underwear(pants), capilene felt uncomfortably warm going from ski run into a hot humid lodge, whereas merino did not. Camping of course there is no lodge to run to, but proves a point.. merino is more versatile.

But, this will be my first hot humid summer in Japan exersizing in short sleeved wool-1.. who knows..

I've always been happy with my Hind Flight T-Shirt. They are super light and breathe very well. They certainly do the trick for summer hiking here in Phoenix. Rei-outlet has them on clearance right now for $16.93.

http://www.rei.com/REI-Outlet/product/750814

I have a pair of Columbia wicking shirts and agree that they start to smell very bad, very fast. They do wick and dry quickly and were cheap so I'm happy with them. I can't exactly afford a wardrobe of merino wool, though I do have a Smartwool beanie that has yet to start smelling at all. If I did have the money I would go for wool.

Adam

>I can't exactly afford a wardrobe of merino wool,

I should have mentioned above that the WalMart Athletic Works wicking tees cost less than $10. I wear mine for 3-4 days at a time, day and night, and they don't seem to stink like other shirts. I generally need to wash my other shirts daily.

the new capilene 2 stuff is actaully really awesome. it is the lightest, airiest shirt i've ever had, but it has a really durable feel to it. it has different weave patterns at different areas so it targets your "sweat spots". i has an antimicrobial treatment now that works pretty well. granted, it will start to stink sooner than wool, but it is lighter than the lightest merino that i've ever seen. and it costs half of what a comparable wool shirt will cost. the breathability is fantastic.

..and I should have mentioned I got all my merino on steepandcheap, about $25 each. I didn't want to imply Im loaded or anything; takes time to scour froogle every day, and an aol bot set to email me when "merino" appears on SAC.

I would strongly recommend against wool of any kind for wearing in the hot summers of Texas.

Why not use each type of material to its advantage? I quite enjoy the added warmth and comfort of merino wool — even here in southern Cal, with our relatively mild winters.

But when it comes to summer, synthetics are lighter, cooler, and they dry faster as compared to wool. Anyway, my 2 cents.

I have a bike jersey[cannondale] that is made out of cocona that wicks like mad. I believe cocona also sells their fabric to go-lite, champion vapor tees,marmot shirts,new balance,royal robbins, and sporthill. One blog I've read claims the larger pores in the coconut carbon do not trap odor likke the bamboo carbon products.

I pretty much get anything for running and use that hiking. The Coolmax stuff is acceptable… I have a lot of Brooks stuff and I think I like this the best. I just get whatever is on closeout. The Patigonia stuff works well running in the winter and on the trail as well. I think I have a set of about 5 Brooks Coolmax T's that I have had for 10 years and still work well for running and on the trail.

> I would strongly recommend against wool of any kind
> for wearing in the hot summers of Texas.
>
> Why not use each type of material to its advantage?
> I quite enjoy the added warmth and comfort of merino
> wool — even here in southern Cal, with our
> relatively mild winters.
>
> But when it comes to summer, synthetics are lighter,
> cooler, and they dry faster as compared to wool.
> Anyway, my 2 cents.
>

I humbly disagree. For Dry heat, wool performs better than anything else. Besides wicking, wool also retains a certain amount of moisture. A polyester shirt does nothing more than get clammy and waste all your fluids, wool will evaporate the retained moisture slowly.

More moisture evaporation will keep you cooler, which in turn will make you sweat less. Sweating less and staying cooler makes your system more efficient and avoids mineral depletion.

Again, this is for DRY, hot heat. For humid days, polyester wins.

Loose fitting wool has felt very comfortable on some pretty warm days in the Arizona desert. I recently purchased the micro-weight merino shirt by SW specifically for summer hiking. It surprised me to discover this several years ago but having tried just about all of the synthetic stuff, for me, at least for now, nothing beats an appropriate weight wool for comfort. Again this is my preference in response to the above question and not intended to be a dogmatic opinion that this is the best for all.

Abdon:

You may be right… I was thinking hot AND humid Houston when typing my response above, but yes, Texas is a big state, with areas that are hot and dry.

I haven't tried wearing wool in hot and dry days… but dare I say it… cotton actually works beautifully in hot and dry areas! Loose-fitting cotton. :)

I have to agree with Abdon. I wear wool year around and have done so for about 3 years now. Mainly Ibex polo shirts around work and home and for day hikes. Including Ibex Breezer wool briefs, now sadly discontinued. I live in Colorado and even wore my wool in the heat and humidity of Costa Rica and the humidity of Hawaii. Wool is not just for cold weather.

OK, the next time it gets above 100F, I'll put on my merino wool tee and compare it to my beloved Duofold poly tee. I don't expect to actually feel "comfortable" hiking in that kind of weather, but I'll see if one is noticeably less uncomfortable than the other… :)

What about the new Icebreaker superfine 140 merino t-shirt? It is the newest and latest merinowool product from Icebreaker and should keep you comfartabel in warm temps.It is a 140g/m2 merinowool product and the lightest they make.

My Ibex Polos are 17.5 micron merino and 165 g/m2. They have held up very well and are very comfortable. I'll have to check out the Icebreaker superfine 140 merino t-shirt to see how it compares. I wonder if durability is an issue?

I have been watching this thread and thought I would chime in because the Icebreaker superfine 140 was mentioned. I bought one of these shirts a few weeks ago. So far I am very happy with it. I have not had the opportunity to do any hiking with it in warm weather because I live in northern Minnesota. I have been wearing almost every day since I got it and I really like it for an every day t-shirt. I am looking forward to trying it in some hot weather this summer. One word of caution the shirt does not have flat seams, they are surged seams. I have not noticed any problems on the few day hikes I have gone on but with a heavy pack the seams might start to chaff.

I am overheating rapidly when hiking, and merino wool (Icebreaker shirt) tends to dry much slower than other fabrics.

The best shirt I have used are running shirts.
Worth mentionning: newline shirts.
I also use adidas shirts, but they are not as effective as other running shirts. I really like the new nike shirts.

For cold weather, I found a Insport running shirt made of powerdy to be the best shirt so far.

I've done well with Duofold and Walmart. And about half of Texas is just ungodly hot and humid. The rest is just ungodly hot and dry, and cotton is king. Well..there is the Panhandle, which can be like Siberia.

The new Capilene is great stuff. It fits great, wicks great, insulates great and also does not reek with odor like the old Capilene did. For hiking in hot, humid weather try the new Capilene 1 (comparable to the old Capilene Silkweight). I have found that the Capilene 1 wicks great and keeps me feeling cool and refreshed while hiking in hot, humid weather and it drys extrememly fast after I stop exerting myself. It drys so fast that it seems to occur in only a matter of minutes. The sizing of the new Capilene is also much improved over the old Capilene. I wore medium in the old Capilene but I wear small in the new Capilene and the fit is better. I tried Merino wool but find that it gets wet,stays wet, takes forever to dry, does not keep me feeling cool and refreshed in hot and humid weather and is a huge pain in the rear to wash and dry. Bottom line for hot, humid weather: Capilene 1 GOOD, Merino wool microweight BAD.

I'll give another vote to Duofold, which I find to be lighter and dry faster than anything else I've tried. Capilene is greatly overrated from my experience on the wicking, drying, comfort and stink dimensions. I've tried the superfine and slightly heavier wool shirts, but I hate the way they smell when wet and they seem to take a lot longer to dry.