stink factor of merino/poly blends

I've had polyester and polypropelene long johns for decades with absolutely no stink beyond my own body odor. When I wash them they smell clean again. I've never understood the "stink factor" of polyester clothing. (Maybe those of you who do should stop drinking cheap beer when eating ramps [leeks].) ;o)

Perhaps it's my own body chemestry but any kind of synthetic clothing I use seems to never keep odors after washing.

Howsomever… I DO have a problem with wool when wet. It SMELLS and I don't like it so I try to use wool for backpacking only where I have to, such as in socks as a blend fiber.

Perma-stink only happens with SOME synthetics, (most notably polypropylene), and has something to do with how hydrophobic the fabric fibers are.

There are some people on BPL who could explain "fiber science" to you MUCH better, but, suffice to say, not ALL synthetics are subject to perma-stink, so a merino blend may/may not, depending on the fibers used.

I have found in my personal experience that in comparison with my Patagonia Capilene, my wool garments (I love Ibex) smell less after a weekend trip, with the exception being as Eric said, if the garment gets damp, it can get a bit musty.

But also like Eric said, how much body output you have is really a personal thing and varies from person to person.

I use icebreaker shirts, long and short sleeve, underwear and long johns, and of course, socks. I have used both the 100% merino and the merino-poly blend. No itching nor odor with either, but did find the material of the 100% merino a bit fragile and vulnerable to rips and tearing, which I understand is the reason they went to the merino-poly blend. The poly gives the fabric strength.

Regarding odor specifically, on my last expedition it was very cold (-4C to 4C) and wet with a tight time frame to get to our destination and back. Washing clothing was too difficult. I wore merino for 6 days, sweating heavily every day, wearing deodorant, and there was no odor, except from my body when I finally removed my clothes to wash on day 7.

If you go with merino, always hang to dry. Electric dryers will shorten its life considerably.

The stuff is damn expensive though. The merino shirts which I did tear on my first trip out with them, were replaced by Icebreaker free of charge, without requiring the return of the damaged product.

Hope this is helpful,

Derrick

I have found the Rab brand "Meco" blends to be absolutely stink proof. Merino stands for Merino Cocona which is polyester treated with a chemical derivative of coconut that makes it antibacterial. Ihave worn a Rab Meco long-sleeve tee for six days straight with no odor whatsoever. It is expensive but amazing stuff.

I can stink out poly but not cotton or straight merino. I have tried some Patagonia poly/wool blends with a similar coconut treatment was able to stink them out in a few days but they were more like 65/35.

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. To clarify, I am talking about wearing the same shirt all weekend and it stinking (or not) of body odor. The big downside to wicking poly is that it holds the BO. I am not asking about "perma-stink" after washing, nor about odor other than what I generate. I'm not a particularly smelly person, but in the muggy mountains of the Southeast in summer, same poly t-shirt all weekend, well let's just say that by the end of the trip I'm making my own bear spray. Many folks report that merino won't do that even after 5 days or more, that intrigues me, but not all "merino" shirts are 100% so just not sure how the merino/poly blends perform in the stink category at the end of a hard weekend on the trail.

I have had great luck with Outdoor Research Echo Long Sleeve Zip T. It is synthetic, but has "Polygiene Active Odor Control" that works great for me. That, coupled with the fact that the shirt is only 4 oz in a long sleeve zip, makes it a winner for me. I wore one on my last 7 day trip with no stink, my Montbell Zeo-Line (synthetic) base layer was another story…

Merino, in my experience, won't stink at all up to about a week or so. This was Montbell's "100% SUPER MERINO Wool". It does, however, dry quite a bit slower.

I have some Rab MeCo and find it works pretty good for weekend trips for that.

But, it's hot for me, i save it for colder trips. I don't do a lot of backpacking in Summer here, but occasionally do, or more so do day hiking trips, and i often use 100% linen, which i find cooler than Merino and synthetic, dries a bit faster than Merino, and also has great odor control.

I've also experimented with other Merino blends (during colder periods), like 55% Merino and 45% acrylic. Works pretty good for odor control, but not quite as good as all Merino or the MeCo stuff.

Tencel blends are decent for some of the above. Dries faster than cotton, is more insulating, good odor control, is extremely strong for a (semi) natural fiber. But still needs some synthetic to dry more quickly.

I don't see a lot of it, but if you can find wool-nylon blends, that will be your best bet price and durability wise if the garment is otherwise well made. Nylon is less intensely and quickly stinky, and so high Merino to low nylon blends are good for that, plus nylon is a bit lighter and stronger and more durable than polyester.

Just bought some Merino/nylon tights i'm looking to try out during late fall/winter time.

I have lots of 100% merino, lots of 100% synthetic and a few blends.

I like the 25-35% synth/65%-75% blends so far.

100% synth as a base layer stinks very quickly, 100% merino doesn't stink, but is too fragile.

I still wear the ragged/ripped 100% merino clothing because of the comfort and lack of stink.

One note, I find that loose 100% synthetic shirts made by RailRyders don't stink much.
Explain that?
Maybe it is because of the loose fit?

Cheap Walmart 100% synthetic shirts like Champion and many others stink within minutes of putting them on.

My MeCo 120 t-shirt is great against stink. I sweat alot, and it gets properly soaked, but after a night hanging, it's back on track and smells fine. It has a slightly stiff feel to it, but absolutely no itch (and I have itched with both Icebreaker and smartwool shirts.)