Button-down sun shirt – recommendation

[Haakon R]

The sun hoodies get all the attention, and that’s fair. They’re generally more versatile, and that’s why I already have a few, but no button-downs.

I’ve tried a couple of Fjällräven shirts that are marketed toward this use case, but I lost my momentum after ordering the 3 most promising models in M and S a year or two ago, only to find even size small to be way too big. They make them in XS also, but harder to come by.
My momentum picked up again the other day when I realized shirts like these are popular amongst fishers. I went by my local supply store that also happens to be an authorized Simms dealer. Many times have I walked passed the clothes section thinking it was only waders and such, not noticing the sun protection clothes. But same story here. He had sizes small and up, and the small was just too big.

The thing is though, I’m quite tall, so while both FR and Simms size small were too big in the body, the arm length was just about perfect. I fear that while XS may fit better in the body, the arms could be too short. So I’m looking for suggestions on brands / models that maybe has a more trim body fit, so there’s a chance it would fit me in both length and with (at the same time).

It’s also the issue that there aren’t many domestic stores or distributors that care about sun protective clothing here in Norway, but one problem at a time. We’ll do the suggestions first and the sourcing later :)

[Dustin V]

I’ve read a lot of folks like the Columbia Silver Ridge Lite shirt. That one should be pretty available.

[SIMULACRA]

There’s no way dude! Fjallraven has a very European active fit and runs very small, especially in their button down shirt armpits. It’s like walking around like the Tesla logo if you size it normally.

[Justin Mckinney]

I recently bought the Columbia Tamiami button down hiking / fishing shirt at REI. I’ve worn it on a three night backpacking trip in hot conditions. I can honestly say it’s the most comfortable , highly breathable , cool shirt I’ve ever worn backpacking. I’m going to buy another one as soon as I can. I tried the hoodies, and found them to be too hot. This shirt is the real deal !!!

[Mark Verber]

I have been pretty happy with the OR Astroman button up which has a slightly slim fit.  Ex Officio made some nice shirts, but they have stopped making them. Solbari Dri-Flex shirts were pretty good.

[Haakon R]

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks!

@Dustin V, yes it’s my impression that Columbia is among the easier brands to find domestically. From images the Silver Ridge Lite looks like a rather relaxed fit, but if I can find it in a physical store I’ll definitely try it on.

@SIMULACRA, hah haha ha. :D I guess you’re both right and wrong. FR has for the most part moved on to a US sizing scheme, but there is still the odd one out that runs small. I have a couple of older cotton flannels that is more like what you describe. Fit me quite well in small, but suffer from being slightly short in the body and arms. Hence my fear that this will be the case with current XS sizes, if I can even find them. I’m 186cm/approx 6’1.5″, so not exactly small in that dimension.

@Justin Mckinney, thank’s for the advice! I havn’t heard about that one before, so it could be harder to find than the more established Silver ridge line. It sounds very much in line with what I’m looking for so I’ll have a look around.

@Mark Verber, OR has very spotty presence around here, especially the warm weather / sun protection stuff, but it’s always easier to find something when you know what you’re looking for. I’ll see what my google-fu can return

[Martin Van Laarhoven]

Finding sun protection shirts that fit well has been a bit of a challenge for me aswell, especially being tall and preferring a trimmer fit. I’ve tried brands like Columbia and Patagonia, which offer great options geared towards outdoor activities like fishing. Columbia’s PFG shirts are solid with UPF protection, but I often find their sizes run a bit large in the body. Patagonia’s shirts have been better in terms of fit and comfort, with a more ergonomic design that suits my frame so I stuck with this one

[Terran Terran]

The hoodies just look hot. I prefer a baggy sun shirt with a lot of air flow. I believe another poster described it as acting like a bellows, pumping air in and out.

[David D]

The Silver Ridge Light shirt is great but not really a slim fit.   Mine is pretty baggy and boxy.  I like that for the breathability.   It’s my all-season go to but I completely load it with sweat when hiking > ~ 25C.

Above that I gravitate to the Outdoor Research Echo quarter zip.  It’s much more breathable but provides zero wind blocking, which the silver ridge adds & is nice on cool evenings, and the silver ridge is much better for blocking bug bites

Personally, I find a quarter zip like the Echo plus a lightweight hat much more versatile than a hoody but I’m usually in and out of forest

[David D]

BTW, did they change the design of the silver ridge light shirt?  I don’t see for sale the same version they were selling a couple years ago.  Or did they just change the name?

[baja bob]

Try Anetik or Jolly Gear if you want a button up with a hood. Someone said both shirts are made in the same factory and the shots are similar.

I found a 50% off coupon for Anetik.  Cannot comment on sizing.  Seem to be true to sizing if not a little trim.

[HkNewman]

did they change the design of the silver ridge light shirt

 

Now the Columbia Silver Ridge Lite is their Men’s Silver Ridge Utility Lite shirt (LS, SS, etc..).  New pocket design, plus the website says the fabric is made of recycled materials.

I really liked the original’s fabric, fwiw.  Not in the market right now for a button front, but I’d like to see some reviews comparing the 2 designs fabric wicking, comfort, etc… from long term users.

[David D]

Hk, here’s an interesting comparison.  Seems like they went backwards with the material, for backpacking at least.

Columbia isn’t very transparent with their fabric changes.  One pair of my Silver Ridge convertible pants are nylon, the second pair polyester.  Both have the same product code, same name, same cut and build, bought one year apart several years ago.

[jscott]

“and the silver ridge is much better for blocking bug bites…”

Yes, this is important to me too. It comes down to having a more breathable but still effective sun shirt that lets bugs bite, or a more solid(nylon?) effective sun shirt that bugs can’t bite  through. But this last is a bit more warm.

Permethrin on the more breathable shirt  may square the circle. Personally, I like  the wind blocking of a nylon shirt, along with insect protection. But I tend to hike  at higher altitudes where temps are usually cooler.

[Dustin V]

@haakon I sort of have a Silver Ridge shirt. Mine is the discontinued hybrid version with the regular button-down torso but sun shirt sleeves. The fit is slightly fitted and very long. Not sure if it would be worth trying to find the hybrid version, as the sleeves aren’t very stretchy, kind of hard to push up the forearms.

[David D]

>Permethrin on the more breathable shirt  may square the circle

Yup, I agree.  My “ensemble” is Echo 1/4 zip + Ferrosi pants treated with permethrin for hot mid summer use to provide both bug and sun protection with as much breathability as you’ll get with full coverage.   Always a drawback: can’t just rinse in a lake or stream for evaporative cooling because of the permethrin, need to pull water and soak clothes from a container.

[JCH]

I’m partial to the Columbia Low Drag Offshore long sleeve. Awesome fabric and much less pocket hoo-hah than other styles. Add Insect Shield and it’s perfect.

[Haakon R]

Thank you all for the engagement! Lots of great suggestions!

Even knowing what to look for, my searches so far has yielded minimal results. I’m not too concerned personally, I’m sure my deliberate effort will succeed eventually, but it’s sad to see how little attention this type of sun protection is getting here in Scandinavia. While we generally don’t have as many sun days as the lower latitudes, and the sun is at a less intense elevation we also tend to have more fragile skin from not seeing the sun for half of the year and then BOOM – suddenly there is sunlight almost 24/7 during the summer months. So yeah, we’re up there on melanoma statistics.

I’ve set aside some time to visit a couple of potential stores down town today. I don’t have high hopes, but shirts and pants are really hard to get right without trying them on, so I like to save my internet options as a last resort.

As an aside, bugs aren’t as much of an issue in intense sunlight, so personally I want to focus my sun protective clothing toward protection against the sun, breathability and fit, and rather fend off the blood suckers with thicker and/or more densely woven fabrics rather than chemicals. Mileage and circumstances will certainly vary in this regard.
Also I’m not particularly interested in button-down shirts with a hood. I already have my sun hoodies. Part of the appeal with the button-downs is the versatility to transition into off-trail use when needed.

[David D]

The Outdoor Research Echo is king for breathability but no pocket & UPF for colours is only 20 though.

[Bill Budney]

Here’s another vote for the Echo — it’s the most comfortable warm-weather shirt I’ve seen. It and Capilene Cool appear to be either licensed or clones of Polartec PowerDry Lightweight, so that is another thing you could look for in your search.

Suggestion: Don’t even try to get a snug fit. Unlike Winter base layers, sun shirts are intended to be loose fit. The Echo’s sleeves are loose and long (on purpose) so that you can use them as gloves over the backs of your hands. I pull them up to my elbows like any other shirt when I don’t want them, or roll the cuffs when I just want regular length.

Low UPF is fine. Anything that is UPF rated will be at least 15, meaning 15:1 UV blocking. That’s plenty for almost any duration of exposure, especially at high latitudes. The hoopla about UPF 50 stuff is just hoopla — it doesn’t have any real value (and almost certainly sacrifices some breathability to get there).

(SPF 50 on your nose in the Winter makes more sense, but skin treatments don’t last as long as clothing).

[David Thomas]

Since 100% nylon fishing shirts (what I prefer to wear on the trail and for hunting and fishing) last forever AND look a bit goofy (over-sized pockets, epaulets, buttons to hold the sleeves up), they’re easy to find in thrift stores and on eBay.  Just search on “Columbia fishing shirt” and “Sportif fishing shirt” and $5 to $20 options will pop, hopefully one of which will ship to Norway.  They tend to larger sizes, but smalls and x-smalls pop up occasionally.

[jscott]

“Low UPF is fine. Anything that is UPF rated will be at least 15, meaning 15:1 UV blocking. That’s plenty for almost any duration of exposure, especially at high latitudes. The hoopla about UPF 50 stuff is just hoopla..”

I beg to disagree. Especially if one is hiking  at higher altitudes. Even sunscreens, that melt on your skin and sweat off, initially provide higher than SPF  15 protection.

https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-prevention/sun-protection/sun-protective-clothing/

serious backpackers  aren’t just going out for five days a season. We go out for many days over decades, often during winter as well where spf is even more essential. When I had a cancerous melanoma sliced out of my cheek, my doctor told me that it was 25 years in the making. Capiche? If you don’t get cancer on tomorrow’s five day hike at altitude, you don’t  begin again at zero the next trip out. Sun exposure is cumulative. Over many years, it takes its toll.  If you plan to hike for one or two years and call it quits, fine, do whatever you want. You’ll be safe as far as that exposure goes–but of course if you’re out there tanning that slim and handsome body by the pool, as I used to do, hoping for luck…I got lucky with melanoma. Not what I wanted. And now my body is, erm…a bit tubby. No more hanging out with the Berkeley grad students at the pool side.

[Paul McLaughlin]

L.L. Bean has some shirts in small tall . You might want to check those out.

[Haakon R]

“Low UPF is fine. Anything that is UPF rated will be at least 15, meaning 15:1 UV blocking. That’s plenty for almost any duration of exposure, especially at high latitudes. The hoopla about UPF 50 stuff is just hoopla — it doesn’t have any real value (and almost certainly sacrifices some breathability to get there).”

Sure, I’m not worried about the actual rating, and like you say most of the time I too prefer a lower rating as they tend to be more breathable as well as sun actually being good for us in the right dose.
But both of the sun hoodies that I currently own are low UPF and just for sake of diversity I’d like to add a UPF 50 shirt to my wardrobe some day. It doesn’t have to be this button-down shirt (right now I’ll take the first button-down that fits no matter the UPF), but just any sun shirt that can give me that added confidence in my sun protection for the rare occasions that I spend a full sunny day on the sea or a high altitude glacier.

[Haakon R]

Yesterdays tormenting experience of trawling my city’s outdoor stores yielded zero results :(

As it turns out that wasn’t my last hope to find UV shirts in a local store, I just realized at least one of the popular and I guess highly regarded work wear brands around here (Snickers) have UV rated button-downs in their collection. These clothes are typically sold at building supply stores and such, so there’s that. And work wear fit can be a all over the place, often rather loose fitting and shortish sleeves. If it fits though, it could end up being one of the sweater deals as my company has price agreement with at least two of the supply stores that carries this brand in my area.
I’ll try to give them a visit today if I can fit it into my schedule.

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