Favorite Merino Wool Shirt Brands?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Favorite Merino Wool Shirt Brands?

Posted: 7/29/2018 5:13:20 PM EDT

Anyone have any one specific brand they prefer over another that produces USA made wool short/long sleeved light and mid-weight shirts including button-up flannel type? I'm more or less looking for pro's and con's on these brands if anyone has experience with their products.

Currently the brands I am looking at are:

Minus33
SmartWool
Pendleton

Posted: 7/29/2018 8:56:31 PM EDT

[#1]

I have a handful of Minus33 products and couldn’t make a single complaint about any of them.

Posted: 7/30/2018 4:51:04 AM EDT

[#2]

Icebreaker and Ibex are quality brands, but expensive...you need a pro-discount or get them on sale. There are some brands that are just not very durable (like Stoic); if you find a great deal on a brand that is likely made in China, you'll find out quickly why it was so cheap...

Smartwool and Minus33 are excellent brands as well.

ROCK6

Posted: 7/30/2018 11:51:06 PM EDT

[#3]

Quote History

Quoted:
Icebreaker and Ibex are quality brands, but expensive...you need a pro-discount or get them on sale. There are some brands that are just not very durable (like Stoic); if you find a great deal on a brand that is likely made in China, you'll find out quickly why it was so cheap...

Smartwool and Minus33 are excellent brands as well.

ROCK6

View Quote

I tend to buy once cry once with my outdoor gear simply because I need to trust it hiking in the back country. So it looks like my choices are limited as I refuse to buy the imported garbage.

Posted: 7/30/2018 11:51:40 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
I have a handful of Minus33 products and couldn’t make a single complaint about any of them.

View Quote

How do the products fit? Are they true to size, run small, run large?

Posted: 7/31/2018 2:20:24 PM EDT

[#5]

I have quite a bit of Icebreaker and Smartwool baselayers that I wear, but I wear First Lite stuff for the most amount of time per year.

I found the Ibex stuff that I have to be meh and not that durable.

Posted: 7/31/2018 2:58:46 PM EDT

[#6]

A year or 2 ago, Sam's Club had Omniwool shirts. I picked up 3 or 4 when they were on clearance for $5. I'm VERY happy with them for the price, but would still recommend for the ~$20-25 street price.

Posted: 7/31/2018 9:45:03 PM EDT

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:
I have quite a bit of Icebreaker and Smartwool baselayers that I wear, but I wear First Lite stuff for the most amount of time per year.

I found the Ibex stuff that I have to be meh and not that durable.

View Quote

Forgot First Lite. There stuff is sadly made in China, but QA/QC is excellent as is material and construction...

ROCK6

Posted: 8/1/2018 7:44:23 AM EDT

[#8]

I've been happy with smartwool base layers/shirts. If there are cheaper alternatives I'm all ears!

Posted: 8/1/2018 8:28:51 AM EDT

[#9]

Filson

Posted: 8/1/2018 10:13:29 AM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:

Forgot First Lite. There stuff is sadly made in China, but QA/QC is excellent as is material and construction...

ROCK6

View Quote

Most of my stuff is Vietnam.

I wish it was US made, but the prices would be insane.

I forgot to mention, I do have a few pieces of TAD merino wool that are US made. I would say that the quality of sewing is second to none, but the wool is kind of meh IMO.

Posted: 8/3/2018 10:04:38 PM EDT

[#11]

I have both first lite and smart wool in a variety of weights and sleeve lengths. All have held up well, and I have no complaints.

Posted: 8/3/2018 10:42:27 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:

How do the products fit? Are they true to size, run small, run large?

View Quote

Mine are a bit on the shorter side, but check out amazon reviews for a larger sample.

Posted: 8/3/2018 11:47:10 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:

Mine are a bit on the shorter side, but check out amazon reviews for a larger sample.

View Quote

That's what I am afraid of. I need to find somewhere local that has one or two of these brands.

Posted: 8/4/2018 12:25:35 AM EDT

[#14]

www.varusteleka.com/en/product/sarma-tst-l1-t-shirt-merino-wool/32883

And check out the pukkos and skrama

Posted: 8/4/2018 10:25:11 PM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
A year or 2 ago, Sam's Club had Omniwool shirts. I picked up 3 or 4 when they were on clearance for $5. I'm VERY happy with them for the price, but would still recommend for the ~$20-25 street price.

View Quote

I’ve been wearing Omniwool brand socks from Sam’s Club for YEARS, and they have really held up well. I machine wash them and don’t turn them inside out as recommend. In spite of this incorrect maintenance they are still as warm as ever.

No holes, no failed stitching, no failed elastic.

If their other products are as good as their socks ... I’d trust my life to it.

Posted: 8/4/2018 10:28:11 PM EDT

[#16]

Asked my wife ...

I’ve been cycling thru the same 14 pairs of Omniwool socks for over six years.

Basically a pair a day for two weeks then laundered.

My feet get COLD easily so I wear the socks early fall on thru to early spring.

Posted: 8/5/2018 5:36:16 AM EDT

[#17]

I have several icebreaker first layer shirts. They seem ok but as others say, you need to purchase through a pro deal. It’s absurd to spend $60 for a wool teeshirt. The 200 weight military ones seem to be sized on the small side.

Posted: 8/5/2018 9:21:53 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
I’ve been wearing Omniwool brand socks from Sam’s Club for YEARS, and they have really held up well. I machine wash them and don’t turn them inside out as recommend. In spite of this incorrect maintenance they are still as warm as ever.

No holes, no failed stitching, no failed elastic.

If their other products are as good as their socks ... I’d trust my life to it.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
A year or 2 ago, Sam's Club had Omniwool shirts. I picked up 3 or 4 when they were on clearance for $5. I'm VERY happy with them for the price, but would still recommend for the ~$20-25 street price.

I’ve been wearing Omniwool brand socks from Sam’s Club for YEARS, and they have really held up well. I machine wash them and don’t turn them inside out as recommend. In spite of this incorrect maintenance they are still as warm as ever.

No holes, no failed stitching, no failed elastic.

If their other products are as good as their socks ... I’d trust my life to it.

I have too many hobbies to spend much $$ on anything that isn't multi-purpose and or versatile. I wear the omniwool backpacking (sleep shirt and camp work on cool nights) hunting in WV and OH, and snowboarding mostly in NY. Usually I think those lil thumb holes are dumb, but for hunting they help keep you sleeves down with mutiple layers and snowboarding with all the motion and keeps the snow and wind away from your glove/sleeve split.

Posted: 8/5/2018 10:43:18 PM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:
Asked my wife ...

I’ve been cycling thru the same 14 pairs of Omniwool socks for over six years.

Basically a pair a day for two weeks then laundered.

My feet get COLD easily so I wear the socks early fall on thru to early spring.

View Quote

For socks I only wear Darn Tough, Smart Wool or Farm to Feet. I usually buy 2-3 pairs when I see them on clearance on a few sites. I wonder why those two brands have not busted into making base layer clothing yet.

Posted: 8/8/2018 10:25:36 PM EDT

[#20]

Outdoor Research and SmartWool are my go-to for merino clothing.

Posted: 8/9/2018 2:23:08 PM EDT

[#21]

Icebreaker makes very high quality clothing. We have been using this and other brands for years and Icebreaker is the best in our experience. The criteria are quality, durability, fit and comfort.

Posted: 8/14/2018 1:54:51 PM EDT

[#22]

I wear Smartwool socks, woolx boxers. I am looking to venture into shirts though.

Nmg

Posted: 8/18/2018 10:50:40 PM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:
I wear Smartwool socks, woolx boxers. I am looking to venture into shirts though.

Nmg

View Quote

Well I bit the bullet and got a Smartwool shirt to test drive. Got the long sleeve merino 150 base layer, so far so good in the fit department. They seem to fit pretty true to size.

Posted: 8/21/2018 6:35:19 PM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:

Well I bit the bullet and got a Smartwool shirt to test drive. Got the long sleeve merino 150 base layer, so far so good in the fit department. They seem to fit pretty true to size.

View Quote

Thanks for the Info! They are on my short list to purchase.

NMG

Posted: 8/22/2018 12:36:49 PM EDT

[#25]

https://www.kuiu.com/hunting-shirts/

KUIU

Unfortunately I don't think they are made in the US but the are very high quality and work well.

Posted: 8/22/2018 9:33:22 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
https://www.kuiu.com/hunting-shirts/

KUIU

Unfortunately I don't think they are made in the US but the are very high quality and work well.

View Quote

Same with First-Lite. But I will say, despite the country of manufacture, the material quality and stitching are superb.

ROCK6

Posted: 8/23/2018 6:50:34 PM EDT

[#27]

Anyone tried this place?

https://asbellwool.com/t/mens

Posted: 11/1/2018 1:36:52 PM EDT

[#28]

Icrebreaker for base layers, Pendleton for plaids.

I've scored all my Pendleton's at thrift stores, never paid more than $10.

I've paid full price for ice breaker and not regretted it. Sleeveless T that I mostly wear for working out, short sleeve T that I wore out after about 3 years, and a long sleeve T that I still wear.

Men's Wearhouse has a 1/4 zip mock turtleneck mid weight merino that goes on sale every year, or get it when they do BOGO, and I've got a few of those also.

Posted: 11/3/2018 1:29:42 PM EDT

[#29]

Ha! I've got a half dozen pendleton wool shirts that my grandmother made. I wear them a LOT and they sure do hold up.

Posted: 11/4/2018 6:35:52 PM EDT

[#30]

Go LL Bean! Bought most of the others and the LL Bean are the best!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Favorite Merino Wool Shirt Brands?

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