Look, full disclaimer, I have no relationship with Relwen, but I am going to be writing a lot about their gear. Because their gear is tremendously good, so far every single item I have bought. Today we are talking about the Fly-Waxed Trap Blazer they released just before fall hit — I picked this up right away and sat on it anxiously waiting for Houston to cool off.

And you better believe the moment it cooled down here, I was wearing this all day. I love this jacket.

Materials

This is not just another waxed jacket, it sounds like it, but the wax treatment on this is very unique in hand feel and appearance. It’s close to a well loved Barbour, but not quite the same. The make up of the shell is: “41% cotton, 43% polyester, 16% nylon, water resistant resin impregnated sheeting cloth, matte finished, 190 gsm.” For the lining there’s sateen bindings on the interior, and a small panel of chamois flannel which works nicely as positioned along the back of your shoulders. Relwen helpfully notes the temperature range they see for this jacket as 50º to 65º.

The temperature range seems accurate to me, and is also dependent on what you wear underneath the jacket. It is not a waterproof jacket, but will shed light rain drops from the shell. The sleeves all have working buttons, and you can button the jacket all the way up with a neck closure as well, or wear it as a 2 button jacket.

Relwen does indicate you can machine wash this, but I have not tried it, nor do I think I am likely to try any time soon. As with my other Relwen jackets, this is a well made item, with great materials.

Fit and Style

I typically wear a large in letter sizing, and so far a large in all Relwen tops, no exception here. The fit is fantastic. Relwen cuts the sleeves a little longer than standard, and the articulation they build into their patterns allows for a more tailored fit, without it having the restrictions of something which wears more trim.

This very much has British hunting jacket vibes, not waxed trucker jacket vibes. It’s not a formal jacket in any sense, it’s a layer meant to shrug the wind off. It has a game pocket at the back, which is noted that should not be used for actual game. It does feel a little more Americana than a Barbour which feels more British.

It’s best not to think of this as a blazer, and instead think of it as any waxed jacket and wear it accordingly. It’s any easy wear and fits a wide range of styles.

Performance

I can tell you with confidence that you’ll be much to warm trying to pull this off above 70°F as I was the day I wanted to wear it. But, I did wear this down a touch below 50°F without issue. In light rain, this jacket had no issues at all.

Where it really excelled was in an unexpectedly windy and chilly walk back from lunch. I buttoned the jacket all the way up, and while it added no warming insulation, it cut the wind effectively and made the walk tolerable. The movement in this jacket is great as well. A lot of times I might find myself wanting to shed a layer like this before starting my commute in the car, but with this jacket I tend to put it on, and wear it all day without issue.

I’ve had no issue with lint or fuzz being attracted to this fabric, as anything seems to brush off easily. It doesn’t get as many of the waxy scuffs others waxed jackets can get, so it has a more even appearance which will help it to be worn indoors as well.

The only thing lacking for me on this jacket is the pocket setup. There’s two patch pockets at either side on the front of the jacket, the game pocket in the rear, and a patch pocket on the chest. Inside the jacket is a single zipped pocket. Here I would love to see two interior pockets, as the jacket has plenty of structure to support this.

As it stands, this jacket is on par with the performance of most waxed items. If it truly can be machine washed without issue, that’s a big win, but I am unlikely to try that until forced into it.

Overall

This is a great layer for transitional weather, and is very easy to wear even for those who shy away from a blazer. It has just enough small details that it never feels like a hinderance to wear, like you chose a blazer when you needed a full jacket, as it can transform into one should you want it.

I keep grabbing this jacket, and I suspect that won’t change as our winters here in Houston live in the temp range for this jacket.

I highly recommend it, buy it here, $298

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

Back in May I took a look at five different undershirts, with the Mack Weldon AIRKNITx being the overall winner. Since then I have been testing three more, so I thought it was worth updating on where things stand.

What to Look For

Here’s a recap of what I am looking for in a good undershirt:

• A deep enough v-neck, such that it cannot be seen on my neckline when I am wearing a button down over the shirt.
• A long enough torso that the shirt stays tucked in.
• Moisture wicking, dries fast.
• Doesn’t feel like it’s a layer which adds warmth.
• Machine wash and dry.
• Doesn’t start to stink by the end of the day.
• Any shirt that hits those criteria, is something I can use day to day.

What I Tried & Tested

For this round I tried two shirts I had been waiting on, and one that I was skeptical of. Let’s see how they did:

• Minus33’s Micro Weight Wool V-Neck ‘Woolverino’ fabric (84% Merino Wool, 12% Nylon, 4% Spandex, at 145gsm). I have this in a crew neck and it’s one of my favorite shirts to wear, so I was very excited to get it in v-neck form. While the fabric is exactly what I hoped (quick drying, breathable, comfortable) the cut of the V on the neck is far too high of a cut for it to be wearable without being seen. Effectively defeating the purpose of this shirt as a v-neck undershirt. I wanted this to be the winner, but the neck line is all wrong, and making matters worse is the $69.99 price tag. Ouch.
• 
• Mack Weldon 18-Hour Jersey V-Neck Undershirt. Since I liked the other Mack Weldon shirts so much, I decided to try their more ‘standard’ undershirt. It’s a 47.5% Cotton / 47.5% Modal / 5% Spandex blend and fits rather close to the body. These are quite good undershirts. The V is the correct size, and the fabric feels really nice. The downside is that I found these to be a little less breathable than any of the others I have been testing, and certainly act as a layer which adds a touch of warmth. Not a bad option in the cooler months, but less than ideal in the warmer months. And because of the fabric makeup, they can feel a little damp in the armpits at times. At $68 (two pack) I’ll pass on adding more.
• 
• All Citizens Re:Luxe AirWeight Undershirt – High V. After the last write up of undershirts, someone requested that I take a look at these. So I did, and they are quite good. It’s rather hard to cut through the marketing hype on the website, but this (to me) feels like the Mack Weldon 18-Hour, but with mesh panels under the arms and up the side of your torso (the shirt label says 79% Recycled Polyester, 11% Silver, 10% Spandex). These shirts are comfortable, have a perfectly cut neck line, and fit trim to the body. They don’t wet out as much, and the mesh seems to keep the shirt wearing cooler than the other options on this roundup. The big catch for me is that I constantly feel this shirt against my body, especially at the back corners of my armpits. It fits so trim there, that I notice the seam and material and it simply feels weird. I really want to like this shirt, but I shouldn’t need to be annoyed by my undershirt. At only $22 this shirt is a good value, but not top tier.
• 

Where I Stand

The Mack Weldon AIRKNITx remain the top choice for me, but none of these shirts have been so bad to be relegated to the donation bin. I still wear them each regularly. I tend to travel with at least one of the All Citizens or 18-hour as they are really easy to care for, and soft to the touch should I need/want to sleep in a shirt.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

I love boots, and I wear them almost daily, but the one type I had not tried was the classic mock-toe with a Christy Crepe sole. I had heard from many friends that this type of boot was among the most comfortable, so after seeing a few reviews of the White’s Perry, and loving another pair of White’s Boots I have, I went for it.

Everyone was right, these are amazingly comfortable boots, and incredibly well made. I love them.

Materials and Specs

If you are wondering how good this boot is, it’s exceptionally good, regardless, here’s the run down on what we have:

• 6” Full Grain ‘Water-Resistant’ Leather Upper
• Leather Welt & Composite Shank
• Vibram® Christy Crepe sole
• 1972 Arch-Ease™ Last
• A Goodyear welt

White’s sells a bevy of colors in two lines: Perry and Perry Select. There’s three core colors in the Perry, while the Perry Select comes in five colors. The main difference between the two (as far as I can tell, information is not great here) is that the Select uses a higher grade leather upper, a leather shank instead of a composite shank, and is priced higher. The Perry I have is the standard Perry in Red Dog leather.

Fit & Style

This style of boot is among the most iconic for American Workwear boots. People wear these pretty broadly these days, but I feel they are best paired with denim or a military/officer/workwear pant. They are not dressy at all.

The fit is based on the Arch-Ease 1972 last, and this is worth noting in case you have another White’s Boot, as you’ll want to check the last there. Generally, I think this is a pretty modern feeling last, and wears comfortably for my decently average foot. White’s is also super helpful if you email them about sizing, they provided me with a wealth of information. For the Perry I ordered a size 11. In most sneakers I wear something between an 11.5 or 12, so they run about a half size large.

These fit me perfectly, and I find the last/design to be really nice here. White’s does note that these have ‘virtually no break-in’, and I found that mostly true. They were a touch stiff for the first few days, but no blisters to be had. Now they are great to wear and got there more quickly than the average work boot would.

Performance

I’ve been trying to decide what performance means for a boot, but I’ll characterize it as: walking comfort, standing comfort, and durability. It is hard to extrapolate more than that, so I’ll also add some general thoughts on what it’s like to wear the boot.

• Walking Comfort: the sole on these is thick and soft, so it can take a little adjustment to walk in these. The leather is also rather stiff out of the box, but over time does break in nicely. I had some rub at the top of the boot for the first couple of days, before the leather started to form better to my foot. Now I would say they are comfortable for walking in all day, while offering a lot for stability underfoot. The downside is that they are a heavy boot, and won’t give you a bounce in your step the way an athletic shoe would.
• Standing Comfort: this is what I see as the stand out feature of the Christy Crepe sole. It’s very soft underfoot, so standing in this boot is exceedingly comfortable. I work exclusively at a standing desk on a hard floor, and it is a joy to wear these boots when I am working. They are more comfortable than any athletic shoe would be over the course of the day, as they offer more support and stability. I’ve not worn anything more comfortable for standing.
• Durability: There’s really two facets here: the upper and the sole. The sole is likely to wear out faster than a lug or harder rubber sole would. But it’s a Goodyear welt, so replacing the sole will be trivial and it’s not really worth worrying about the longevity of the Christy sole as a buying factor. Even though these are not the higher grade leather, I am overly impressed with the leather upper. It’s stout, but flexible. It’s thick, but not overly thick. And more than any of that, there’s only two marks showing on these boots (and I got them in May of 2023). I have one stain from when I dumped coffee down myself (I must have missed cleaning this off) and one small scuff on the toe from who knows what. Most of the time, I care for my boots monthly to keep the leather looking free from marks. These boots don’t seem to collect those marks, and this gives me a ton of confidence on the viability of them surviving a lot of new soles.

What’s harder to encapsulate about these shoes is how large the toe box is, yet how not-large the boot feels in general. That is to say, this doesn’t look overly large, nor does it feel overly large, but your toes have a very large area in which they can wiggle about. This is great.

The boot also has a tongue which extends a touch higher than the collar above the ankle, and this touch seems to make the boot more comfortable to wear a little more snug. The lacing also is slightly different than most of the work boots I own, with two speed lace hooks, but with the top moving back to an eyelet. It took a couple weeks to get used to this, but the impact is great. Often if you wanted to wear the top of the boot looser, the lace will fall out of the speed hook, but not so with this system.

There is one odd, not ideal thing, about the boot. When I got them, the leather squeaked, like a lot. I thought it would dissipate after the first day, but it did not. Specifically, where the upper was rubbing against the tongue of the boot. To fix this I applied a rather generous amount of boot oil to the tongue where the rubbing was happening and the issue has gone away. But that was a first for me.

Overall

If it wasn’t clear from above, I love these boots. They are my favorite boots to wear, but the style pulls so casual that I also do not wear them as much as I would like. That said, if your day to day is wearing jeans, then do your feet a favor and snag a pair for these.

At $325 they are a fantastic value for what they offer, and I am not really sure you get anything more if you pay more. Oh, and one last note: they can be worn through TSA metal detectors without issue — which is a nice to have.

Buy here, $325

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

When I moved on from Wool&Prince shirting, I was not ready to move on from the performance of a good merino wool button down shirt. But, the trick would be finding one which was durable enough to stand up to washing and wear. My issue with the Wool&Prince shirts was that the fabric broke down quickly and they barely lasted me a year before they looked like trash.

Proper Cloth has been my go to for made-to-measure shirting since they first gave me a review sample. Something tailored to fit you is tremendous. They offer a lineup of merino wool fabrics from Reda, and I bought two to try out in a classic button down style.

They are stellar.

Materials

I have a Reda Sky Basketweave, which is 100s 2-ply, and I have a Reda Grey Tonal Plaid, which is 120s 2-ply — both are 100% merino wool. The hand feel on these both is exceptional. They are smooth, not scratchy, and much thinner than the Wool&Prince wool I had been used to.

These wear more like a classic button up shirt, than your classic button down. This is exceptional merino wool fabric, and I have no complaints about either.

Fit & Style

Since these are fully custom shirts, there’s not a lot to dwell with the fit and style. If you are building this shirt, it will be the style you selected, and the perfect fit.

And the thing about a custom shirt: the fit is amazing when it is made for you, and absolutely worth the time and cost.

My only bit of advice is to have someone measure you per the guidance on Proper Cloth’s website, as this is the best path to success for a good fitting shirt out of the gate. Using the smart sizer, or measuring off another shirt is likely to not get you the true ‘made-to-measure’ experience.

If you are building one, my favorite collar is the ‘Soft Ivy Button Down Collar’. Be sure to add allowance in the build for a watch, otherwise the cuff might struggle to get over larger dive style watches.

Performance

Alright, I have a bunch of thoughts on the performance of this fabric, but the short version is: excellent all around.

• Breathability: the fabric on these are lighter and more breathable than most of the other merino wool I’ve had. They wear very nicely in the dead heat of a Houston summer.
• Moisture Wicking: when these come out of the wash, they feel barely damp, still wet enough you wouldn’t want to wear them, but they dry very fast. Because of this, they don’t retain smells for very long. However, these are thin, so the shirt will suck up arm pit sweat, and show that rather easily, which is less than ideal at times.
• Wrinkle Resistance: out of the wash, these are not wearable for me as they are full of wrinkles. Three minutes with a steamer and they are good to go. Even when folded and packed for travel, there’s never enough wrinkles that you cannot quickly get them to drop out with minimal effort. Really nice.
• Durability: the reason I moved to these is because I found all other merino shirts to be less than durable. I’ve treated these shirts the same, and had one for 14 months, and the other for 13 months. They both look brand new. That’s machine washing, hang drying, and wearing like any other shirt. I’m impressed.

All in all: the merino wool performance you want, without the durability concerns I’ve seen from other brands.

Overall

I rolled the dice on the first one, and bought the second after only a month as I felt confident these shirts would hold up. That they look brand new over a year later is pretty astounding to me.

At $195 they are hard to put head to head with many others priced closer to $130, but that they are also designed and cut exactly how I want them — they are kind of a bargain at that point.

Buy here, $195+

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

Finding a single light layer, something you can toss on over almost anything, something you can wear when you fly, when you land, and out to dinner — that’s not an easy ask. The most versatile of the options is a blazer. This blazer is one I’ve been eyeing for quite some time, and after getting some hands on time with Relwen items — I picked this up in Navy.

It’s a very nice blazer, and walks that perfect line of something built to not be thought about, working across a wide range of scenarios, while also looking great.

Materials

This blazer is a bit deceptive with the materials, it’s 98% cotton, with 3% spandex. It’s a stretch sateen twill, says Relwen, which comes in at 190gsm. It’s thin and light, with a very smooth visual appearance. This is a 4 button jacket, which can be worn with a 2-button/3-roll look. There’s a through tab closure as well.

There’s no structure/padding to this, and it has a tapered waist. All in all, I’ve found it to resist wrinkling well, but picks up lint quickly and requires a more firm shake to get it back off the blazer.

Fit and Style

The fit on this is perfect for me, I grabbed this in a Large — my default size — and it’s spot on. The sleeves are cut longer than you might expect for a blazer, and have a slight articulation to them so that they flow very nicely.

The style of this is that of a heritage hunting blazer, complete with a working game pocket on the back (though Relwen notes that you shouldn’t actually use this for dead animals). This isn’t a blazer you’ll find in most stores, nor is it a true hunting blazer you’ll take into the woods. What it is is something that can be worn as a two-button blazer you toss over a button down. It’s a blazer with functioning buttons you can button all the way up, flip the collar up and button over your throat.

Essentially the style is a modern take on a classic a versatile blazer.

Performance and Durability

I’ve been wearing and using this blazer since late May, and I’ve been pretty blown away by how well it performs. The temperature range on this is something like 50°F – 75°F for a comfortable range. I’ve worn it up to 78°F and started to get a touch warm, where 48°F was a bit chilled — nothing too bad though.

The subtle stretch, and well designed sleeve shape, create a blazer you move freely in without restriction. Even with the jacket fully buttoned up, collar up turned, I was never restricted by the jacket itself. I am quite impressed with the overall comfort of this.

Another area this jacket nails is travel. I wore this through the airport, on a Houston – London flight, taking it off half way through and wadding it up at my feet. It’s been stuffed, rolled, and folded in various areas of my personal items. All it takes to get it back into commission is a strong shake, and you are ready to roll.

The only annoyance I’ve found is that it does tend to collect lint more than I would like. Not nearly as bad as a waxed jacket, but the lint certainly doesn’t brush off easily. It’s best to have a lint roller, or space to shake out the jacket hard — either works and gets you back on the move. Certainly lighter colors would avoid this trap entirely.

This is a thin cotton garment, there’s not a lot of wind resistance, or water resistance — it has more than your average poplin or OCBD would, but not much more than that. However, because it is cotton and extremely well made, you’re not likely to need to worry about the overall durability of this jacket. This was a huge selling point for me, as I am able to treat it pretty rough, without a care in the world.

Overall

I’m a huge fan of this, the weight is tremendous for general wear. I take it to the office, and it’s likely to be my go to jacket for travel. It’s easy to wear across a huge range of situations, while still being a useful layer for keeping the chill off, or adding to your outfit.

I highly recommend this.

Buy here, $298

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

Like Ben, I have also gradually switched over to more natural materials in my wardrobe, and have been enjoying the outcome. I’ve realized, that in most cases, a properly fit pair of pants is more comfortable in cotton than a 4-way stretch synthetic fabric. The Filson Draftsman Canvas Pants were my first purchase outside of the technical pant realm, and were what initially set me in this direction.

Material

Filson describes the fabric as “midweight 9.5-oz. Panama canvas is tightly-woven in a basket-weave pattern for structure and excellent durability”. The weigh of the fabric gives these great drape, and then when you get closer, the texture adds some interest, while still remaining business casual. The stated composition is 99% cotton/1% elastane, in hand, there is a bit of stretch side-to-side, but nothing particularly noticeable while wearing.

Another issue that can arise with cotton chinos in dark colors is fading, while I’ve seen a bit of fading over the year I’ve had these, it’s much less than I remember from my old days wearing cotton chinos. I wash cold and tumble dry warm — so they hold up well with no special care needed.

Fit & Style

These chinos work perfectly with an oxford button-down, or other business casual shirt. Surprisingly, the weight and texture also allow them to work well dressed down, making them very versatile pants. The side-seam front pockets and welted back pockets dress them up, while the coin pocket and single rear pocket flap add some interest.

The cut here is straight, but with enough room in the seat and thighs to make them very comfortable, even for an athletic build. The only caveat is that they are cut slightly shorter than the stated inseam, making them mainly a pant to wear with boots for me.

Note from Ben: I found I had to go one length up on the inseam, and have them hemmed to the proper length.

Performance

I’ve worn these pants from the winter into 70s and low 80s and have never felt uncomfortable. The midweight keeps you comfortable in the winter, while the structure of the fabric keeps things cool in the warmer months. I’ve worn these year-round for work and travel. They wouldn’t be my first pick for a hot summer evening, but are certainly great work pants for the whole year.

They also move quite well, I’ve never felt restricted wearing them, even though they have no noticeable stretch while wearing. The lack of stretch is a hidden benefit over highly stretchy pants — you can get more wears out of them because they don’t bag out.

I have these in both Charcoal and Dark Navy; the Charcoal being an almost black-grey and the Dark Navy being a classic navy. Both are great for paring with shirts of many colors (although I do favor white and blue Oxford).

Rounding the great performance out are the pockets, too deep or too shallow pockets are always a big negative, but these are perfect.

Overall

These are great all year office pants for me, as I mostly wear business casual for work. They quickly became a favorite, hence owning two pairs, and are my go-to pants in many situations, even outside of work.

Another note from Ben: I’m also a big fan of these, really nice offering and a solid price for what you get.

Buy here, $150.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

Perhaps one of the largest changes I’ve made over the past year is moving back to cotton-based Oxford cloth button down shirts. The tried and true classic, and the end result of this has been a vastly simpler and less maintenance heavy wardrobe. In order to get a shirt I liked, I turned to Proper Cloth. They’ve previously sent me a free made-to-measure shirt, but this time around I spent my own money on their shirts.

I love these shirts…

Materials

One of the key benefits of Proper Cloth from the materials perspective is that there is a lot of choice for what type of material you want your shirts to be made from. I was looking for a tried and true cotton Oxford cloth, and I narrowed it down to their ‘Natural White Oxford Cloth’ and ‘American Pima’ line of fabrics.

Both are standard weight cotton oxford, but they are not equals. The ‘Natural White Oxford Cloth’ is not a great fabric. It creases hard after being washed, and wears with a rigid stiffness. It’s decidedly not something I can recommend.

Luckily the ‘American Pima’ line of Oxford cloth has proven to be fantastic as I now have five shirts from them with this fabric. It has a great hand feel, a nice soft drape, and doesn’t hold creases out of the washer. All and all, it’s the easy to care for fabric I was hoping for. Even with more than six months of wear on these shirts, they look new as ever.

Big fan.

Fit & Style

The style here is classic American, Oxford shirt. Being here in the USA, it essentially works for anything. It’s oddly versatile.

The fit is also perfect, and it has to be since this is a custom cut shirt. It had been over 3 years since I ordered my last custom shirt from Proper Cloth, so rather than roll the dice (they do offer free returns/alterations), I had my wife use a fabric tape measure to take all my measurements again. From there I adjusted a few things I knew I liked a little non-standard: I am sensitive to my sleeve length so I added a little more; and I like my watch cuff to be looser, an option they provide when making the shirt.

Once that I was set I was off to the races. I was lucky that I nailed the measurements the first time, and thus didn’t have to redo any shirts. Proper Cloth takes into account the fabric you chose, and will adjust the measurements per shirt to account for how the fabric will shrink when washed. Most of the time this is single-digit percent increases in areas. Thus, if the shirt is a little big when you put it on, that might be why, a wash or two will bring it in line with what you wanted.

This system has essentially ruined off the rack shirting for me. They fit so nice, and I don’t get any discomfort from that one area I feel fits me poorly.

Performance

This is a mid-weight to heavy-weight cotton button down shirt. The performance is really on par with any other shirt like this. Instead I want to comment on a few areas (mostly as someone coming from fully merino button downs):

• On average, I feel more comfortable wearing these cotton shirts than I did the merino.
• When you notice a big difference, it’s at the extremes. The shirt got wet, and is slow to dry. It’s insanely hot, and it’s not breathing quite as well. It’s slow to dry when hanging out of the wash.
• The wrinkle resistance really is on par with most of the merino button downs, with the main difference being that a merino button down will drop wrinkles as you wear the shirt over time, and cotton is less prone to do that.
• Without an undershirt, I average about 1.5 wears before I need to wash these. With an undershirt I can get 3-4 wears.
• I am perfectly happy to wear one of these all day long — and by happy I mean comfortable. I can kick back on the couch in this shirt without issue. With merino, I always felt like I wanted to change when I got home.
• You cannot get this cotton look, the heavy matte texture of an Oxford, from merino. You simply can’t, merino will always look a little more ‘poplin’.

I was certain I would be unhappy making this change. I was wrong.

Overall

The American Pima shirts I’ve gotten from Proper Cloth are by far my favorite button downs I’ve owned. They look good, fit great, and are very comfortable to wear.

I highly recommend the ‘Frost’, and ‘Light Blue University Stripe’ from the American Pima line — they are excellent and versatile shirting options to have on hand.

Find them here.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.

I happened upon these pants in a Billy Reid store on a rather balmy South Carolina day — they felt incredible in hand so I tried them on. The fit felt great, so I walked out with them. Linen pants can be tough to style generally, as they tend to rumple at the knees and hips, and wrinkle every where else. They tend to be worn a bit more ’flowy’, which only complicates styling.

These though are effectively jeans, but in cotton-linen, and are thus pretty easy to style and wear all summer. I’ve had them just shy of a year, and I wear them all the time.

Materials

Billy Reid notes that these are “made in a breathable cotton-linen blend with just a hint of stretch for ease of movement and garment-dyed for a lived-in look and feel”. The actual stated composition is 78% Cotton and 22% Linen.

I don’t notice any stretch to them, so I am not sure where that is coming from. It is a very breathable and light fabric, with some stellar texture. Over the course of nearly a year, they’ve held up well, and have not faded as much as I worried they would. The linen content here is rather low, so we’ll talk about the performance benefits of these pants separately.

Fit & Style

The style on these lends to something I might dub ‘considered casual’. They are not 1:1 replacements for blue jeans, nor are they what I would consider to be something you could dress up to work in a true smart casual style. They are simply a nice pant, made in a 5-pocket style.

The fit is slim, but not skinny, and the rise is a mid-rise which I prefer. They fit me great out of the box using my standard waist size. They are cut longer on the inseam, so I did have to have them hemmed to the correct length. The material lends itself to holding a folded cuff, which is nice if you want to walk in sand with them.

Performance

Once you wear these a bit, you’ll likely be surprised the linen content isn’t higher than stated. They wear closer to a linen pant for temperature regulation than they do cotton — which is to say they are very comfortable even well into the humid-90s range. They breath well, as the fabric is thin and the weave lends itself to airflow.

The blue slate color I have is completely opaque, so no worries on that front. And they do move quite well, even without any sort of stretch I notice — I have not been bound up in them when articulating my legs at the extremes, this might simply be the cut, or the direction they ran the fabric weave when they sewed the pants.

Where you’ll notice the low linen content is in the drying times. They do not dry fast out of the wash, and while I’ve not noticed any sweat soaking them, I would have no reason to think that would dry much faster. It’s going to depend on how much airflow you are getting, as to how fast these dry.

The one notable downside here is the shallow front pockets. I found both to be on the edge of almost too shallow for my iPhone 14 Pro Max to fit hidden in the pocket. It does fit, but that’s basically the max depth of the pocket.

I expected these to be far more faded by now, but the dye has held up through travel, wear, and washing. The knees do tend to get baggy looking over time, with washing bringing them right back in place. I would say I get 10-15 all-day wears before I start to notice that happening.

I mentioned above how standard linen pants will rumple and wrinkle. These still rumple, but don’t wrinkle so much. And what does appear, tends to fade rather quickly. It’s most noticeable behind your knees where the fabric will be quite textured after you’ve been sitting for a good bit of time.

Overall

I bought these as summer pants when I didn’t want to wear shorts, but wanted to still stay cool. They’ve quickly become one of my favorite summer pants, and one of my most worn as well.

Buy here, $198

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The moment I switched back to primarily cotton button down shirts, I needed to sort out a way to try and get more than a single wear from each shirt — mostly for my sanity of easy laundering. The best path for this: undershirts.

I also live, and walk, in Houston — which is far from a ‘cool’ climate. So finding a good undershirt was paramount — I’ve been down this road before, but was surprised to see how poor the offerings still are in general.

What to Look For

Perhaps it’s best to start with what I was looking for with my undershirt:

• A deep enough v-neck, such that it cannot be seen on my neckline when I am wearing my button down over the shirt.
• A long enough torso that the shirt stays tucked in.
• Moisture wicking, dries fast.
• Doesn’t feel like it’s a layer which adds warmth.
• Machine wash and dry.
• Doesn’t start to stink by the end of the day.

Any shirt that hits those criteria, is something I can use day to day.

What I Tried & Tested

It was surprisingly hard to find something that seemed to match the above criteria, as most ‘good’ undershirts seem to be fully cotton or modal — both of which I know won’t hit the benchmarks I am looking for. I ended up trying five options:

• Wool&Prince 100% Merino Undershirt, $78: I found the neck to be very deep and the color to be great to hide for my complexion. However, the shirt adds warmth when worn, and generally looks and feels a bit sloppy under a shirt. While the material is soft, the fit and shape retention isn’t there. After only a half dozen wash/dry cycles, the neck and sleeves were slightly misshapen. I’ve heard from others they had similar issues, and for a $78 shirt, that’s not good.
• 
• Bluffworks Threshold V-Neck, $52: I am a big fan of the Threshold crew neck, so I went for the v-neck. The v-neck isn’t quite deep enough to always be hidden under my shirts, and thus needs to be properly placed. I found the body a touch short as well, which means you need to take more time keeping it tucked in. However, the wash/dry is quick and easy, it holds it’s shape as well. It doesn’t add warmth, and doesn’t build odor in just 12hrs of wear. Overall, aside from the neck, this is a pretty nice undershirt for what I am trying to do. You can also hand wash these and have them hang dry overnight — a big plus for travel.
• 
• Uniqlo AIRism Anti Odor Mesh V Neck, $15: I also wanted to see if I could find something good, which is much more affordable. This AIRism is a completely different fabric and is seamless as well. It’s wild feeling and looks completely silly to wear. But it wash/dries well, hides completely under a shirt, stays tucked in, and doesn’t add any warmth. However, it builds odor ridiculously fast, often within 8hrs of wear, and seems to transfer some of that to your shirt you are trying to protect, mostly defeating the purpose of the undershirt.
• 
• Uniqlo AIRism V-Neck Short-Sleeve, $15: The more classic offering isn’t much better. It does look slightly less ridiculous without a shirt over it, but only slightly. It feels more substantial, but adds no warmth. It does a slightly better job wicking moisture, and a much worse job managing odor — though this shirt doesn’t seem to transfer odor on to the shirt you wear over it, which is nice. All in all, it’s likely not worth wearing if this were your only option.
• 
• Mack Weldon AIRKNITx V-Neck Undershirt, $38: I was very skeptical of this shirt, so I wasn’t sure what to make of it. But it performs well: drying from sweat quickly, not building odors, not transferring odors, and wearing about as cool as you would without the undershirt on at all. The v is rather deep, keeping the shirt hidden and it stays tucked well. After many wash cycles, it has yet to look worse for wear. While it protects the shirt from odor, it does transfer moisture out to the shirt when your armpits are sweating a lot — this makes sense, but some people are looking for a barrier, and this is not that. Oh, and it doesn’t look that great when wearing without a shirt fully covering it — if that’s a concern for you.
• 

After testing those, I couldn’t find anything else I felt was worth testing, write in if there’s something I missed.

My Pick

I really wanted the Bluffworks Threshold V-Necks to work out for me, as they work well as a general t-shirt too, thus offering some potential wardrobe consolidation. But they are only above average. My favorite is the Mack Weldon AIRKNITx line, it’s very comfortable to wear and offers a clear benefit with low-downside when wearing under my work shirts.

They aren’t inexpensive, nor are they space saving when you pack. But they do allow me to get 3-4 wears out of all my cotton button down shirts, which was my primary goal. They are comfortable, even when walking in humid 90°F weather, and dry very quickly. I’ve laundered them with reckless abandon, and have had no issues.

Recommended.

NOTE: where possible all product links on this site may earn the site money when you buy using those links.