Note: this item was sent for review purposes.

Oliver Cabell is hard to miss today, making a wide variety of fashionable shoes at reasonable prices. They boast performance claims as well, and so when I was offered a chance to take the Phoenix sneakers for a spin, I was happy to do so. This is a ‘3D printed’ shoe made from recycled water bottles also boasts a wide variety of claims, all for a really good price of $95 MSRP.

How I Tested

These shoes arrived just after lock down here, so I was worried it would be difficult to test. However, given that they were brand new, I wore them all day while I worked at home — at my standing desk for 8 hours which is a pretty close representation to a normal day at the office for me. As the lock down eased I was able to put some miles on them outdoors as well.

So while my testing didn’t perfectly mimic what I might see in the real world, I did wear them a ton and I think the only thing I cannot comment on is how easily the white will dirty up, because I didn’t get to wear them in a lot of scenarios where that might happen.

Fit and Style

Let’s talk about fit first, since that is the single most important factor in a shoe being comfortable. There are some interesting items to note with these:

1. They only are sold in whole sizes only.
2. Oliver Cabell notes: “Fits narrow and short, size up if between sizes.”
3. Customer Reviews peg the sizing almost exactly at “true to size” maybe just a tick under that (which I attribute to the narrowness of the shoe).

With that said, I wear a size 11.5 in sneakers, and 11 in boots. Based on all that info I got size 12s, right? Makes sense. They are almost 3/4 a size too large. A size 11.5, would of course fit perfect, while I am almost certain an 11 would be too small. I think the advice is bad — if you wear a whole size comfortably in sneakers, order that, between sizes, you might try another shoe. That’s where I land on this one. For me, whole shoe sizes only is a big miss, especially for something 3D printed.

From a style perspective, I really dig them. Yes they are very white, but they are also narrow (not too narrow, average width feet should be fine) so they don’t look goofy. They look nice, simple, and pair with almost everything up to smart casual. Pluses all around for style.

The Claims

Alright here’s the good stuff, let’s look at what is claimed on the website about these shoes: “A shoe that’s light and cooling with cloud-like cushioning to fit your every move.” “Machine-washable 3D printed upper…” Further, I want to note that on many other sites I have seen these shoes marketed as some of the most breathable out there.

Here’s where I land on all these claims:

1. Light: yeah, like these are super light, and not floppy either. They have plenty of structure and almost no weight. It’s awesome.
2. Cooling: nope. Sorry, but for how hard these are marketed for cooling properties I say no way. I wore them with merino wool socks in an AC house and my feet came out sweaty. Not much better outside in Houston heat. I could see how in cooler climates you might find these cooling, but not in hot and humid, it’s just not there. Almost every Nike running/cross training shoes I have owned have faired better.
3. Cloud Like Cushioning: it is comfy and there is good cushion, however I don’t know about cloud like. I will say, and credit to them — far more supportive and comfortable than Allbirds (our review).
4. Machine Washable: yes, surprisingly they wash up really well — almost like new. But there were no notes for drying so I air dried and it has taken well over 24 hours to get them to damp but wearable. So do note that.

The last thing I will note is that tongue is a little bit of a sticky type of rubbery material. It has a hard time staying in place for sure, and really is hard to pull back up if you shove your foot in. It’s not a big deal, just something to get used to.

Overall

This shoe is a mixed bag, I think if they had half sizes, it would be a lot better shoe for me. I won’t give it credit for breathability though, but the eco statements are nice. For the money (and you can often find these on sale other places) it can be a good deal for a good looking and comfortable shoe.

If the sizing works for you, then these are better than other hyped shoes (like Allbirds, those suck) but if you are a half size person then wait until they come out with those. And don’t count on these being a super cool shoe for your feet if you live in the hot and humid southern US, maybe in cooler climates they feel better. I have a hard time with them in the summer heat.

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This is a bit of a coronavirus fatality for me, but the long and short of it was that I had been planning to meet up with friends in San Diego to watch the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick (one of our friends is a huge Top Gun fan) and thus I needed a lightweight bomber jacket to complete the look. Everlane came out with this jacket in their uniform collection — it has the right (classic) looks I wanted, is made as a very light layer and impressively is only $88 before you find any promo codes for it. Amazing, really.

There’s not many claims beyond durability, color fade, shrinkage, and light water-resistance (from a coating). However, I do think that with jackets we have to let go of some of the things we would talk about with any other top, because jackets are a different beast all together. That said, let’s dive in.

Material

I’ll confess to not actually looking at the garment fabric before buying this, I had wrongly assumed it would by all polyester (as that’s a traditional bomber style, with sheen included) but instead it is a cotton-poly blend. More specifically: 68% Cotton, 32% Recycled Polyester.

In practice this means something that feels a bit like a cotton canvas with decent rigidity to the fabric. The hand feel is great, and the matte finish makes for a more modern look than a pure polyester otherwise would. In fact, I’ll go further to say that few people would guess this is as inexpensive as it is from the fabric alone.

Fit and Style

Bomber jackets have a distinct style: elastic cuffs, elastic waist, elastic collar, with a short body and longer sleeves. Sometimes other details will be present as well. This jacket ticks all those boxes and adds a pocket with pen slots on the left bicep, which is a nice nod to actual bomber jackets.

For me it fits really well, but is shorter in the torso than I expected. I think it works, but just barely. So beware that you might need to size up just for the length — and with a bomber having it wear big is better than small, though for this particular one you want it to look a touch more fitted.

While the short body can be tricky for the longer torso folks out there, it works well enough for me. My only real complaint is the zippers. I really wish the zippers were a brighter nickel color than they are, as that would add a more classic contrast to the jacket. That said, the subdued nature and the materials mean that you could most certainly wear this with anything from jeans and a t-shirt, to a layer with your business pants and a button up. It works, well done.

Performance

There’s basically no performance elements here. Yes, it has a DWR coating, but I would say that means you will not be in trouble if you get splashed. It is more to help with keeping the jacket clean, than making it something to wear in wet weather. (Which actually means it will last longer, as you tend not to wash jackets as often.)

So instead I will focus on a performance aspect not listed: the weight. It is very thin, with just a medium weight fabric for the outer shell and a thin lining inside — there’s no insulation at all. Which means you can wear it easily in a large range of climates. For most this will make a good transitional weather layer in the 50 – low 70s range of temps. For Houston, it works well when I travel outside of Houston (whenever that is allowed again) or for the winter months here. In the Pacific Northwest, ideal for the late spring, summer evenings.

In fact, it is the weight of this jacket that seals it for me, it is hard to find something that is light, and still looks good. Everlane nailed that.

Overall

I am a huge fan just from the garment alone, but you have to remember that this is $88 and you can instantly knock that down to $80 just by signing up for their email list. That is a bargain. It is rare I can say that here on this site, but what a deal. And I cannot see how this would not last a good long time.

Recommended.

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When Everlane had their 25% off sale, I decided to take the opportunity to try The Performance Polo. Everlane bills this polo as “A modern polo for those who want performance comfort—without the technical fabric look or feel.” While it does somewhat live up to that claim, there are some shortcomings.

Material

The polo is built from a 93% cotton, 7% elastane pique knit fabric. There is a good amount of stretch to the fabric.

Everlane only notes it as a two-way stretch, but in the hand it stretches in both directions. They also claim that the fabric is anti-microbial, so there must be some type of treatment on the fabric (which sometimes can wash out), although it is not disclosed.

It should be noted that this is a polo that has to go into the dryer to come out wearable. When I tried my normal hang-dry, it was unwearably wrinkly. With just two washes, the edges of the collar and sleeves are starting to look slightly worn.

Performance

Overall, this polo performs like a slightly upgraded cotton polo, but let’s dive into the specific claims made.

• Two-way stretch: Yep, it’s there, and feels more like four-way stretch to me. This is one of the highlights.
• Sweat-wicking: Nope, it performs like cotton.
• Quick-drying: Again, it’s cotton. Maybe it dries slightly faster due to the elastane content, but nothing to write home about.
• Anti-microbial: I can get a solid two days of wear, but since this property likely comes from some type of treatment it could wash out over time.

Fit & Style

The fit here is good, I’d say its a nice straight fit polo, not slim but not baggy either. The length is perfect for wearing untucked, which matches the style, as this is definitely on the more casual side of polo.

The hidden buttons make it look a little different and refined (although it makes it a pain to do the buttons).

One deal breaker for a polo is a floppy collar, and while the collar doesn’t look horrible here, it definitely isn’t sharp.

Overall

If you want a performance polo, look elsewhere. If you are set on a casual cotton polo with stretch, or you really like the hidden buttons, you might be happy as you do get an added bonus of odor-resistance.

Overall, $38 isn’t a bad price, but it’s not something I recommend.

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

It’s rare that we test mostly cotton clothing here — while cotton can be performant and is comfortable, it struggles to beat out many other materials both natural and synthetic. But, today we are testing Everlane’s Performance Dress Shirt, because this shirt packs a bold claim. Here is the description directly from Everlane:

The Performance Shirt has the performance of a technical fabric—stretch, wrinkle-resistant, sweat-wicking, quick-dry, anti-microbial, and with stain-resistant cuffs and collar—with the look and feel of cotton. From long commutes to even longer meetings, this shirt looks good all day long.

And you get all that for the low price of $68, a generally good deal for a cotton dress shirt, but an outright steal if the performance claims are met. So not to keep you in suspense any longer: the performance claims are not met. It’s not a complete bust of a shirt, but that description is highly disingenuous.

First this is a wrinkle-free shirt, it’s the second claim made, and yet when I pulled it out of the packaging it was a wrinkled mess. So yeah, not a good start, but let’s dive in.

Material

As I mentioned this is a high cotton shirt at 97% cotton, 3% elastane. There must also be chemical treatments to the fabric to even blink at some of these other claims, but none are listed and none are readily apparent to this layman reviewer.

Overall this feels like a cotton shirt, and has mild stretch which will allow you a greater range of motion than you would otherwise get in a slim shirt. And because it is cotton it looks like a normal shirt, so aces there. Lastly the shirt itself is very thin, so beware if you run into any, well, nipple issues generally in shirts.

Performance

I am just going to run through the bullet points of the claims:

• Technical Fabric Level Stretch: False. It does have stretch, but if we are comparing it against some of the best stretching dress shirts, your Ministry of Supply Apollo, or Bluffworks Zenith (our review) — it doesn’t hold a candle to it. The shirt does have stretch, most noticeable horizontally across the back as you reach forward. But it is modest stretch. Is it better than a standard cotton shirt? Yes. Is it on par with the other technical dress shirts I test here? Not even close.
• Wrinkle-resistance: as I said at the outset, this shirt looked like a mess when it came. But it washes and hang dries and comes out looking mostly wearable. A quick touch with a steamer and you have a wearable shirt — I have technical shirts which need that after washing too. But I think the key tell here is that the elbow areas of this shirt become a rumpled/wrinkled mess over the course of wearing it in just a few hours. This shirt is not what I would call wrinkle-resistant.
• Sweat-wicking: it’s cotton, so no. I mean, no, just no.
• Quick-dry: it dries faster than other cotton, but I can’t tell you why. I suspect that the thinness of the shirt is what is causing the dry times here and nothing else.
• Anti-microbial: they must have a coating on this, because you can sneak almost two days of wear out of the shirt, but you will need to iron/steam it in between and I am not sure if you want to do that to a shirt you have worn for a day already. Coatings also likely wear off over time. But I think the most important thing here is that you can wear this all day without smelling like body odor. And that really is the claim Everlane is making. So I’ll give them that.
• Stain resistant cuffs and collar: honestly I have no clue. I know the stains they are talking about, but that is going to require months of wear and testing before I would expect to see any of it. I haven’t seen anything to doubt this yet though.

Is this a performance shirt? No, not by Everyday Wear standards.

Fit & Style

The fit is almost perfect on me, which I am quite happy with. The one miss is the location of the top most button: it sits much too high. While this helps to keep the collar from laying down flat, it is rather uncomfortable for me — in the sense that I notice it and don’t like it.

Style wise, is it generally better than your average cotton shirt? No, it lacks the style of something like an OCBD, and lacks the general texture. So if you are going to wear cotton, why not wear cotton? And while this is a dress shirt, the collar is not thick enough to wear a tie with, so it’s not going to make for a good suit & tie shirt by any means.

This is a dress shirt you wear without a tie, and not with a suit, something to dress up chinos or jeans. In that sense, sure, the style is fine.

Overall

If you want a cotton shirt which has a little more movement and is overall crisp: this is a great price and a nice thin shirt for the summer office months. But if what you want is true performance you are better offer with something else, and you can get true performance shirts for close to this price during sales.

For $68, it is an ok offering, if you get it on sale it becomes even more attractive — but it’s not something that I recommend.

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