Note: this item was sent free of charge for review.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical of this shirt when Fisher + Baker reached out to see if we would be interested in looking at their clothing. All of it looks very nice, but cashmere + polyester — can that be better than some of the merino wool we normally test and wear? Why not though, learn something new every day. The pitch for this shirt is simple: “You deserve to wear cashmere, Everyday.”

Sounded fancy, so I’m in.

Materials

This shirt actually has a really interesting blend: 88% drirelease® Polyester and 12% Cashmere Wool. I have experience with both fabrics on their own, but never together. The combination of both makes the entire unit machine washable as well.

The entire shirt is luxuriously soft.

And I don’t mean that in a ‘soft for wool’ way. I mean it is soft. The hand feel is soft. Against your skin, soft. Against your face, soft. It feels like a soft cashmere blended with your most washed and loved cotton t-shirt — and yeah it feels great. It’s a heavy material, I would peg it around 170+gsm but not more than 200gsm. It’s thick so there is a nice drape and a substantial feel to it.

Performance

Ok, Fisher + Baker claims:

• Fast Drying: I would say it is faster than cotton by a large margin, but not quite as fast as thinner fully synthetic or merino wool shirts. I have no complaints, it will dry overnight without issue.
• Breathable: I thought this would fail on this front, but it doesn’t. It’s not the most breathable shirt I own, but it’s on par with most of my merino wool t-shirts and did decently in heat where the “feels like” was spiking to 105°F. Again, on par with merino wool — which is to say: well done.
• Odor Control: better than cotton, but not as good as pure merino wool. You can get a couple days out of it, but it’s not the most odor resistant. This does bring up one other small odor related thing: this shirt smells funky when you pull it from the washer. Very wet-wool smell. This goes away quickly as the shirt dries, but do note this.
• Easy to Care For: So, they say machine washable. They sent it to me to test, and as part of the packaging it came with some wool detergent. Seems like they would prefer you use wool detergent. But I wouldn’t know because I don’t read instructions well and Steve didn’t tell me not to do harmful things to the shirt, so I just washed it with all my other stuff in normal detergent. I hang dry all my shirts already, and I did the same here. The shirt survived it all, and it should, as drirelease has been very durable with my other shirts made from it. I didn’t detect any shrink or outright damage. I’ve washed it nearly 8 times now, and all I can see is minor fuzziness on the fabric. So, check.

To sum up the performance of this shirt, I would peg it at: above average. If you wash your clothing daily to begin with, you’ll find the performance great, but if you want the most wears out of your t-shirts then you could find more odor resistant options. Generally it performed far better than I expected and in line with the claims.

Fit and Style

I normally write this before the performance section, but thought it was best after. Because there are two aspect to this shirt: first it looks stellar. Second it is cut really well, and also cut in a way where it moves well too.

I tend to find most t-shirts either a little boxy, or a little to form fitting. Fisher + Baker really nailed this cut. There’s not annoying rub from any seams, they aren’t in the way of even shoulder straps, and the entire shirt just fits me very well.

As for style, it’s a t-shirt. A nice t-shirt, but still a t-shirt.

Overall

When I wrote up the review about Outlier’s Ultrafine Merino T, I ended it by saying “these are the most luxurious feeling shirts I’ve ever owned.” That statement is now obsolete. Those are the best merino shirts I have ever seen.

But the Fisher + Baker Everyday Cashmere Short Sleeve Crew is easily the most luxurious feeling shirts I’ve ever owned, while still performing well. At $98, yeah, these should be top of your list.

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

Lululemon has had their ABC line of mens’ pants around for a while, and they are widely talked about on the travel/one bag Reddit community. A long ways back I tried on some in a store and was not super impressed, but decided to finally give them a try with their new “Warpstreme” fabric.

Specifically, I tried the ABC Pant Classic Warpstreme.

Material

These pants are made with Lululemon’s four-way stretch Warpstreme fabric, which is 100% polyester. It is heavier than I’d have expected and is smooth and has minimal texture.

While walking, these pants do make noise, and especially in bright light, they have a sheen that gives them away as technical — no mistaking these for your standard chinos.

Performance

Quite a few claims are made about these pants, so I’ll go through each:

• Shape retention: seems to be there, haven’t had any bagging out between washes, remains to be seen how this holds up long term. I’m guessing some of this comes because there is no elastane to stretch/wear out.
• Quick-drying: these dry about as expected for heavier polyester pants. Nothing magic, but will dry overnight.
• Four-way stretch: yep, these are stretchy. Not the stretchiest I’ve tried, but very comfortable.
• Breathable: in the summer heat and humidity, I didn’t find these very comfortable, so I’d challenge this feature.
• Wrinkle resistant: yep, no wrinkles, ready to wear right from the washer.
• Feels smooth & falls softly away from the body: not sure this is a positive, but true.

The performance features are rounded out by a crotch gusset, a nicely done hidden zipper in the right back pocket, and reflective tape inside the outside seams that is visible when the pant leg is rolled up, for bicycle commuters.

Fit & Style

These pants come in both a “Classic” and “Slim” cut. I have the Classic variation, and I’d say it fits straight with room in the seat and thighs, all while not being baggy. The fit works well for me and the style is classic five-pocket.

With no-to-minimal break, you wouldn’t ID these as technical fabric, but the drape seems like it could be off if you prefer more break. The sheen and noise, however, do give these away. While the sheen isn’t noticeable in normal indoor light, it really shows in the sun or harsh lighting.

The final straw to keep these pants from blending in is the seam across the back of the knee, these typically are added to very technical pants to keep the pants from binding when you bend your knee. It is disappointing that Lululemon decided to add these here, as with four-way stretch, they shouldn’t be needed.

I purchased the “Obsidian” color, which I expected to be grey (as it looks in the Lululemon website photos), but it turned out to be a blue-grey, leaning towards the blue side.

Overall

These pants retail for $128, and I don’t think they are worth that price. There are numerous other pants we’ve reviewed that fit in this category (high stretch but good looks) that are better (Olivers Passage Pant, Western Rise Diversion Pant, Aether Kelso Pant).

If you live somewhere where it’s hard (or expensive) to get our other picks, these aren’t bad, but wait for a good sale.

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

What a name, essentially this is a short sleeved button down shirt. The claims to fame for it are the stretch and breathability — which seems to be granted via Ventlight Mesh. Essentially this is a series of micro mesh holes throughout the fabric and is common for both Lululemon and even Under Armour to employ in a bid to increase breathability. The specific patter I bought is out of stock, but there are others here.

I’ve actually been testing this shirt for some time, and while nice, it is hard to justify over other options on the market which all have better performance.

Material

First, you need to know that this is a thicker shirt, which is counter intuitive given how it is framed. But the material is hard to describe as anything other than thick — so if you are tired of shirts being thin so they wear cool, hey you are in luck on this one. The composition is 96% Polyester, 4% Xtra life lycra® elastane. I have no cares about what Xtra life Lycra is — let’s just assume it is somehow a better variant of Lycra.

That’s not all there is to the material, and Lululemon makes really no mention of this. But there is a series of holes throughout the fabric in a grid pattern. Ostensibly to improve breathability. But you can and do see these holes in the fabric — even on Lululemon product page. They are very apparent on solid colors or lighter colored fabric. The pattern I have hides them somewhat well, but they exist.

The hand feel is a soft, with a slightly but spongey feeling. It is weird. It’s not ideal. It feels very technical.

Fit & Style

A classic short sleeve button up, with removable collar stays, a funky pattern and a funky material — this is a casual weekend shirt that you could do some yard work in. I’ve been wearing it while working from home, as well as barbecuing in the Houston heat and hanging by the pool.

The fit is great, but the style is meh at best. A firmly casual shirt with a collar that perhaps sits a little too perky to blend seamlessly in with a good casual look. Almost a touch preppy with the collar.

Overall I would classify the fit as good, and the style as ambivalent casual.

Performance

So this shirt boasts quick a few performance claims, I’ll just go through each of those first:

• Stretch: yes, this is a very stretchy garment. But the value of this is somewhat limited in a short sleeved shirt not made to be tucked in. That said, this shirt will never restrict your movement.
• Quick Drying: it is decently fast to try. The material is a little thicker so that detracts a bit, but when tossing it back on after taking a swim, the shirt dried quick enough to never be a problem. Quick enough drying for me.
• Wrinkle Resistance: it’s not that it has no wrinkles after washing, it’s that the wrinkles it does have are so hard to see it doesn’t matter. I’d say yes, holds up to the claim on this.
• Breathability: I don’t think so. For as crazy as this shirt is with all the mesh like holes, it doesn’t breath all that well. There are a lot better options out there. Does it breath? Yes. Does it breath well compared to other shirts in this category? Lower end.

I’ll also note that this shirt is very durable feeling and I think you could probably spend a lot of time wearing this shirt with little annoyance. For my needs it is slightly below average on performance.

Conclusion

The shirt retails for $98, and I wouldn’t advise paying that for the shirt. If you find it on sale, or get a discount somewhere around the sub-$70 range then I think it is a solid buy. It will not wow you, but it is easy to wear and comfortable enough that it is hard to really complain about.

That said, the Western Rise AirLight (our review) is a vastly better shirt any way you slice it.

Not a bad shirt, wait for a really good sale.

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

Jungmaven focuses on hemp-forward, casual apparel, and has been at it since the early 90s. The founder is a founding member of the industry association that helped make growing hemp legal again in the US. They are now working on helping to increase production and build the infrastructure to knit hemp in the US.

When I saw this mission and how long they’ve had to perfect the hemp tee, I grabbed their Baja Tee to try during a sale about a month ago.

Material

The fabric is a mid-weight 7 oz. 55% hemp/45% organic cotton blend. This is the fabric they started with and I think it shows. The weight (they compare an average cotton tee at 5 oz.) makes it substantial and gives it a natural drape and handfeel.

Being a majority hemp blend, the fabric does have a slightly rough look to it, making it casual without looking worn out or sloppy. Hemp also gets softer with each wash while still remaining strong, making it a great choice for a casual shirt.

Performance

This t-shirt performs much better than its weight. Typically a 7 oz. fabric would be too warm for the summer, but with the breathability and moisture wicking of the hemp, this shirt remained comfortable, even on days into the 90s °F. The heavier weight also makes it nice when moving in and out of air conditioning, as it seems to keep that “AC chill” away.

As discussed by Jungmaven, hemp also has antibacterial properties and sheds dirt more readily than other materials. I found these claims to be true, as I got at least 3-5 wears out of the shirt between each wash.

The only area where this shirt is lacking is in its’ drying ability. When it gets wet, it takes a long while to dry. While the breathability keeps me dry while wearing it, when I got stuck in a rainstorm, I had to change shirts when I got home.

Fit and Style

This shirt has a great fit that I think is coming back in style, it is a little boxy and shorter than most of my XL tees, but in a good way.

The fit combined with the fabric makes puts it solidly in the casual category. The natural drape and classic look keep it looking good (and much better than a workout tee for those work from home video calls).

Overall

The Baja Tee has been my most worn t-shirt since I got it at the beginning of August. The weight and style make it perfect for working from home and around town. I think it will continue to get a lot of wear into the Fall, due to the great weight.

Highly recommended, and if you like something a lighter, there also is a 5 oz. fabric in the same blend.

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