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.

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