I’ve been more and more inclined to not wear t-shirts of late, which means I have been looking to expand my clothing into short-sleeved button-ups and polos. I have a few from Outlier, but was looking for something a little easier/worry-free to care about, and snagged the Triple Aught Design Gemini Shirt Short Sleeve in Gunmetal.

I’ve had it for a while now, and thought I would share my thoughts on a shirt which has become a staple for me.

Straight out of the washing machine, no attempts to remove wrinkles.

Material

This is a 65% Polyester, 35% Cotton shirt which comes in an a rather light 122gsm material with a DWR finish to it. The handfeel of the material is absurdly soft, and Triple Aught Design notes that the fabric has a ‘sanded finish’. I’ve not seen that before, but it feels as soft as you could get something before it starts to look fuzzy — if that makes sense.

This means it not only feels soft, but it has a softer/no-glare finish to it, while not been a full matte finish. It’s a really nice and subtle effect that keeps the material from having that synthetic sheen/vibe to it.

The materials are nice, and feel even nicer in hand.

Fit and Style

The trick on short sleeve shirts is for the styling and fit to work well for you. I’ve found this shirt to fit a little boxier, and is cut very long in the torso. I have a long torso already, and this size Large shirt (my normal size) had me immediately remark “wow, that’s long”. Certainly not too long to wear untucked, but any longer and I wouldn’t be a fan.

That said the cut overall is pretty nice. I do have broad shoulders and find that while the size fits me perfectly across the shoulders, the shirt can be a little restrictive on my arm movements in extreme circumstances — a little stretch in the material would go a long way here.

The drape of this shirt is a little stiff looking. It doesn’t quite flow, but it doesn’t look stiff either. It’s so light that the entire shirt tends to sway, instead of falling easily with gravity — hard to describe, but the drape gives away the shirt a bit.

The collar though, the collar is extremely good and stays nicely. This is really well done.

The one caveat is the chest pockets. These are an intentional design decision and they are what gives this shirt a unique look. I’ve never had anyone comment on them one way or the other, but if you don’t like the look of the chest pockets in these pictures, you won’t like them in person either. They don’t bother me, but they are different and worth basing your decision on.

Performance

As always, here’s the stated claims and what I have seen in use:

• Moisture Wicking: this is a mixed bag for me. The shirt does dry very quickly, there’s no doubt about it. It would be easy to sink wash, and dry over a short night before wearing again. However, when I start to build up sweat, I do notice the shirt can feel a little clammy between my skin and the shirt, like the sweat isn’t being pulled into the shirt and wicked away. That said, suddenly the moisture will disappear, and I don’t know what to make of that.
• Wrinkle Resistance: yeah, pretty much as claimed. You wash it, pull it out, hang dry or dryer, there’s not enough wrinkles to ever keep you from wearing this. I’ve not packed it for travel, but it’s my most wrinkle resistant short sleeved shirt.
• Resists stains: yep, the DWR coating is solid, but will wear off eventually.
• Lightweight and Packable: yep.
• Easy to care for: 100%, yes.

I wore this for a cool morning while the kids took tennis lessons and it blocked the light breeze to keep me comfortable, then I went straight into the yard pulling weeds in 80°F heat and it stayed clean and I didn’t overheat. I really like this shirt, as it’s very comfortable to wear.

For me the biggest performance advantage of this shirt is how easy to care for it is. Wash and dry however, it seems to not bother the shirt. No wrinkles, and strong DWR to keep it looking clean. When I travel this summer, I’ll always be taking this shirt with me.

Overall

It’s not my favorite looking shirt, and I wish the color selection was better, but I do really like how easy this shirt is. There’s better performing shirts out there for hot weather (Outlier’s Ramie SS gear is legend for this), but this is the most performant while being easy to care for shirt I have found. I’d buy another if they had some less ‘tactical’ looking colorways available. As it is, if you like the pockets and the color, this is a great add.

Find here, $95.

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

The Dawa Sherpa Fleece is something I snagged for myself this past winter — I wanted something soft and cozy hoodie to lounge around the house in which would also work as a full outer layer if I needed to stay warmer when out and about.

The Dawa looked nice to me, and the price seemed too good to be true at $80 — but it’s an insane value.

Materials

Beyond only specifies that this is “Polyester double-sided brushed-knit fleece”. They further state “Certified STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® | confirmed free from harmful levels of more than 100 substances” and “bluesign®-certified textiles have been verified for ecological safety at every step of manufacturing”. Which is all good.

In practice it’s a Sherpa fleece, which means it is fuzzy on both sides. It’s a Midweight fleece, so it’s not overly thin, nor super thick. In practice all the materials are really nice, but given the price there’s no branded ‘Polartec’ or anything like that here — but there’s nothing concerning either. I’ll also note that this has held up well through multiple washing machine runs, while hanging it to dry.

Fit & Style

The cut and fit is spot on for me. It is long enough in the body that it doesn’t feel breezy when you are in chilly weather, but no so long that when you sit down you are sitting on the back of it, pulling it tight. The hood is very nice, and the sleeves are also long on it. All of that makes it really effective for staying warm when outside, and comfortable when laying on the couch.

It’s a fuzzy fleece hoodie, it’s spot on for that style. The color you see here is coyote.

Performance

The best way I can describe this is: cozy. It’s exactly what I wanted from an item like this. Something which replaced a standard hoodie for me. From a pure performance aspect you really are looking at warmth, breathability, and drying times.

• Warmth: warm but not too warm. As a layer it’s perfect. On it’s own it will be susceptible to wind.
• Breathability: it is decently breathable, but you can heat up in more static movement.
• Drying times: excellent. It comes out of my front load washer feeling decently dry after the spin cycle and has always dried in single digit hours.
• Odor Control: I’ll also add that I’ve worn this a ton, and never washed it because it smelled bad. Something which happens on other outer layers. Here, I’ve simply spilled something on it each time I have needed to wash it.

The performance of this is on par with your standard fleece jacket. Nothing more, but nothing less either.

I do want to point out the pockets. The front hand pockets are very large and are great for hands, or storing gear in. I found the zippers to be well placed, which makes the pockets very easy to use. Oddly, there’s a pocket on the top left collarbone area. It remains a mystery to me why this exists.

Overall

There’s some branding on this garment, but it’s not over the top or very loud. The entire package is well executed and this is an item I really love. It’s not often cold enough to need this here in Houston, but I grab it at any chance I get.

Big fan.

Find it here, $80.

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

When Outlier released the F.Cloth Yes Pants we thought “do we really need $148 lounge pants made from our favorite Outlier fabric”? The initial answer was no, but when the price dropped to $88, they were hard to resist. After wearing these around our home offices for a while now, the answer is “Yes”!

Material

These are made from Outlier’s F.Cloth, which is the fabric used for the Futureslimworks as well. It’s a 200gsm 97% Nylon, 3% Elastane canvas with 35% two-way stretch. What makes this fabric special is texture the air texturized nylon-6,6 yarns give the fabric. It’s all topped off with a fluorocarbon-free F0 DWR.

It wears light while not being breezy. It’s not warm and cozy or overly cool. The structure and finish is enough to pass as standard cotton to most people.

Fit & Style

These pants are pure comfort. We weren’t quite sure what to expect from lounge pants cut from our favorite chino fabric, but it works. If you don’t want baggy, look elsewhere, but Outlier hit these spot on as work from/lounge around home pants. The style seems to be going that way anyways, and the F.Cloth adds some interest to the look — something different from the standard polyester or nylon lounge pants.

They are baggy with and elastic waist solid comfort. If your shirt is worn untucked (and it should be in these) then they are going to look fine whether you stand up on a video call, collect your UberEats, or dash to the mailbox. I do find that I have to cuff them when I’m wearing some shoes.

Performance

While there is stretch here, you don’t need it in these pants. They just flow around whatever you’re doing. The elastic waistband with (interior) 3Bar cinch is great as well, it’s as secure as a normal pair of pants with a belt. When it comes to cold weather, the performance is the same as Futureslimworks. They are more cut out for three season wear in the colder climates.

The pockets are borrowed from the New Ways, a thin mesh with a little bounce. They hold items well, while never getting in the way. And these pants do the same: never get in the way and offer ease of care, comfort and sharper looks than joggers.

Overall

These have quickly become the only pants I want to wear when around the house. While the full price of $148 seems a bit steep at first, now that we’ve seen what these pants actually are it seems reasonable. When stacked up against some of the more expensive joggers and lounge pants made from more standard materials, these pull way ahead in function.

Grab these while you have a chance at $88. If you miss out (or prefer an external drawstring), the Futureyes Pants are also available.

Recommended.

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

I recently lost some weight and because of that my preferred and standard merino t-shirts started to wear larger than I wanted. Which means I needed to get some new shirts, but instead of simply changing out what I have with a new size, I went looking for something entirely different and found the The Wool Raglan T-Shirt from Minus33.

I’ve been wearing it for a while now and am a big fan. Let me tell you what makes this great.

Material

Minus33 labels this material as ‘micro weight’ in their ‘Woolverino’ collection. The weight references the fact that this is a 145gsm jersey knit fabric, and it is thin stuff — not the thinnest out there but it’s lighter than your standard cotton t-shirt.

The Woolverino fabric is made up of 84% Merino Wool, 12% Nylon, 4% Spandex. This is a great blend, giving enough nylon for structure, spandex for stretch, and everything else merino wool for performance. Add to that, the merino chosen is 17.5 micron — it’s soft stuff.

I’ve found this to be a surprisingly stretchy shirt that has an excellent hand feel and softness to it.

Fit & Style

This is a raglan sleeve, so it’s going to look more athletic than it does ‘normal’ out of the box, and on top of that, this is a rather slim/athletic cut. I don’t find that it overly clings to my body (like the images on the website show) but it certainly is a more tailored form fitting cut.

This cut works well for me, and I find it extremely comfortable and something which is easily worn under a layer, or as a stand alone t-shirt. It’s a nice shirt that sits on the edge of workout, to casual. Good stuff.

The material is thin, and in the grey color I got, you can see some skin tone through it in areas where the material is being pulled a little tighter. For most there should be no issues with transparency, but there is a potential for it — I would suspect the darker colors to reduce this issue.

Performance

Minus33 lists the performance attributes as follows:

• Durable: I have no good way to test this in such a short time frame, but I’ve seen no pilling or other issues at all with it.
• Temperature regulating: par for the course with merino, and is not held back at all with the nylon and spandex added to the knit.
• UV Protection: this is listed, but it’s rated at UPF 20 which is better than nothing, but hardly earth shattering. Not entirely sure why they wanted to tout this one.

The performance on this shirt is on part with any 80%+ merino shirt, which is great to begin with — the added stretch is a nice bonus allowing the shirt to wear comfortably more trim.

Overall

I really like this shirt, it feels very nice, very soft, and is very comfortable. For those who want something looser fitting, you’ll want to look elsewhere. But if you want something really soft and comfortable, and a little more trim than most offerings — this is my favorite to date.

You get all of this for $65, and generally at that price you are not going to get something cut this well, or with this fine a micron wool. This is a stellar value on an already good shirt.

Recommended.

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

Note: this vest was provided by Western Rise for review.

I had been looking for a breathable, insulated vest to add to my outerwear selection, so when I noticed that Western Rise launched their AirLoft Vest, I had to give it a try. The vest uses the same Toray 3DeFX+ insulation as the AirLoft Quilted Jacket I previously reviewed, as well as the rest of their current AirLoft line.

Material

The star of the show here is the Toray 40g 3DeFX+™ Polyester hollow-core, 4-way stretch insulation. This is a continuous fiber insulation, meaning it is long fibers tangled together into the batt, rather than many small fibers bound together or stuffed into a shell. This gives the insulation warmth and breathability, while allowing it to be quite thin and durable.

The shell material is 102gsm, 100% polyester, “self-cleaning, 4-way stretch, Primeflex® exterior fabric with a C6 DWR for dirt, stain, and weather resistance optimized for cool-weather activity”. This material looks great and doesn’t have a sheen that some technical vests do.

Fit & Style

The fit is described as a “modern cut and tailored silhouette ensure freedom of movement and a flattering fit”. I’d say it’s tailored with the idea that you will likely wear a heavier shirt underneath. What does this mean? It looks a little bulky over just a t-shirt. Looking at the product photos, this was intended, and makes sense for an insulated vest.

Length-wise, this fits more like a jacket, which is nice because I sometimes find vests to be a bit too short. The collar also looks good up or down.

Style-wise, this is as good looking as you’ll find in an insulated vest. The matte finish and lack of logos on the face fabric make it blend in well. Certainly looks better than your typical shiny-faced, logo-ed insulated vest.

Performance

The combination of warmth and breathability here makes this vest very versatile. It’s warm enough to be your outer layer on a cool-ish day, and when it gets cold, it can transition to a layer under a jacket, or something to toss on when you get a little chilly indoors. The performance here is perfect, unless you want a fleece vest for a different look, I can’t imagine a better vest.

While the hand doesn’t feel much stretch (even though the face fabric and insulation are both 4-way stretch), the vest remains comfortable and doesn’t bind around the armholes. Some vests take care of this by giving you oversized armholes, but not here. The vest stays comfortable and moves with you without being oversized.

A few other nice features include drawstrings at the bottom, an interior chest pocket (phone sized), and a side-entry outer pocket on the lower back that reaches across the whole back (not sure what to use this one for…).

Overall

The AirLoft Vest is just what I was looking for. Warm and breathable enough to see some versatile wear, while looking better than your average vest. The $189 price point is perfect when looking at what else is out there in the same league. Through Christmas, you will get a $50 gift card with your purchase ($50 for every $100 spent). Highly recommended.

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

I’ve been wanting a pair of Blundstones for ages, and so when I started ramping back up to the office I was looking for what boot I might buy to have a good pair of black shoes. Somehow I didn’t have any.

I found these on sale and jumped at the chance to try them out. These Dress Chelseas are fantastic.

Materials

There’s really only a few components to this: waterproof full grain leather for the uppers with elastic to help secure, and a TPU sole with cushioning. The magic is in the “SPS Max Comfort” system which is essentially a method for reducing impact to your heel when you step/move/whatever.

For now I’ll focus on the primary material: the leather. The majority of my shoes are leather and the majority show the same things: scuffs on the toes and scuffs on the inner heel of the shoes. These are high wear areas on any shoes or boots and leather tends to show these. The Blundstone leather here is slightly matte, maybe eggshell in sheen. And in the black color I have it takes the right angle of light to see any scuffs in them.

Even when you do get the lighting correct, you’ll find almost no scuffs which is unusual for my shoes. In fact I was taking out the garbage in these boots and the giant plastic wheel accidentally nailed the side of my boot at an angle — the type of thing that would put a serious mark in most shoes. It was hard to see on these, and then almost completely went away with a wipe of a damp cloth. A few days later I don’t see it at all.

This is seriously durable leather, and while I can’t speak to the waterproofing, I suspect there’s not a lot to worry about with these. The sole is likely to wear out before the leather.

Fit & Style

As with any boot, getting the sizing right is important. I wear 11.5 in Nike’s and many shoes, and 11 in others. I ordered an 11 after measuring my foot per Blundstones guide and hit the mark out of the box. Note that the half size increments don’t change the length, but change the width.

The style of these boots takes the classic Blundstone Chelsea design and applies a smoother/less aggressive outsole to it. The end result is a dressier looking Chelsea boot which only suffers from performance by having a less aggressive sole.

I love the way these look and fit. Overall they look great in the office and with a pair of jeans around the yard.

Performance

With boots there’s a wide array of performance attributes, but I’ll focus on three for these boots: comfort to your foot; breathability; and durability.

When you talk about Blundstone what you generally hear is how comfortable they are. I own a lot of boots, and in fact they are my most worn shoe type because if I am wearing pants I am wearing boots. The Blundstones are a top performer when it comes to comfort. They are soft but supportive under your foot. The entire footbed is really nice, but not so nice that they out perform other boots (GORUCK’s MACV-1s for example wear more comfortably over a longer day). They are certainly comfortable, and for the price you rarely see comfort like this, where you aren’t just buying a sneaker made to look like a boot.

However, the breathability does suffer in these as they are thick leather with no vents. The only breathable areas is the elastic on the sides to secure your foot into the boot. A thicker wool sock is recommended for these to help your feet regulate moisture better, once that is done I have had no issues wearing them in Houston during the summer — I would say they are on par with all other leather boots.

The last thing is durability. The leather here impresses me a lot, as it is very durable and will lead to a boot that looks good well past it being useable. Meaning that they are low-maintenance boots and not something which scuff the instant they see your foot slipping into them. That said, the lower profile sole doesn’t have as deep cut tread so it’s likely to wear out sooner, and these boots cannot be resoled. In the two and a half months I have had my pair, I don’t notice any concerning wear on the sole thus far.

Break In

With all boots we need to talk about break in periods and how that goes. I found that with these the break in is very short, but is needed. I only had a mild hot spot develop on one foot from my driving position, that went away after just two wears.

What took much longer to break in was the top edge of the boots. Getting the top to relax and mold to how you sit and stand took about 5-6 wears of the boots. And the first couple had the spots around the top edge of the boots feeling carpet burned. Switching to heavier socks resolved this after the first wear, and since then they have relaxed nicely to where it’s not an issue.

So the break in for these boots is at the top edge, and will take 3-6 days of wearing them to get feeling good.

Overall

I love these boots, and they are among my most worn. While you can get them from Blundstone directly, I found mine on sale at Amazon for a very good price. Knowing what they are now, I would be happy to pay full price, and would love to get another pair in brown as well — even if I have nothing but brown boots already.

They are comfortable, easy to slip on without worry. And they fit in a lot of situations. My wardrobe trends more Smart Casual in style and this dress variant fits that styling very nicely. If you are more casual then the standard Blundstones are likely the best bet for you.

Great boots, good comfort, and really durable leather on them making them the lowest fuss boots I own.

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

This shirt was provided for review by Western Rise for.

I’ve previously reviewed the short sleeve version of this tee, so I decided to take up the offer to check out the long sleeve version. In short, it’s the same tee, but with sleeves, but let’s look in some more detail.

Material

The StrongCore Merino Jersey is made using a core-spun nylon Merino fiber (89% Australian Merino Wool/11% Nylon). The nylon is added in the core for strength, with merino on the outside for performance. At 170 gsm, the fabric is light, but not too light. It appears that they moved from 17.5 to 18.5 merino since I tried the tee, but I actually think the fabric feels softer in this new version. The slightly thicker fiber should also contribute to the durability.

They claim a 4-way stretch knit, which sometimes doesn’t play out in practice, but the fabric here feels more stretchy than most tees.

Fit & Style

The fit is classic, without being baggy. An XL fits me well (just note the half-size shrinkage if you machine dry), and I think the proportions would work well for most. The sleeves are right, and the neck hole isn’t too tight or loose and saggy.

The only complaint I have on the sizing is with the “v-cut” at the hem, it makes the front shorter than the back. If I’m reaching way overhead, it comes up just a bit too far. Other than that, the v-cut adds something a little different to the shirt. It likely is going to be a deciding factor on whether you love or hate this shirt.

The style is what you expect, a simple, performant long sleeve tee.

Performance

As expected, this performs as well as a 100% merino tee. Core-spun fabrics often don’t hurt the odor resistance, so I was able to wear this shirt until I felt like it needed a wash, rather than when it smelled.

I’ve been wearing the shirt during some cooler weather, and found it to be comfortable and breathable up to about 75°F.

The surprising performance factor here is the 4-way stretch knit combined with the v-cut. I sometimes find long sleeve tees to be a little constricting of movement, but never feel that way here. It stretches to move well around the shoulders, and the v-cut relieves any of the binding around the bottom hem.

Overall

I like this shirt. The v-cut could be a polarizing feature, but overall it provides some performance advantages. Great to wear around the house, durable enough to wear outdoors, and looks good for wear out to a coffee shop on the weekend.

Price wise, the StrongCore Merino Long Sleeve Tee comes in at $108. That at first struck me as a little pricy, but it stacks up well compared to the competition from Ibex ($98) and Icebreaker ($110).

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

One of the newer offerings from Beyond Clothing is this Avid Ultralight K4 pant which is a hiking pant made into a jogger design. These grabbed my attention as I like to wear lightweight pants around the house on the weekends, and often find that cotton doesn’t quite meet my needs.

I’ve been testing them for a while now, so let’s dive in.

Material

These are marketed as “soft shell” but I think that’s a bit of a misnomer here. They are more like if you just had the facing of a soft shell garment, as there is no pile or anything of that nature — to that end they are effectively a stretchy nylon pant that is pretty thin. Beyond lists the make up as: 86% nylon, 14% spandex with that being a 4-way stretch on the spandex. The shell is further treated with DWR and what Beyond lists as “Clear coating on the outer shell increases the soft hand feel”.

I am not sure what the latter is exactly, but I will say the material feels very nice, and only has a small amount of the dreaded nylon “swoosh” sound. I’m a fan of this material, though it could stand to be a touch lighter in weight.

Performance

These are what I call performance first pants, as anything that you get for looks or feel is a bonus. These are designed first and foremost for performing well in any activity and they bridge a nice gap: something you could wear outdoors without issue, but also something that lends well to around town. If you could wear joggers to do it normally, these are like joggers on steroids — some of the best performing ones I have tried.

There’s six traits that Beyond lists, here’s my thoughts on each:

• Ultralightweight: in weight of the garment this holds very true. But the fabric is not as thin as something like GORUCK’s Simple Pants. But as something to toss into a bag as a travel pair of joggers, this checks that box nicely.
• Wind resistant: I was not expecting this at all when I got these pants — I didn’t read the description closely and thought they would be breathable. Weirdly, they trap heat from your body, and block wind extremely well. For cool weather workouts they are great. For keeping off a chill in strong AC, great. For heavy activity even in moderate temps, they get warm. Very warm. But, had I read, I would have been very impressed with the wind resistance on these, especially given how light they are.
• Water resistant: this is all about the DWR, which is effective. But for how long, I don’t know. Light rain that is passing, no worries. Anything more and I wouldn’t expect to stay dry.
• 4-way stretch: wow. These things stretch all over, but it’s not a soft stretch, so they stay decently crisp looking while never binding up on you. Good stuff.
• Highly compressible: kind of. About the same as any thin pant, I don’t see anything special here.
• Fast drying: yes, nylon and elastane are drying champs. These dry on par with most light nylon garments, which is to say really well. If you do find yourself hiking in a cool but not cold temp and they get wet, they should dry without much hassle. Similarly they dry quickly after washing.

There’s a couple other points about these worth mentioning:

• The hand pockets are fantastic. They have a nice cut to the pocket and stuff stays in them. Further they have a bit of elastic at the bottom edge which makes them more comfortable for your hand, or gives you an ideal spot for anything with a pocket clip on it.
• The left front pocket has a loop to attach keys to, which is out of the way and actually useful. Well done.
• The right front pocket has another zipper pocket at the opening. This pocket is unobtrusive and is a nice addition for pants made for the outdoors.
• The rear pockets are zippered and I could take them or leave them. They aren’t bad and don’t get in the way, but I’ve not found them functional on this type of pant.
• The waistband though, the waistband is awesome. It’s smooth, thick, durable and holds in place. I am slightly in between sizes with these and so I sized down, so they fit me more snug than I might like, that is until I load up the pockets and start doing stuff in the pants — at that point I love the waistband. Really well executed.

As a performance pant: these are some of the best hiking pants turned joggers and the only downside is that I live in an extremely hot climate.

Fit & Style

First the fit, as these are sold in Small – XXL waist sizes with three lengths for each. I wear a 34×32 in most pants and find that to be spot on, after some back and forth with Steve over the sizing, I opted for the M Regular in these. I find them to be a perfect length for me, while being about as snug as I might want them.

Style wise, these are joggers and outdoors ones at that. I would say they are firmly casual/outdoors. No big bonus points here, but they don’t get any weird looks anywhere I wear them.

Overall

I like these pants. They are an acquired taste, and for me they are great pants for the weekend. Great to wear around the yard, doing chores, or just lounging about. They make solid pants for travel as they can fill many roles well, and of course they are great outdoors.

You aren’t likely to win any style points for them, but you’ll be more comfortable.

Find them here.

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

I’ve been fascinated by Triple Aught Design’s Agent chino offerings, but have always waited too long to get a pair, and found my sizes out of stock. But when these shorts came out right on the heels of me needing some new shorts, I snagged them right away in the Raven color (which is like charcoal with green undertones?). The XC fabric is their more technical, lighter weight offering — since getting these shorts I have been wearing them a ton.

I really like them, but maybe not for reasons you might think.

Materials

The material on these is a heavy NYCO blend, which feels very smooth to the touch and a bit crisp. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Filson’s Tin Cloth before the waxing — which is a complement. At 194gsm it’s not the lightest weight material, despite Triple Aught Design saying it is their lighter weight material.

The actual make up is listed as: 40% Cotton / 28% Nylon / 27% Cordura Nylon / 5% Elastane. I am sure there is some branding reason the Nylons are put apart like that, but really this is a 55% Nylon, 40% Cotton, 5% stretch garment, which is a pretty classic mix and one that performs well. You get the cotton feel, a slight bit of stretch, and an exceedingly durable garment.

If you are at all familiar with Filson Tin Cloth, I would say this is the modern take on that fabric. Triple Aught Design then does a thorough DWR treatment on it, and the material is durable and water resistant. Good stuff.

Fit & Style

These are listed as “standard fit” with an 8.25” inseam. It’s actually harder to find shorts around this inseam length, and I’m very happy with the inseam. It’s the right balance of being shorts, but also not too short for the style (while not being silly long as so many shorts like this can be).

I ordered a size 34, which is the size I am wearing in almost everything right now, and found that out of the box they fit about a half size too large. I don’t think I could downsize so I washed and dried them and that shrunk them only about a quarter size. It’s enough that they don’t fall down without a belt, and they fit comfortable.

The style isn’t too outwardly aggressive if you wear shirts untucked, as that will hide the massive belt loops and extra pockets. If you tuck in, then be prepared for people to notice the more outdoors vibe to these shorts — I certainly don’t think they scream tactical, but they clearly are not normal. With your shirt untucked they can essentially pass for any run of the mill shorts.

The Raven color is fantastic. It’s closest to charcoal with browns and greens in it too — it shifts ever so slightly and is really pleasant looking in person. I am a big fan of it.

Performance

The Agent XC shorts add performance in an unusual way. Yes, they do have some stretch, but I don’t notice it. The gusseted crotch itself is a far bigger performance gain than whatever the 5% elastane is doing in these. But that gusset means that they don’t need to be overly wide at the thigh while still allowing a lot of range of motion.

They resist water and heavy dirt well, but I do find that powdery type stuff and dust can collect on them. A good pat-swipe motion will clean them right up. But if you work somewhere dusty they are going to snag that dust. I wore them digging a hole, and they looked clean afterwards, however wearing them to clear out some dusty stuff in the attic caused them to look pretty dusty until I could clean them up.

I also need to say that these are not that breathable. They are not warm, they do block wind, but they are not something that is going to actively cool you. They might be more breathable than other shorts out there, but certainly not anywhere close to most of the performance shorts we test here.

Which is why the real performance gain is the pockets on these. There’s a bunch of them. There’s two hand pockets in the front, two rear welt pockets, two “hidden” rear pockets, and then an entirely hidden pocket as well.

The two rear hidden pockets are just up from the welt pockets, and they are narrow and deep. They are easy to access and can hold a ton. I needed to do some work on the fence from a ladder, and they held wire cutters and other long tools really well. They are not secured, which makes them far more useful. And beyond that, they don’t detract too much from the looks.

The big feature on these is the two front pockets. They are slant openings, with a flat/straight edges right at the bottom, which makes securing something like a pocket knife an excellent experience. And then inside the front pockets are internal dividers on the side of the pocket against your leg. These don’t get in the way if you don’t use them, but each pocket has three slots in those (with bottoms) two wider and one smaller. These are great for holding your knife or flashlight inside the pocket. Keeping a key from floating around — my iPhone 12 Mini even fits in one.

At first I felt these were a neat gimmick. Now some time on, I wonder why all pants don’t have these. They are wonderful — but I also carry a lot of ‘gear’ with me. These dividers caused me to wear these shorts far more than I otherwise would have, and are a huge win.

Overall

These are heavier shorts, but I wouldn’t hesitate doing labor intensive work in them. They won’t cool you down but they also don’t trap enough heat to worry about. I’ve worked in them a bunch and found them great because of all the extra hidden pockets.

Even then, day in and day out, the pockets have made my life easier because they keep gear organized, flatter, and the heavy material keeps that gear from becoming oddly shaped bumps showing through your shorts.

I am waiting for these to come back in stock, as I want another pair, and I will also snag the chinos as soon as I can.

Recommended, with those caveats. Buy here.

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

Note: this shirt was provided by Unbound for review purposes.

There are quite a few merino polos out there, but many suffer from collars that are too soft. Unbound Merino reached out to see if I wanted to try their Merino Polo and remembering Ben’s review of their Classic Button-Down, I was excited to give it a try. I was quickly impressed, and this polo has become my favorite.

Material

The material is a 165 gsm, 53% superfine (17.5 micron) merino wool, 47% polyester. The weight sits right at that perfect balance of being very light, while still having enough structure. The merino is Woolmark and RWS certified, and being 17.5 micron, has no scratchiness.

The fabric looks great, with no sheen, and there is a really unique, almost 3D texture to the outer face. While different, I think the dressiness of the fabric sits in the same place as a traditional pique knit. A surprising amount of stretch is also present.

Fit & Style

The fit of this polo is spot on for me. The cut is slim, but not overly slim. I picked an XL based on the measurements on their size guide, and I think it is a flattering fit that would work for many. The stretch of the fabric gives some flexibility to size up or down for those who might prefer a tighter or looser fit.

The style here works well for business casual, or with nice shorts. The collar performs well. While it doesn’t have much structure, it doesn’t seem to fold weird in the wash. It does fall open, however, as do most collars that are not button-down.

Performance

The performance is awesome for hot weather. It breaths well, and when sweaty (or out of the wash) it dries very quickly. It seems like the texture of the fabric helps it to stand away from your skin, making it feel less damp if moist with sweat. After washing, there also is none of that fuzzy texture, speaking to the durability of the blend/texture of the fabric.

The stretch is a great addition. I never felt the polo restricting my motion — it’s actually more comfortable than some of my merino blend tees.

Wrinkles just don’t form in this fabric — I wouldn’t hesitate to squash this into a bag for travel, and it looks perfect after air drying.

As expected, that odor resistance isn’t quite up to the claims made — “Won’t smell after weeks of wear, unlike cotton and synthetics”. That would be true if it was 100% merino, but not at an almost 50-50 blend. I am able to get 3-4 days of wear, which is still great. With the quick drying nature of the fabric, sink washes would be very feasible to keep this polo going indefinitely.

Overall

This is my new favorite polo, especially for warm weather wear. The texture is unique, while keeping the style business casual. It breathes well, doesn’t wrinkle, and gives 3-4 days of wear.

At $110 retail, the price seems a touch high for a merino blend. I still do recommend the polo though, because I haven’t seen anything like the texture of this fabric.

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