The Gramercy Pants are Bluffworks’ answer for a performance dress pant. The Gramercy line also includes a blazer, which we have reviewed. Made out of matching fabric, these pants share many of the same travel ready attributes. Being dress pants, these pair better with a jacket for a business event than something like an Outlier pant, which tend to look more casual.

Fabric

The fabric is 100% polyester but doesn’t look it. From afar, it looks like a nice textured wool fabric. It’s only when you get close that you realize something is a little different about the fabric (there is just a slight sheen). There also was no “swishing” sound with these pants, something that gives away many performance pants.

The fabric is not advertised as having any stretch. However, I never felt uncomfortable traveling wearing these, even without them having stretch.

The wrinkle resistance of this fabric seems above average. I did not notice any wrinkles from wear that didn’t drop out overnight. However, when I received the pants, there were a couple wrinkles. Bluffworks customer service provided special washing instructions (wash hot rather than cold for normal care) to remove the wrinkles, and that took care of them.

As far as these pants looking good as a suit with the Blazer, I question that after seeing the pants (I have not seen them together, however).

Comfort

I’ve worn these pants for a day of air travel as well as meetings and they were comfortable. Without much stretch, they weren’t as comfortable as my Outlier pants, but they were more comfortable than my traditional polyester dress pants.

I did have some issues with static on these pants, to the point where they were sticking to my calves and not dropping down after standing up. It is the toughest time of year for static (cold, dry, and windy), but I haven’t experienced this with my Outlier pants. Searching for solutions, I moistened my hands and ran them on the fabric where it was staticky — problem solved until I went back outside.

Extra Pockets

Some extra “travel” features these pants include are pocket zippers, a hidden pocket, and what Bluffworks calls a “security loop”.

Both front pockets have a zipper compartment (hidden about 1” in from the edge of the pocket). These are big enough for a passport, and I could see using them for that purpose. I found these zippers to be slightly annoying (they have a pretty large pull), and I made sure not to run my phone screen across them. If I were to make adjustments to the pants, I would have this zipper in only the left pocket and use a less obtrusive pull.

The right front pocket also has a “security loop”, which I guess you could clip your keys to, but I found it annoying, as my phone kept getting caught when trying to pocket it.

The left back pocket is completely closed by a zipper while the right back pocket is open.

Right below the belt line, slightly to the right of the right back pocket, there is a small unzipped pocket. I think the idea is to stow a phone, but I found it uncomfortable (but my iPhone X did fit).

Overall

The Bluffworks Gramercy Pants are worth checking out if you are looking for performance dress pants that look (mostly) like wool. I purchased these on sale for $125, but I think they are still a good value at $140. While not perfect, I have not been able to find better performance dress pants.

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This blazer was provided by Wool & Prince for review.

When shopping for a blazer, you will find wool is a common fabric. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but due to cost many have non-breathable linings or don’t use merino wool.

Enter the Wool & Prince Blazer. It is half-lined and made from merino wool. In fact, it is made with Pendleton merino fabric (one of the best wool mills in the world) and sewn right in the New York City Garment District.

Fit

While it is unusual for me to find an off the rack blazer that fits well, this blazer fits me very well. Your mileage will vary depending on your body shape, as the blazer only comes in slim sizes (S, M, L, & XL), rather than the more discrete standard blazer sizes based on your chest. I typically need a long jacket, but the sleeves on this jacket were just about the right length for me. Wool & Prince provides a size guide for some more information. For reference, I wear a L Regular in their button-downs and I have a XL Slim in the blazer.

In regards to how the blazer moves, since it is only half-lined, I never felt restricted — even when putting on or taking off my backpack. Of course, a wool blazer will never match the movement of a synthetic blazer but makes up for the lack of movement with a great drape.

Looks

Made with merino wool, this blazer looks just like a standard wool blazer. It drapes just as expected and the fabric has great texture. The patch pockets on the front definitely make it a blazer (so don’t try to match it with pants for a suit). While not as versatile as the classic navy blue, the charcoal grey of this blazer looks great.

Performance

The half-lining lends to the performance. It allows the merino to work its magic in regards to odor resistance and temperature control. I wore this blazer with a Wool & Prince Button-down and a merino undershirt in weather just above freezing and did not feel too cold walking between my hotel and car. If it were much colder or I was going to be spending time outside, a jacket would have been necessary. Typically, a blazer this warm would be too hot inside, however, this was not true with the Wool & Prince blazer. I was very comfortable in a day-long meeting as well as while traveling. I even wore the blazer to an Indian restaurant, and it did not have any hint of spicy smell when I left.

As far as wrinkle resistance, the blazer arrived folded up in a box with only one slight wrinkle. I was able to give the jacket a light steam and the wrinkle fell right out. The fabric can pick up small wrinkles in the elbows with wear, but they fall out easily overnight. While traveling, I was able to fold the blazer and put it in the overhead bin or on my lap without any issues. I imagine if it was jammed into a bag, it might come out with some wrinkles, but that could be easily fixed with a steamer (or a steamy hotel bathroom).

Small Details

This blazer has four pockets — one exterior breast pocket, two patch pockets, and one interior breast pocket. The patch pockets work well for holding my iPhone X, however, it sticks out of the exterior breast pocket (and the interior pocket comes sewn shut, but you can open it by cutting the thread).

The construction of the blazer is excellent. The half-lining is over the shoulder blades across the back, down the sleeves, and down the sides of the jacket and part of the front. The unstructured shoulders lay nicely. Also to note, the sleeve buttons are non-functional. This makes it easier for a tailor if you need to have the sleeve length adjusted.

Overall

This blazer is an amazing as an all-around piece for any wardrobe. It could be dressed down with jeans or dressed up with chinos or dress pants. The fabric looks, feels, and performs extremely well. I can’t imagine finding another wool blazer that I would prefer to wear over this one. Other than needing the extreme wrinkle resistance of synthetic, this blazer deserves top consideration.

The Wool & Prince blazer has become my new go-to for any occasion. I love how it helps regulate my temperature and resists odors. It makes a great travel companion or to dress up for a night out on the town.

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We don’t typically talk a lot about hiking specific clothing, but we are nerds when it comes to new fabric technologies. So with that in mind, when I recently picked up the Outdoor Research Ascendant Hoodie, I decided I should review it here. It’s one of the few items with a new type of insulation, Polartec Alpha Direct. Unlike the old Alpha insulation, there’s no inner layer between the insulation and your body — in other words, the inside of this jacket is soft and fuzzy.

This material has one purpose: to keep you warm, while allowing for a lot of breathability so don’t overheat while active. Originally, of course, it was designed for military use but is finding its way to more consumer products. Typically this is called “active” insulation, and there are many different flavors (from your typical fleece jackets to newer products like The North Face’s Ventrix lineup).

The Jacket

I bought this jacket on sale, as I wanted to try the Alpha Direct insulation, and in the couple months I’ve had the jacket, it has become one of my most worn jackets. It has an athletic cut and the hood stays mostly out of the way (they have a model without the hood). The pockets are nice, but don’t secure so they are good mostly for hand warming.

It’s been my favorite layer to grab when I need to head out and know that I might be spending time indoors — which I’ll get to next. In general, I really like the jacket itself, however I find the colors offered by Outdoor Research to be not great. They are all contrast, and thus project a very outdoorsy look — which I get away with in the Pacific Northwest, but might be problematic in other areas. I’d love for them to offer a solid charcoal version of this jacket, I’d switch to that instantly.

Warmth / Alpha Direct Insulation

In one word, the insulation in this jacket is phenomenal. I’ve worn this jacket working out with my heavy backpack on and building quite a sweat up during the work out and yet, I didn’t have to take the jacket off to stay comfortable. It breathes really well, and when you really start building up body heat, you don’t overheat. That’s not to say you aren’t uncomfortable, but in a situation where you’d rather not fuss with taking off the jacket, it excels.

I can see exactly why this is used in military applications.

Further, this insulation does a great job when you need something to grab and wear on your next trip to the store or mall. A constant struggle is what to do with your heavy jacket as you are moving in and out of warm stores — typically you undress and redress, or grin and bear being too warm or cold the entire time. With Alpha Direct, I’ve never overheated during those temperature changes, and you get the best of both worlds, mostly.

In wind, or really cold temps, you get cold if you are not moving. Layers can mitigate this, but this won’t be the one jacket you need, and likely this will change greatly with the surface material being used in conjunction with the insulation.

If you are climbing a mountain or hiking in cold weather, then this is the insulation layer you wear. In the past that was Polartec Fleece. I prefer Alpha Direct over fleece any day of the week, it does everything better (i.e. it breathes better, and insulates better, dries faster, and weighs less).

Overall

While I don’t love the looks of this jacket, I’m willing to overlook that and wear it a lot. It’s comfortable, very light weight, and packs away well. While down jackets stow well, but are warm and bulky, and fleece is comfortable but doesn’t stow well — this Ascendant jacket excels in both areas. It’s like a hybrid of fleece breathability and warmth, with the light weight and compression abilities of down.

Again, if the colors were less in your face, I’d say this is a crucial jacket to have in your closet.

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This shirt was provided by Pistol Lake for the purpose of review.

The Minimalist Performance Raglan from Pistol Lake is the long sleeve (raglan) version of their core product, the Minimalist Performance Tee. Both are made out of their unique Lightweight Eudae fabric (76% polyester, 19% Tencel, and 5% spandex).

This quick review will focus on the fit of the shirt, as the fabric and performance is
covered in detail on our review of the tee.

Fit and Finish

This shirt is the best fitting long sleeve I’ve come across. It’s cut long enough and has an athletic (but not too slim) cut. The raglan sleeves get rid of the shoulder seams, this can make a difference if you’re carrying a backpack. The shirt also has a nice wide neck hole, which makes it even more comfortable than the tee. Even with the large opening, the neck never looks stretched out or puckered, like I’ve experienced with other shirts with this cut.

The only finish issue I found was a slight pucker where the tag is sewn in on the side seam. The Pistol Lake team is aware of this and will make a slight pattern adjustment for their next run to fix the pucker.

Overall

The Minimalist Performance Raglan has become my favorite long sleeve tee to throw on after work. If I wore long sleeves for exercise, this would also be my top choice.

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One of the big criticisms of merino shirts for general wearing is whether or not they can hold up to abrasion. Typically the concern is less about wearing a hole in the shirt and more about the shirt pilling when doing normal things (like wearing a backpack s of particular worry to those who like to travel in merino wool shirts — as most bags are heavy when traveling and abrasion can be really high. I am ling at this throughe lens of wearing this type of clothing while commuting and traveling — not while hiking and doing more outdoors oriented stuff.

The Test

In order to test what’s real and what is paranoia, I wore the same Smartwool 100% merino t-shirt while I rucked (working out by walking with a really heavy backpack on) for for weeks straight. A total of bout 60 miles of wear with a 30 lb GORUCK bag on my back. GORUCK’s bags are among the most abrasive bags on the market, and the added weight with the sweat from the workout makes it among the most adverse tests you can put these shirts through. During the course of the testing I only washed the shirt once per week and hung it to dry.

This should simulate the amount of travel the average person does in a year, or a partial commute with backpacks. Most people won’t travel with a backpack this heavy, but this should accelerate any issues with pilling.

The Result

In the first week I noticed pilling where the bottom of the bagand straps sat on the shirt. By the end of the test there was only minimal pilling on the back but it seemed to disappear on the shoulders. No holes or any otherwise noticeable problems with the shirt. After each wash, most of the pilling seemed to disappear as well.

Thoughts

Cotton shirts also pill in these areas as well, so a large part of the talk around this pilling seems to be paranoia as it will tend to happen to most shirts. However, it does give me pause when wearing a GORUCK bag and something like Outlier’s Ultrafine Merino T-shirt. Having said that, I don’t think there’s a ton to worry about, and I still don’t hesitate to travel with my GORUCK and merino clothing.

Yes, with a lot of use with an extremely abrasive bag, you’ll see some pilling, but certainly not enough to otherwise ruin a shirt. This isn’t the nature of 100% merino wool.

For instance, compare this photo of my Outdoor Research Sequence shirt which is a merino wool blend:

The pilling is far worse on this shirt, not just in the areas where my backpack wears during rucking, but in any spot where there’s friction. It’s a shirt prone to pilling. I have no doubt that some shirts pill more than others, but I have seen no evidence that 100% merino wool shirts are more prone to pilling, or less durable, than any other natural fiber shirts.

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My standard everyday attire is to wear a button down shirt, so I’ve been trying to find something more durable and perhaps — hopefully — something which still looks traditional. I picked up both the oxford blue and ligh gray versions of Outlier’s NYCO Oxford to test out. They are heavy, and certainly only for weather 70-75 °F and below.

Fabric

Outlier makes this shirt out of a 162 gsm 74% cotton, 24% nylon blend, thick, and feels like a indestructible version of a cotton oxford. The material is entirely treated with DWR, and that actually works quite well in a light rain. However, I’ve been less than impressed with stain resistance as I’ve noticed some light spatters of sauce when I cook with the shirts on — though a quick dab with a wet cloth typically pulls the stains right out.

The shirt is far more rigid feeling than a standard oxford, while maintaining a soft feel and look to the fabric.

Wrinkle & Smell Resistance

The biggest thing with this this shirt is the nearly 75% cotton make up of the fabric. Typically this means wrinkles and smell absorption. On the issue of wrinkles, this shirt does surprisingly well at resisting them. The shirt will tend to show some rumples, not wrinkles, in the inner-elbow and other areas where the shirt sees a lot of movement. And while it won’t resist all wrinkles — I’ve yet to need to iron or steam these shirts, even after washing. I’m impressed.

However, on the issue of smell resistance, it’s a normal shirt. If you can get away with a few wears in your normal cotton shirts, this will perform the same. On this issue, it’s very disappointing, but predictable for something with this high of a cotton count.

Fit

I love the fit of this shirt, it’s heavy and comfortable. It fits a bit smaller than other Outlier shirts, with shorter sleeves and tails. It’s not easy to tuck in for me, as the body is right on the edge of what will stay tucked into a pair of pants. However, the pivot sleeve construction is excellent, giving great freedom of movement for a shirt with no built-in stretch

Overall

What’s compelling about this shirt is that it is a baby step in the direction of much better clothing. It’s $98 and for that you get a better designed shirt, which is far more durable (DWR and NYCO) than most oxfords you find — all the while it looks nearly identical to standard oxford. It doesn’t have the s powers of merino wool, but it also doesn’t have the drawbacks: differing hand feel, special washing, and a general more delicate nature. You could wear this shirt doing anything — and I have — and it’ll hold up great.

I really like this shirt.

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NYCO Oxford Long Term Update

Updated: 2/14/21

Three years on, both of these shirts (I have a gray and a light blue) have seen better days. Up and until about a month ago I was wearing both, as I still find them to be great untucked button downs. Comfortable and sharp looking.

What ended their tenure was durability. Not what you would expect out of a NYCO garment in general. Both shirts developed wear in different spots on them, where the face of the fabric seemingly wore through or got over stretch — making them look slightly ripped. The gray shirt developed this in an armpit. Whereas the blue developed this issue around the bottom button hole on the front of the shirt.

Full credit to the shirt though, they didn’t actually rip. They just no longer look clean enough to wear as I did before, while still looking too dressy to be worn as a work shirt.

As such I have moved them into an emergency bag as a good option for rougher times. I always thought these were a bargain at $98 and still think so, sadly they have been discontinued.

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These pants were provided by Bluffworks for review.

The Bluffworks Chinos are billed as a better travel pant. Bluffworks sent me a pair of Navy Blue Tailored Fit 36×32 pants The Chinos themselves, upon first touching them evoke two responses: oddly softand incredibly lighteight. These pants weigh less (in actual weight) than any other pair of pants I own.

Fabric

The fabric is simply listed as 100% polyester, which always causes me hesitation as you never know what you are going to get. These are a completely different fabric from the Gramercy Blazer, or the Meridian Dress Shirt, I’ve reviewed here — hey feel the most synthetic of the lot. While at the same time, it’s hard not to point outhat they weigh nothingwhile not being cold to wear.

The face of the fabric is soft to the touch, but not smooth — it has a bit of texture. I’ve found that the pants don’t quite pass for cotton when you are only a few feet away, but at the same time I’ve had chinos with a similar sheen to them. It’s hard to place your finger on it, but you’ll notice they aren’t “normal” pants.

Stretch

The fabric has built in stretch, and Bluffworks bills it as comfortable stretch which I think is accurate. It is not enough stretch where you will feel free to climb a mountain, but it is enough stretch that you will be comfortable in the pants.

Comfort

All of the above leads to the biggest question I always ask: how are they to wear all day. found them to be comfortable, but not the most comfortable. I would get the regular fit over the tailored fit if I did it again as I felt the pant legs were too narrow for me through the calf area.

Not accounting for the fit of this cut of the pants, I found them to be plenty comfortable throughout the day, but not enough that I wanted to lounge with them in the evening.

Extra Pockets

These chinos have travel pockets, with each front pocket having an inner zippered pocket, as well as the there being extra pockets on the seat of the pants. I used none of them, and while they might be handy for some when traveling, I think they would make for better peace of mind that stuff won’t fall out when on a plane. I didn’t find these pocket earth shattering, but they weren’t a detracting factor of the pants.

The biggest note on these pockets are the zippers: I wish they were wer profile you didn’t feel them as much when your hands were in the pockets.

Sound

The biggest issue with these pants is that they make a bit of a sound when you walk. In a perfectly quiet house, I found them to be too loud. However, when out and about I never once noticed them — thus I think so long as you leave your home, this is likely a non-issue. I will also note that after washing them, they quieted down a bit, and I wonder how much more they might quiet down over time. This was enough to bother me at first, but not enough to keep bothering me.

Overall

These chinos (at the time of publishing) are on sale for $99, and at that price they are hard to beat for a good entry level pair of travel pants. You’ll pay much more to remove just minor annoyances. Not accounting for price, they aren’t my favorite pair of pants ever, but when taking in the whole picture it’s hard not to be happy with them.

Lastly, the overall look of them is very nice. I found them to be cut well nd pair nicely with a button up. You could easily got to a business meeting in these — stepping right of the plane and not look worse for wear. They truly don’t wrinkle up and they’ll be comfortable. Not bad at all.

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This shirt was provided by Pistol Lake for the purpose of review.

The Minimalist Performance Tee is Pistol Lake’s core product and is made out of their unique Lightweight Eudae fabric. The fabric is custom knit and the shirts are assembled in the US. Since developing this fabric, Pistol Lake has also developed a Midweight Eudae and an Eclon (their heaviest synthetic fabric). Their focus is on performance apparel that is at home on the road or in the woods as it is in the gym.

Fabric

The Eudae fabric is 76% polyester, 19% Tencel, and 5% spandex. If you aren’t familiar with Tencel, it is a brand of lyocell fiber. This means it is derived from wood pulp. The Tencel brand is also know for its ecofriendly production process.

While the care instructions allow for machine drying, I’ve only machine washed and air dried the shirt. I have not seen any pilling or fading. This could be a nice benefit over merino for those who like to use a dryer.

Performance

This tee performs very well. From my experience, it is on par with merino in every category but odor resistance. While I can get 5+ workouts with merino, I can only get about 4 out of the Eudae. Keep in mind, however, I choose to wash my shirts when they start to get a little smell rather than let them get as bad as a standard polyester shirt is after one wear.

Fit and Finish

The fabric has great drape, looks like cotton, and doesn’t get staticky like many other synthetic fabrics. It is great to have a workout shirt that is very thin (but not sheer or see-thru) and breathable, yet still looks like a standard T-shirt. The fabric is completely matte and doesn’t have that “polyester sheen”, or even the slight sheen that some merino has.

I also find the fit to be perfectly athletic and slim while not tight or constricting of any movement. Unlike many of my other workout shirts, the length is perfect (I usually end up with shirts that feel a little short).

Overall

The Minimalist Performance Tee has taken the top spot in my workout wardrobe. Once the warm weather comes around, I expect it to become part of my non-workout rotation on the warmest days. If you are in the market for something that can hold its own against merino, Eudae is up to that challenge.

Ben’s Thoughts

I’ve been very impressed with the hand feel of this fabric. You’d not be alone in thinking that this was a standard cotton shirt, perhaps with some stretch in it. I really like it, it’s been a little too cold to wear it for me right now, but it’s going to be fantastic when the weather warms up. This is one of my favorite shirts yet, and it’s hard to believe it performs as well as it does.

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Minimalist Performance Tee Long Term Update

Updated: 2/14/2021

Four years later these are still in my workout line-up. While they aren’t my top choice, they have held up pretty well. There is some pilling throughout that developed relatively quickly, but it hasn’t gotten worse.

While I though these might become part of my everyday t-shirt rotation in the warmest weather, that never happened. The pilling makes them look less presentable, and I have plenty of other t-shirts that look sharper. Over time, I also came to feel that this fabric is more of a “workout first” fabric — meaning that it looks better for everyday wear than something like a Patagonia Capilene, its not the same as a good merino blend or natural fiber tee.

If you want a “do-everything” tee, I think this shirt is still worth a look. I’ve also found the Pistol Lake cut to be one of the longest, so this makes them interestng if you are tall and have an issue with shirts being too short. However, I’m not likely to purchase more as I favor having my workout tees (pushing a bit more performance) and my everyday tees (pushing a bit more style).

Still recommended if you want tees that can cover casual and athletic wear.

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This shirt was provided to me by Bluffworks for the purpose of review.

When I first got the Meridian dress shirt from Bluffworks, I was shocked by two things: it looks like a “normal” dress shirt and the material doesn’t suck. It’s quite hard to find a synthetic dress shirt which both looks normal and doesn’t feel like plastic. Bluffworks has succeeded on both accounts, so let’s dive into this shirt more.

Material

As I mentioned above, I love the material of this shirt. It looks natural and is nice and thin as a dress shirt should be. It drapes nicely, breathes well, stays clean, and wrinkle free. But more than any of that, it doesn’t make any noise, a common issue with synthetic dress shirts.

The Meridian is not a loud shirt. It’s smooth, it’s synthetic, but it doesn’t sound or feel like most synthetics. It’s the best of both worlds: looks good, yet it doesn’t have the trade off of feeling bad or sounding loud.

Comfort

This shirt is somewhere between a standard dress shirt and something with insane 4-way stretch. It’s far more comfortable than your standard shirt — more comfortable than most merino wool dress shirts — but not as comfortable as some of the dress shirts advertising full 4-way stretch.

The shirt moves fine, better than a standard cotton shirt. It breathes well and dries fast. All of this makes it very comfortable, but it won’t feel like a loose fitting spandex shirt — which in this case is good.

Looks

You could get away with this shirt in almost any office setting, and it could be paired with a suit as well. It’s a smart shirt with a sharp collar. Most won’t think twice about it, which is exactly what you want from a performance dress shirt. It’s there to make you look good, not to stand out on its own.

Wrinkles, Smell, And Dirt

This shirt stays pretty wrinkle free. When you pull it out from your bag, it’ll be fine. You might notice some creases form where it was tucked in, but that’s par for the course and hardly worth worrying about. Overall, it’s great at resisting wrinkles.

This biggest downside of synthetics is odor resistance, and the Meridian isn’t a magic solution there. It resists odors better than most non-wool shirts, but it will still smell after a while. The advantage is that you could wash it, hang it, and have it dry the next morning to wear. I would say you could get a couple wears out of this without issue.

When it comes to resisting dirt, I’ve been impressed. I loaded a car full of gear for a weekend away, then unloaded it. I’ve flown on planes where I eat messy snacks. I’ve held babies. None of that has phased this shirt. It’s a great performer for staying clean looking.

Overall

Moving into 2018, I’ve been thinking a lot about my button down and dress shirts — about how I might revamp that lineup, and the Meridian is absolutely going to be at the top of the list. They fit great, feel great, and perform well. But more than any of that, they look great. If you are a business traveler, do yourself a favor and get a couple of these.

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The Convoy Tee is Olivers Apparel’s merino wool athletic t-shirt. I’ve been giving it a workout for the past few months, and I’m impressed. As part of what is becoming a crowded market (performance athletic t-shirts), the Convoy Tee can certainly hold its own.

Fabric

The fabric is 18.5 micron (which seems to be the standard), 100% merino wool with a 165 gsm weight. This means the shirt is perfect for workouts, warm weather, and layering. I’ve sensed little scratchiness, and have been very impressed with how it has held up to workouts. I have yet to find any areas of pilling nor has the shirt become stretched out with repeated wears between washes.

Fit, Finish, and Performance

The fit of the Convoy Tee is athletic. I chose my size from the measurements on the website (I’m always a L or XL and ended up with an XL here), and the shirt fits very tight. The fit seems to be geared more towards a slim, rather than muscular build. It works well for exercise, but is too tight for me to wear for other purposes. If you are planning to wear this shirt for more relaxed, casual wear, you might want to consider sizing up one from where you land on the sizing chart (I could not do this as XL is their largest size). The shirt also seems to me to run a little short (at least for someone tall like me — I’m 6’ 2”), again OK for exercise, but not for everyday wear.

Note: I reached out to Olvers to discuss the fit and they indicated that the batch of shirts currently on the site turned out smaller than they had hoped. They’ve updated the size chart with a note to size up for a relaxed fit. They are working on updating their sizing chart with garment measurements.

The finish on this shirt is excellent. The fabric lays nicely and the seams are all comfortably sewn. My favorite aspect of this shirt is how the sleeves and shoulders are constructed (Olivers calls it a “reverse raglan sleeve”). I find this sleeve style gives excellent range of motion — I don’t get the constriction and bunching that sometimes comes with standard sleeves.

I’ve been extremely impressed with the odor resistance of the Convoy Tee — I’ve worn it for at least 5 sweaty workouts before washing every time. Hanging it up to dry and air out seems to work magic along with the 100% merino composition of the fabric.

Overall

I purchased this the Convoy Tee with the intention of having it as a multipurpose (casual and exercise) shirt, however due to the fit it has become an exercise only shirt. The fabric and construction are excellent, and I’d imagine I would love it even more if I could size up.

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