Taylor Stitch has been around for a while now, mainly focusing on traditional fabrics like cotton. A few years ago, they came onto our radar with their performance line, CIVIC. Since then, they’ve snuck some higher performing fibers into their Taylor Stitch line as well.

Since I finished up my polo roundup, I’ve been looking for some summer short sleeve button-ups to fill out my warm weather wardrobe. So, when I saw The Short Sleeve Bandit in Heather Grey during their Summer Sale, I couldn’t turn it down.

Material

This shirt is made from a 4-oz. 86% organic cotton, 14% linen blend. The material is thin enough that I felt I needed an undershirt under the light color. Something to keep in mind, but certainly not a deal breaker for a summer shirt.

The linen also brings an eye catching texture and color variation to the fabric without being rough.

When I ordered the shirt, I wasn’t sure if the low linen content was enough to impart some linen performance, but I was proven wrong. After wearing it in some of the hottest days of the summer, I can say that the fabric performs better than 100% cotton for breathability and moisture management.

The fabric also tends not to wrinkle like pure linen. You get some of the benefits of linen while avoiding its biggest pitfall — wrinkles as soon as you put it on.

Fit & Style

The fit was spot on for me. Designed to be worn untucked, I found the length to work equally well with shorts or pants. Taylor Stitch notes a tailored fit and high armholes. Sometimes high armholes can make shirts fit weird for me, but they struck a nice balance of making the shirt look sleek while not taking away from the comfort.

As for the band collar. I was not sold immediately, in fact it took a few tries before I decided to keep the shirt. Once I wore it, it really grew on me. It is a great look for a casual summer shirt (and even makes ironing a little less of a pain, as does the lack of back pleats). In fact, I even got some complements.

Performance

This shirt exceeded my expectations in how it performed in hot weather. I expected it to perform mostly like a cotton shirt, but the linen was able to significantly pick up the performance.

Sitting outside to eat on one of the hottest nights of the year, I remained comfortable. While I was sweating, the shirt did an admirable job. Where the shirt was soaking up sweat, it felt a little moist but was drying quickly enough that it never became wet. I think the linen helped some here managing the moisture and with its cooling effect. Even better, when I went inside, the shirt dried very quickly.

Overall

This shirt exceeded my expectations as a casual short sleeved button-down. The linen blend fabric looks great and performs surprisingly well and is certainly a fabric I’d hope Taylor Stitch keeps using. While the band collar might not be for everyone, it really grew on me and is going to be something I will keep my eye out for in the future.

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

Note: These shirts were originally provided for review purposes, please see the original reviews for more information.

We’ve been testing and reviewing here on Everyday Wear for about two years now, so it’s about time we take a look at how some of our long term favorites are holding up.

Something that I wear almost every day is an athletic t-shirt. I wear these for working out and often as a shirt for around the house. The two that have stuck as my favorites are the Pistol Lake Minimalist Tee (called the Minimalist Performance Tee at the time of our review) and the Y Athletics SilverAir Merino T-Shirt (our review). I’ve had the Pistol Lake tee for a year and a half now and the Y Athletics for one year.

Pistol Lake Minimalist Tee

As a refresher, this shirt is made from a custom fabric blend Pistol Lake calls Eudae (76% polyester, 19% Tencel, and 5% spandex). It looks and drapes like a cotton t-shirt with stretch, but performs almost like merino.

As it’s not dependent on any odor treatment (like some synthetic fabrics), I can still get about 4 workouts from the shirt before it starts to smell. Unfortunately, the shirt seems to get small pills all over pretty quickly.

I own the shirt in both black and heather grey, and while both are pilled, it seems that the black is either pilled more, or the pills are just more noticeable. I’m not too concerned about this, as these are workout shirts for me, but this would come into consideration if I were buying these as everyday shirts. I’d also expect that a backpack could accelerate the pilling.

For summer wear I find the fabric very comfortable. It dries very fast and wicks well, however it does retain enough moisture during a hot and sweaty workout that it does get weighed down somewhat (I’d put it between merino and a traditional full synthetic workout tee).

Y Athletics SilverAir Merino T-Shirt

This shirt is is 17.5 micron merino wool with pure silver threads running throughout on the inside, while the outside is plated with nylon.

The merino interior of the shirt continues to give me the same odor resistant performance and moisture wicking of a 100% merino shirt. The thinness of the merino layer helps keep it from getting too weighed down from the sweatiest of workouts (although it still can’t beat a traditional full synthetic workout tee).

As far as the durability of the nylon plating goes, the only pilling I’ve seen is from a sweaty week of hiking with a GORUCK bag. It certainly is much more pill resistant than the Pistol Lake shirt.

One other item of note: The black color of this shirt seems to be showing more of the silver thread through the plating as it ages, while it remains invisible (except for some “indentations” where the thread is) on the blue color.

Overall

I am very satisfied with these shirts as my athletic tees of choice. If I was forced to pick just one with versatility in mind, it’d be the Pistol Lake, as it looks completely normal and could fit into more situations. For pure performance, I’d go with the Y Athletics.

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

Note: These pants were provided by Bluffworks for review.

The Bluffworks Ascender Chinos were recently released along with a new travel polo and t-shirt. These chinos were designed as an update from their Classic Chino (our review) with a new fabric and security features. Being Bluffworks, they have 10 pockets (6 special travel pockets), which you either willlove or hate.

Fabric

The fabric is 100% polyester and weighs in at 180 gsm. It has a soft hand feel and nice matte texture in most lighting (but does have a sheen in direct sun).

While these won’t pass for cotton chinos up close, they also don’t immediately give themselves away as technical. However, I do get a technical swoosh while walking in these. It seemed to quiet down a little with washing, so I wonder if it will go away over time. As advertised, they came out of the wash wrinkle free.

Fit & Comfort

Even though the fabric has no stretch content, the pants feel like they have a lot of stretch. In the hand, the stretch feels similar to many of my other chino style pants, but while wearing them, they feel like they have significantly more stretch. In fact, I had to size down one inch from my Gramercy sizing for the waist to fit.

With the right waist size in the Tailored Fit (they also come in Regular Fit), I still felt like there was some room in the thighs and hips. They don’t look sloppy, but they also don’t look as polished as my Outlier Futureworks (our review). If you typically find nice performance chinos to be too slim, you certainly should be able to find a good fit here.

The stretchiness of these pants also makes them very comfortable and forgiving for travel. I would go as far to say that I feel like I could hike in these if I had to. While the fabric here is actually lighter than that of the Futureworks (180 vs. 200 gsm), it feels thicker to me. This translates to them running a little warmer as well. They are breathable and don’t get clammy, but I wouldn’t pick them for the hottest weather. Conversely, I imagine they would perform better in cold weather.

Travel Pockets

With 10 pockets on these pants, you can protect almost anything you’d carry.

Inside both front pockets, there is a zippered pocket.

The right front pocket also includes a phone patch pocket and a small utility pocket (to hold a small knife or multi-tool). The left front pocket has a pocket on the inside of the pants with a velcro closure (for money or a passport).

While it may seem that all these extra zippers and pockets might get in the way, I haven’t yet felt like they have gotten in my way like they can on the Gramercy Pants (our review).

Moving around to the back of the pants, the waistband above the right pocket has a phone pocket.

I’ve yet to find this type of pocket useful, but it doesn’t detract from the look or comfort of the pant. Finally, the left back pocket has a zipper right at the opening. I find that the zipper pull stays tucked away most of the time, but can occasionally pop out if you don’t get it stowed away.

Overall

Overall, the Ascender Chinos are a solid performance/travel pant. If you are looking for a chino style pant with travel security features, these are certainly the best I’ve seen. Even without all the extra pockets, these represent a great value at $125. With a little work on the sheen and sound of the fabric, these could come close to my Futureworks; I’ll also be interested to see how they compare in cold weather.

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

When it comes to wool shirting, Wool&Prince is our go to. Ben gave their 100% Merino Polo (our review) a test last summer and loved it except for the weight, it was too heavy for warm climates. As part of preparing for a roundup of polos (coming soon), I gave the merino blend Polo a try.

Fabric

This polo is made of a 160 gsm blend of 78% 17.5 micron merino and 22% nylon. I’ll let Wool&Prince explain the yarn, as it doesn’t sound like a traditional core spun fiber:

“Traditionally, blended yarns are constructed by mixing fibers from two different sources and then spinning the mixed fibers. We took a different approach and spun a 17.5 micron wool core with two small nylon filaments.”

As advertised, the drape and hand feel of the fabric are great. It drapes heavy, so it looks a little more dressy than your standard cotton, t-shirt-like polo. The fabric feels soft and doesn’t have any of the itch some feel from the Wool&Prince button-downs, most likely due to the finer micron wool used here.

Fit

The fit on the polo is slim but not athletic. It has a classic straight shape, but doesn’t look boxy. I wear a L Regular in Wool&Prince shirting, and an XL fit me well here. With the traditional split drop tail, the length was a little long for me to wear it untucked in all but casual situations.

Overall, the style makes this polo fit in any situation where a polo is appropriate.

Comfort and Performance

The softness of the fabric makes this polo soft and comfortable like your favorite merino t-shirt. I found the weight of 160 gsm to make it substantial enough to not be see-thru, while remaining cool even in warm weather. However, since merino does hold more moisture than 100% synthetic fabrics, you tend to feel sweat a bit. This is somewhat counteracted that the fabric dries fairly quickly.

The collar is always a dealbreaker on a polo. In order to look sharp and blend in with a performance polo, the collar has to look right. In this case, they did a nice job stiffening this collar up a little bit with some interfacing between two layers of fabric. If you make sure the collar dries in the shape you want, it will remain sharp through multiple wears (and even packing).

Speaking of packing, I did find the shirt to pick up wrinkles fairly easily when packed. A quick steam and they are gone, but something to keep in mind if you want a polo that can be pulled out of your bag and be ready to go.

Finally, odor resistance. As expected, the nylon content in the fabric reduces the resistance some, but not enough that this isn’t my most odor-resistant polo. Surprisingly, what has made me wash this polo so far has been smells picked up from the environment (food odors).

Overall

This is a great polo, and if you are looking for merino performance, this is the one to get. The softness of the fabric makes it just as comfortable as a t-shirt while keeping you looking sharp with a dependable collar. Even more compelling, at a price of $78, you aren’t paying a huge premium for that merino performance.

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 Bluffworks for review.

As we mentioned in our review of the Piton Polo (our review), Bluffworks also recently released a new t-shirt, the Threshold T-Shirt. The market is quite saturated with great t-shirts right now, so we hold them to a high standard. Bluffworks managed to take a technical shirt and impart almost merino level odor resistant technology, all while keeping the technical look (mostly) at bay.

Fabric

The fabric here is a wrinkle-free 66% polyester, 29% Lyocell, 5% elastane blend with embedded gold and silver nanoparticles.

To start off, the fabric itself is soft and lightweight, while being substantial enough to drape well. It has a nice stretch to it (although doesn’t feel like it has 5% elastane content). I think the elastane in this knit is more to help the shirt keep it’s shape, and Bluffworks claims that the blend of elastane and Lyocell lends to the soft hand feel. Additionally, the knit is tight enough to be UPF 50+ rated but still breathable.

The only (slight) downfall to the fabric is in bright light, you can see a slight technical sheen. Not a dealbreaker, but something to keep in mind.

If they stopped here, I’d say Bluffworks made a worthy contender in the performance synthetic t-shirt market. That not being enough, they added a metal nanoparticle treatment to impart excellent odor resistance to the shirt.

Fit

As always, Bluffworks offers a great range of cut (Classic & Slim) and length (Regular & Tall) options for the t-shirt. I found the fit to be similar to the polo, with a Slim XL fitting me the best (the Classic L was similar, but the Slim sat better across my shoulders and neck). I would say neither cut is athletic nor baggy and both can look great as an all around t-shirt.

One observation on sizing — I found the length to be a little shorter than many of my other t-shirts. I think it gives the shirt more of a classic silhouette and is something to keep in mind when choosing a size.

Comfort & Performance

The t-shirt wicks sweat away well and dries quickly. This is one area where merino isn’t king. On a hot, sweaty day or workout, merino tends to get heavy while synthetics are better at wicking to the surface of the fabric to help evaporation.

The claim of the t-shirt being wrinkle-free is also something that I noticed while wearing the shirt. It tended to have less wrinkling from being folded up in my drawer or packing cube and it doesn’t get those light wrinkles that show up in a light merino T after a days wear.

Finally, the most surprising performance attribute — odor resistance. The treatment on this shirt gives it almost, if not merino-like, odor resistant properties. It is certainly the most odor resistant synthetic t-shirt I’ve ever tried.

Overall

Bluffworks has a top competitor with their Threshold T-Shirt. It looks and feels great with top notch odor resistance. It is going to get a lot of wear from me this summer and I’m looking forward to seeing how the odor resistance holds up over time and how the shirt resists pilling (a downfall I found in my previous favorite synthetic T).

If you are looking for a performance T that isn’t wool, you’ve found the one. Even against merino shirts, this one holds its own.

Ben’s Thoughts

I tested the peak white color and I found my new white t-shirt. I love it, and in fact in picking what I could bring on my person for my upcoming move (versus what the movers bring) this t-shirt was the first one I grabbed. The handfeel is soft, and slightly slick, but it is very comfortable. In fact, I’ll likely pick up a couple more. Two thumbs up.

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

This polo was provided by Bluffworks for review purposes.

Bluffworks recently released a few new pieces, a t-shirt, new chinos, and a polo. Being one of our favorite companies for everyday performance/travel apparel, we jumped at the chance to give them a try. This review focuses on the new Piton Polo. We had high expectations, as their Meridian Dress Shirt (our review) is among our most worn dress shirts. Bluffworks managed to succeed in meeting and exceeding those expectations.

Fabric

The fabric on this shirt is a 100% polyester pique knit, which gives the Spun Grey color I have a great texture and nice visual interest. Even without any stretch content, the knit of the fabric allows for a little stretch.

Bluffworks also did a great job keeping the fabric to a very matte finish (no technical shine here). The fabric drapes well and somehow remains lightweight while not getting that static cling look that can ruin the look of many lightweight polyester shirts.

As far as wrinkle resistance, the shirt can pick up light creases when tightly folded for long periods of time (not so much that they are noticeable while wearing though). I saw this out of the package and can still see light creases in my shirt after washing. Bluffworks does offer a suggestion to “refresh” the fabric “wash in warm water, 104° F (40° C), warm dry, and remove promptly to hang after drying”, which I have yet to try as I always wash cold and want to see if these creases will take care of themselves. I haven’t set in any of my own wrinkles yet, so I don’t think this will pose an issue.

Fit

Bluffworks offers Classic and Slim fits in both Regular and Tall lengths, which is something I really appreciate. It is nice to be able to really dial-in the fit.

I dialed in my fit with the Threshold Performance T-Shirt — I tried both a L Classic and an XL Slim (Regular length) and found the XL Slim to fit the best (it fit closer in the body while allowing more room at the neck and shoulders). I ordered the polo in the same size and it feels like the fit is consistent.

For me, the Regular length feels perfect for the polo, as it stays tucked in but also isn’t too long to wear untucked.

Comfort & Performance

The Piton Polo is my most comfortable synthetic polo. It is breathable enough that I can see it working well throughout the hottest parts of the summer while still having enough weight that it looks good. The shirt dries extremely fast — when it comes out of my washer it is almost dry.

When it comes to odor resistance, Bluffworks claims that the fabric is antimicrobial but doesn’t note any special treatments. For me, it performed similarly to my Meridian shirt. It won’t smell too bad after one day, but requires a quick rinse if you want to wear it again. This is much better than any of my other synthetic polos that can stink after one day.

Finally, another key for polo performance is the collar. While not stiff and structured like the Ministry of Supply Apollo 3 Polo (our review), it lays flat all day without any curling or weird folding. There is always a tradeoff here — polos with a structured collar are guaranteed to always look sharp, but the collar can give away the technical nature. In the case of this collar, it stays sharp in most cases while allowing the shirt to blend in.

Overall

In the synthetic polo arena, the Piton Polo is going to be hard to beat. It performs well and will only get better as the weather continues to warm up.

If you are looking for a polo to take you through the summer that can be dressed up or down, this one is worthy of your consideration. Even better, at $68 it represents an excellent value and is priced lower than many of its competitors.

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