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Travel Gear Review: Icebreaker Tshirt

August 9, 2015 By James Clark

Icebreaker Merino

In the digital nomad and long term travel community one t-shirt that has become a popular packing item is the Icebreaker Tshirt.

Icebreaker is a brand from New Zealand that uses pure merino wool. Yes, even the t-shirts are made from wool. Most people associate wool with clothes for warmth, but wool is an effective fabric for staying cool as well.

Icebreaker Australia sent me a t-shirt to review so I went about testing how their wool t-shirt fares in the tropics.

I was able to pick a design from their store so I selected a black shirt which has a small logo. I prefer solid colours and no logos on my clothes. The logo on the black t-shirt is barely noticeable so I went with that.

(Since my order there are now more solid-colour options that have been added to the catalogue.)

Icebreaker Tshirts

My shirt was shipped to me in Australia where I picked to up just before I was heading back to Bangkok. This was an ideal location to test out their wool t-shirt in a sweaty location.

On the Icebreaker site it says that wool is “naturally odour-resistant” and that “these short sleeve shirts will stay smelling fresh even after days of wear.”

In Bangkok I went about testing this shirt to see how many days I could wear it for. I like to go urban exploring so I walk alot. You only have to walk a block in Bangkok before you start getting sweaty; half a day of walking around will work up a real sweat.

My shirt was sweaty as hell by the time I returned to my room. I hung it up, showered, and changed for the evening. The next day I gave the shirt the smell test and it didn’t smell. What kind of wizardry is this? Wool, that’s what.

When I wear a cotton t-shirt there is no way I can reuse it again after one sweaty day. I managed to get four days out of the wool shirt before I washed it again.

In normal urban travel situations I would not have to wear a shirt for four days in a row. It’s handy to know that I can though. I have been in situations where I have ran out of clean t-shirts in my bag, and the Icebreaker is always the one that be recycled. I see why these shirt are popular in the minimalist travel movement.

I don’t need to re-use the shirt for days on end without a wash. For me I like that I can wear this shirt all day and not look and smell so sweaty, which is hard to do in a cotton t-shirt.

Icebreaker Tshirt
[Yours truly, sweating it out in style in Ho Chi Minh City.]

Filed Under: Travel Gear Tagged With: clothing

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James Clark from Nomadic Notes

Hi, I’m James Clark, and I've been travelling the world since 2003 while running a location independent travel business. Nomadic Notes is a travel blog featuring travel guides and notes from my travels.

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