Weather app fail this morning, dressed for the -1 not so much for the torrent of rain that accompanied it mid-ride. Trousers soaked but lucky I had my merino wool base layers on held up enough on the water but more importantly the temperature. All hail, premium sheep hair!
I’ve always been curious, but the premium held me back. What’s the difference between regular wool and merino? Do you think regular wool base layers wouldn’t have kept up?
IIRC the key difference is that it’s smoother/softer and doesn’t feel itchy. I only own merino wool stuff though and can’t remember last time I wore regular wool, so not sure of other differences.
Bought a bunch of long sleeve shirts from Costco (like 15ish?) when they were cheap, as low as $6 per shirt as well as their Kirkland socks (for women, men’s are garbage) so some good deals can still be had there on certain products.
Only saw 50% merino wool/synthetic mix base layers though for sale there, but I know Ice breaker can occasionally have decent sales, but their prices have gone up over the years and quality down a bit since they move production out of NZ.
Edit: I think I first saw the shirts in UK, but only bought them in Canada and they’re made in Canada. They’ve doubled in price (non sale) in the last 3-4 years, but still cheaper than anywhere else and could be used as base layer.
Thank you so much for the reply! Are you talking about something like this? Looks comfy, although pricy. Might look for sales at other merchants.
Any polyester could’ve done that but without animal abuse?
Oh boy! Microplastics!
