Overview
The Patagonia Merino Air is the best wool baselayer on the market. I’ve owned competing models from Ibex, Rab, Arcteryx, and Patagonia, and the Merino Air is warmer for its weight, more breathable, dries faster, looks better, and feels a lot more comfortable after you’ve been wearing it for a month! Overall, the Merino Air Hoody is my favorite cold weather baselayer.
If you want the best value baselayer, polyester is cheaper, doesn’t absorb water, and is more durable. The Patagonia Capilene Thermal Hoody is the gold standard here. If I were to have one long sleeve baselayer, I’d choose durability and versatility over comfort, and opt for the Thermal Hoody, which I’ve used various versions of for many years.
PROS: Most comfortable baselayer ever, highly breathable and warm, longer length tucks into pants well, looks like a finely crafted sweater.
CONS: Expensive, not as durable or as warm when wet as polyester, hood eventually stretches such that it won’t cover your face.
BEST APPLICATIONS: Cold weather anything, international travel, road trips, smelling less bad, feeling cleaner.
KEY STATS
7.2 oz. in men’s medium
High-loft, seamless construction
51% sustainably-sourced wool, 49% 100%-recycled polyester
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| Max in the Merino Air Hoody, Brooks Range, Alaska |
What’s the best baselayer t-shirt?
I’ve found it’s not worth buying lightweight wool baselayers because they wear out too fast. I’m not sure what the best lightweight polyester baselayer is because I’ve never felt a need to experiment. My Silkweight Capilene t-shirt and longsleeve are going strong after 13 years. Though I’m tempted by Arcteryx, I’ll likely replace them with the same when they wear out.
If you’re interested in the most comfortable longsleeve baselayer, read on for more info about the Merino Air.
TESTING AND ANALYSIS
I own and highly recommend the hooded version.
Comfort
I wore the Patagonia Merino Air for 36 consecutive days hiking and paddling last summer and on a two-week climbing and skiing expedition this spring. After extended periods like these, it feels much less grungy and gross than any other shirt I’ve tried. This anti-stink, anti-nasty is really nice. I feel cleaner.
Patagonia builds the shirt using a 3D knitting machine that leave no seams! It’s the only ‘engineered’ shirt I’ve ever used. This not only looks better, it feels more comfortable--both by reducing pressure points and generally. The Merino Air stretches such that it feels ‘one with your body.’ Much to Sarah’s disliking, I praised the shirt far too frequently for the first week of our 36-day trip. She loves it, too, and plans to get one when her Rab Meco wears out.
The Merino Air material is twice or more times thicker than the average wool baselayer, which makes it a lot warmer when worn under layers that trap the air, such as a shell. At the same time, there’s a lot of space between the individual threads so heat and moisture vapor can escape. This increases the temperature range you can use it in. However, it’s too warm to bring as your only shirt for most three-season trips. I usually bring a t-shit and, depending on the climate, the Merino Air or the Capilene Thermal Hoody.
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| Debating whether or not to paddle this 100 miles and try to fly home with it--while wearing the Merino Air baselayer |
Durability
After about three-weeks of use, I noticed the hood was no longer returning to its original balaclava shape. This is disappointing, but the nature of wool makes it unrealistic for Patagonia to build the hood balaclava style. The vast majority of time, even in cold winter, I want to wear a hood up and have my mouth uncovered. Now, the bottom of the hood rests under my chin, like most hooded baselayers.
After at least 60 days with a backpack on, including a good number of days with a 40+ lb pack, I’ve noticed some wear in the shoulders. They’ve become a bit thinner. I guess they’re perhaps half way worn out. This puts the Merino Air in the upper end of wool baselayer durability. The lightweight models I’ve used wear out very fast--they get completely shredded.
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| The Merino Air is phenomal for winter. |
Warmth
It’s roughly as warm as a thin sweater. With a light breeze, though, I’ve worn it in the 60’s while humping a heavy pack uphill.
Patagonia says the wool for each shirt is treated using an “innovative air-jet process” that creates yarn of higher loft and insulation value. Then they use computerized knitting machine to combine the wool and recycled polyester.
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| Floating back to Talkeetna, Alaska after skiing. |
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| The Merino Air's breathability is great for high-output activities. |
Style
The shirt looks fantastic, like a finely crafted sweater. I’ve worn it on a few long road trips and it looks good around town. This would be my top choice for a shirt for international travel--I’d get it in black without a hood. The handsome aesthetics are a cherry on top of the premium performance.
Sustainability
Patagonia has invested in sustainable grasslands in southern Chile and Argentina, where sheep provide wool for their baselayers. This is a unique benefit to buying from Patagonia--grazing is done with the least possible impact and the animals are treated well. Polyester makes up the other 49% of the Merino Air and this comes from recycled products. Also, since it’s knit in one go, there’s much less waste than normal chop-and-sew garments. Thus, I suspect their wool baselayers have the lowest environmental impact in the industry.
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| Sarah added new insulation to my 14-year-old Carhart jacket! (And I'm wearing the Merino Air.) Lincoln, Nebraska. |
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| Weekend cabin trip with the Merino Air Hoody. |
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| Trying to ski with way too much gear, while wearing the Merino Air. |
Value
How much do you value comfort and anti-stink?
In 2006, I did a three-month National Outdoor Leadership School expedition in Patagonia. After one month, we smelled terrible. By day 90, our clothing (polyester baselayers) smelled and felt disgusting. How I wish we were all wearing Merino Air tops and bottom!
This is the Ferrari of baselayers. It exceeded my expectations. If you have the cash for the best, I think it will exceed your expectations. For the best value, opt for the Capilene Thermal or, for the truly best value, grab something from the thrift store.
Where to Buy It
Like many of their highest performance products, Patagonia only sells the Merino Air on their website.
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| After a long day of hiking. |
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