I like that cotton shirts can pass for Tech T-shirts these days, and I like that Arborwear is finally making a Tech T. Their 85% poly / 15% cotton shirt is treated with the same Dri-Release and anti-microbial Fresh-Guard you can find on most other tech tees, but there’s something about the folksy wisdom of tree trimming and Arborwear that makes T-shirts better. Plus Arborwear recommends their Tech T-shirt as an undershirt for days you run out of deodorant.

Remember those old Lifa base layers? All of the men’s were navy blue with white stripes running up and down the arms and all of the women’s were white. Men were stuck with a synthetic that was remarkably scratchy and women got silk. They were my first base layers that weren’t waffle cotton, and it was quite an improvement. Lifa is actually still around and Helly Hansen is running them. I appreciate that they still make their base layers in all navy blue, and the latest is this Converter T-shirt, which uses anti-bacterial treatment so you don’t get the normal funk. Those old Lifa shirts smelled like crap right out of the box; it was amazing. Way to get to the party a few years late, Lifa. Everyone else has been making these anti-microbial, anti-smelling, casual shirts for about five years. Let me guess: In a few years you’ll come out with a ‘green’ version of this shirt and then next you’ll add a collar and some ugly stripes. The Helly Hansen Converter sells for about $34.

Wearing black to mourn your lost childhood is no longer a reasonable excuse to skip a fun hiking trip. Mammut’s new softshell clothing uses Schoeller’s ColdBlack technology, which has a highly reflective coating that doesn’t let much heat through. It’d be good not only for hiking when depressed, but wearing to an outdoor Danzig concert-in the event that Danzig ever played some nancy outdoor music fest.

The application of ColdBlack is a bit confusing since I don’t think many people really need to have black clothing. You see a lot of black ski pants in winter, but I thought soaking up heat was more of a benefit than a hindrance in the middle of January. The new Mammut Courmayeur Pants at about $190 will feature the ColdBlack tech from Schoeller, which I guess would be nice if you wanted to creep around campgrounds in the dark and spy on couples in tents.

It’s a bit odd that a guy who stars in a television program partially based on the premise that he uses very little gear would open up a clothing store. It would be cool if the gear Bear Grylls Store sold was stuff like a garbage bag that was labeled as a -20F sleeping bag or a sweatshirt with a hidden PFD for cutting corners, but it looks more like those Marlboro adventure gear jackets you could get for smoking enough cigarettes.

via Get Outdoors

We can agree that this suit is merely a clever branding move on the part of Rapha. They make an outrageously garish and expensive ‘suit’ for cycling and then sit back and watch the blog posts send traffic to their site and strengthen their brand. What kind of cycling company wants to be known as one that sells pink-lined suits to some imaginary bike messenger who runs a boardroom? One that charges $70 for a silk scarf and thinks that messenger bags should be replaced with man purses.

via Trackosaurus Rex