Wool clothes is a wonderful possibility for operating in heat and funky climate. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
As runners, we not often keep away from uncomfortable situations, so we will need to have good clothes. For many people, it means having the perfect wool operating attire in our closets. Because the saying goes, “There’s no unhealthy climate, solely unhealthy clothes.” One materials that may be counted on to maintain you comfy from moist to dry, chilly to scorching, and every thing in between is wool. Whereas wool is commonly thought of for cold-weather consolation, it’s far more versatile than simply getting used for a comfy sweater. Corporations make all types of operating clothes from wool, together with shirts, shorts, socks, neck gaiters, hats, and gloves.
We took an array of wool operating objects in numerous climate situations, from warmth to rain to snow to chilly mornings, to check their heat, breathability, sturdiness, and luxury. Our testing came about from the deserts of Utah to the mountains of Colorado to the house of merino wool in New Zealand to search out as many environmental situations as doable.
This information shares our favourite wool objects to maintain you shifting in the perfect and worst situations Mom Nature can create. You possibly can learn extra about why iRunFar workforce members select wool, our testing methodology, and ceaselessly requested questions on wool beneath.
Finest Wool Operating Attire
Sporting the Buff Merino Light-weight Neckwear and a wool shirt for a morning run in Colorado. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Previously known as the Merino 150 Base Layer, the Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer is a flexible layer that many on the iRunFar workforce have thought of the perfect merino wool base layer for operating for years. This light-weight long-sleeve shirt works nice as a standalone shirt, over a short-sleeve shirt for added heat, or as a layering piece on chilly days. The fabric is 88% merino wool fiber wrapped round a nylon core to extend sturdiness whereas sustaining its softness and temperature- and moisture-regulating properties.
This high is out there as a crew neck and quarter-zip, the latter of which was a high decide in our finest cold-weather operating gear information. With a number of colours out there, having a number of of those long-sleeve shirts in your closet is straightforward. They have been a favourite high for our testers’ chilly runs, informal put on, and journey. We discovered it performs exceptionally properly on chilly and moist days as a layer below a vest or rain jacket to keep up dryness and heat with out overheating. It has additionally remained stink-free on some lengthy operating and mountaineering days.
Take a look at our in-depth Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer Lengthy Sleeve overview.
Store the Males’s Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer Lengthy SleeveStore the Girls’s Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer Lengthy Sleeve
Street operating in a wool shirt on an early spring night. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
The Smartwool Traditional Thermal Merino Base Layer Crew, previously known as the Merino 250 Base Layer, is a 100% merino wool long-sleeve shirt designed to maintain you toasty heat in chilly situations. Accessible in a crew neck and quarter-zip, this thermal merino base layer is designed for a slim match for next-to-body heat and ease of motion. The flatlock seams and shoulder panels scale back stress factors below a pack and forestall chafing.
This layer just isn’t for individuals who run scorching — it’s considerably hotter than the Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer we reviewed above. For many who want the added heat, this versatile piece will be worn as an outer layer by itself or below a jacket or shell in moist or snowy climate. This base layer can also be nice as a journey or tenting shirt in chilly climate as it’s good and smooth and resists odor, although we suggest sizing up for extra informal put on.
Store the Males’s Smartwool Traditional Thermal Merino Base Layer CrewStore the Girls’s Smartwool Traditional Thermal Merino Base Layer
The Icebreaker ZoneKnit Merino Brief Sleeve T-Shirt stood out from different wool-blend shirts resulting from its match minimize and extremely skinny materials that stored us cool throughout scorching runs. The shirt is constituted of two wool knits, with a entrance mesh panel to extend air flow and breathability. In a number of the colorways, this mesh panel is a special coloration from the remainder of the shirt, including some fashion to it. The remainder of the shirt is constituted of the model’s Cool-Lite cloth, which we’ve discovered to be one of many thinnest wool-blend choices on the market. Manufactured from 60% Lyocell and 40% merino wool, it’s an excellent mix for benefiting from all the benefits of wool whereas nonetheless staying stretchy and sturdy. We examined this shir on loads of overgrown trails and have but to search out a difficulty with its sturdiness. The offset shoulder seams might help to cut back friction in the event you’re carrying a pack.
As with most wool merchandise, we might put on this shirt a number of instances with out it selecting up a stink, and it dried shortly after fast rinses in creeks.
Our feminine testers appreciated the match of this shirt. Whereas many different shirt choices have a extra boxy minimize, this one was extra form-fitting with out being tight. It’s a superb possibility for a base layer, because it’s simple so as to add extra layers on high for extra heat. With solely black and vibrant pink colorways for ladies, we’d have appreciated extra coloration choices.
Store the Males’s Icebreaker ZoneKnit Merino Brief-Sleeve T-ShirtStore the Girls’s Icebreaker ZoneKnit Merino Brief-Sleeve T-Shirt
Ben Kilbourne runs with Straightforward the canine whereas testing a wool-blend t-shirt. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Wool aficionados will love the smooth and cozy wool liner of the Ibex Springbok Brief. It’s not simply the liner that made us fall in love with these shorts; the whole bundle of a classy minimize, a 3.5-inch inseam, and breathable materials set it other than different choices. These shortly turned one in every of our tester’s favourite shorts, and never simply within the wool class.
The wool liner is fabricated from a mix of merino wool and Tencel and is extremely smooth towards the pores and skin. Tencel is derived from eucalyptus and, when blended with wool and wrapped round a nylon core, creates a stretchy and sturdy materials. We had no points with chafing, even after hours of operating in scorching and humid situations. True to wool, these shorts acquired lots much less smelly than their non-wool counterparts. The minimize is comparatively tight for a loose-fitting pair of shorts, and whereas Ibex recommends sizing up for a looser match, we discovered them to suit comparatively true to measurement.
The shorts have a small inside pocket, but it surely doesn’t have a zipper and is sufficiently small that we wouldn’t essentially belief it with an merchandise we actually didn’t need to lose, like a set of keys.
Store the Males’s Ibex Springbok BriefStore the Girls’s Ibex Springbok Brief
Whereas heavier than practically every other bra we’ve examined and sluggish to dry, the Smartwool Intraknit Racerback Bra has sufficient going for it to make it the bra we typically flip to for both cold-weather or multiday outings and one that always is on the high of the pile for extra regular runs as properly. The fabric is little doubt thick and covers a number of the higher physique, but it surely offers a excessive stage of help, and we haven’t had any points with chafing. This bra runs heat, so it’s not a superb possibility for warm climate runs except you propose on operating with no shirt.
The racerback fashion distributes weight evenly round your again, and the straps don’t dig into your shoulders in any respect. Whereas Smartwool markets this bra for low-impact actions, we discovered it offers sufficient help for operating, even after a number of days of steady put on. Our tester took it on a number of week-long fastpacking journeys and didn’t expertise any vital stretch over that interval. The bra comes with detachable cups so you may regulate the extent of help offered. There’s additionally a small again pocket that may very well be used to retailer small objects like a key or a gel, but it surely’s too small for a lot else.
This bra is fabricated from a number of supplies, together with Tencel, nylon, and merino wool. Whereas the Tencel theoretically quickens drying time, this bra took for much longer to dry than practically every other piece of our operating wardrobe. It’s additionally extremely heavy when moist. Whereas the drying time is a mark towards this bra, the damp wool didn’t really feel chilly towards our pores and skin. Due to the thickness and heat of this bra, we named it our best choice in our finest cold-weather operating gear information.
Smartwool recommends sizing up with this bra in the event you’re on the fence between sizes.
Store the Smartwool Intraknit Racerback Bra
The Darn Robust Stride Micro Crew Extremely-Light-weight Sock is a fan favourite resulting from its low-bulk seamless match. We discovered them to be the perfect wool operating socks resulting from their merino wool mix materials that retains toes dry, comfy, and blister-free mile after mile. Gentle arch help eliminates bunching and shifting as you progress. These operating socks are strengthened on the heel and sides to enhance sturdiness for long-lasting consolation. With a six-inch cuff, this sock can shield your ankles from trailside vegetation and rocks.
Darn Robust is a family-owned firm you may be ok with purchasing with. Their merino wool is 100% Accountable Wool Customary licensed, and all Darn Robust socks are made within the USA of their mill in Vermont. If any sturdiness issues come up, Darn Robust socks are assured for all times — merely return the socks in query, and they’re going to change them below guarantee.
Take a look at our greatest operating socks article for a few of our favourite operating socks.
Store the Girls’s Darn Robust Stride Micro Crew Extremely-Light-weight SockStore the Males’s Darn Robust Stride Micro Crew Extremely-Light-weight Sock
The Smartwool Athlete Version Run Crew Socks are flippantly cushioned merino wool-blend socks that basically stand as much as the distances and terrain path runners topic them to. The design combines areas of additional sturdiness and cushion with mesh zones to boost breathability, maintaining toes dry and completely satisfied. The upper crew-length cuff protects ankles and decrease legs from sticks, rocks, and different path particles that may in any other case go away us scraped and scratched.
They have been featured because the runner-up in our finest operating socks information, and our workforce discovered them to carry out properly in a wide range of climate and terrain situations. As one tester mentioned, their toes felt “cradled and cozy” by these socks. These socks are available in a wide range of enjoyable designs that change repeatedly.
Store the Girls’s Smartwool Athlete Version Run Crew SocksStore the Males’s Smartwool Athlete Version Run Crew Socks
The identify Buff has turn out to be practically synonymous with neck gaiters, so it’s no shock our favourite neck gaiter is from the corporate that has stored many a runner’s neck heat for years. The Buff Merino Light-weight Neckwear is smooth, wind resistant, semi-seamless, and 100% merino wool.
This mild but toasty layer is breathable and dries shortly, utilizing wool’s means to keep up heat and assist with temperature regulation even when damp. You may as well use this neck gaiter as a hat, headband, face cowl, and ear hotter.
Store the Buff Merino Light-weight Neckwear
Morning operating within the Buff Merino Light-weight Neckwear and a wool shirt. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
The REI Co-op Merino Wool Liner Gloves 2.0 are an incredible light-weight pair of gloves for cold however not chilly runs. They’re extra unfastened becoming than many different choices, making them simple to get on and off. A little bit of spandex below the wrist retains the heat in, and the gloves safe on the hand. We cherished them as a standalone layer for cool mornings and as a liner glove below a water-resistant mitt for colder situations. They’re made of fifty% merino wool and 50% recycled polyester, so they keep all the constructive qualities of wool whereas nonetheless being stretchy and sturdy. Throughout testing, these gloves got here alongside on loads of runs that concerned scrambling, and so they’ve held as much as repeated contact with sharp rock.
To assist maintain observe of your gloves, a small clip will maintain them collectively when not worn, and a small loop makes them simple to connect to a pack. Whereas no gloves have really impressed us with their touch-screen compatibility, these are comparatively useful. We might get most telephone capabilities to work with out taking them off.
These gloves are comparatively skinny, so that you’ll need one other layer to placed on high of them when temperatures actually dive.
REI Co-op Merino Wool Liner Gloves 2.0
The Smartwool Energetic Beanie, previously referred to as the Merino Sport 150 Beanie, is a smooth, light-weight beanie that gives additional heat and safety on chilly runs with out being itchy or cumbersome. The beanie’s mixture of merino wool and polyester offers the temperature and moisture administration of wool with some stretch and quick drying instances.
You possibly can simply put on this beanie below a helmet, and it’s simple to hold in a pack or pocket as a just-in-case layer. The Smartwool Energetic Beanie was additionally a high decide in our finest chilly climate operating gear information.
Store the Smartwool Energetic Beanie
If you would like visor safety, light-weight heat, and a built-in ear band, the Buff Pack Merino Fleece Cap is for you! One other decide in our finest chilly climate operating gear information, this hat has a singular design that checks many bins for chilly climate operating. Say goodbye to an ear band or beanie piled on high of your brimmed hat — this hat does all of it and stuffs away in your pocket if you don’t want it.
This light-weight, packable operating hat has a baseball hat-style brim with a merino wool cap to mix face and eye safety from the solar with breathable heat. The earband will be pulled down for added heat and protection in colder situations.
Store the Buff Pack Merino Fleece Cap
Melissa Beaury runs in a wool shirt on a cool desert morning. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Why the iRunFar Crew Chooses Wool for Operating
Advantages of Wool Attire for Operating
Wool is a massively in style materials for operating clothes. It’s recognized for having excellent temperature- and moisture-regulating capabilities with its distinctive means to move moisture out of your pores and skin as a vapor as an alternative of permitting it to show into droplets. As well as, merino wool has a number of different options that make it a best choice amongst efficiency materials. Merino wool is inherently odor-resistant, making it an ideal alternative for multiday adventures, fastpacking, journey, or simply skipping a laundry day right here and there. We discovered that we might put on the Icebreaker ZoneKnit Merino Brief Sleeve T-Shirt seemingly indefinitely with out it selecting up a odor. It’s also an incredible layering materials, with many firms making objects of various weights to accommodate a variety of temperature situations. Wool additionally has the good thing about being heat when moist. Whereas cotton and different supplies can result in a harmful scenario in the event that they get moist when it’s chilly out, wool will proceed to offer insulation even in the event you’ve sweat closely or gotten caught out in a storm with no rain jacket.
Wool clothes is a wonderful possibility for each warm- and cold-weather operating. Within the warmth, wool will shortly wick moisture away out of your pores and skin and funky your physique because the moisture evaporates. Within the chilly, wool offers a excessive stage of insulation. Wool clothes can are available in numerous thicknesses and is a wonderful possibility for including and subtracting layers as a run effort or the ambient temperature adjustments. Our favourite wool bra, the Smartwool Intraknit Racerback Bra, is right for cold-weather operating.
Moisture-Wicking Properties of Wool
Merino clothes works its magic by trapping air to offer insulation whereas transporting moisture away out of your pores and skin, maintaining your physique at a secure temperature. In contrast to artificial fibers that wick giant moisture droplets away out of your physique, merino wool is porous and permits moisture vapor from sweat to flee earlier than it turns into liquid droplets, eliminating the moist, clammy, soaked-in-sweat feeling throughout and after a run. Wool can take up a 3rd of its weight in moisture, eradicating it out of your pores and skin and permitting it to evaporate earlier than the fabric will even begin to really feel damp. The light-weight materials of the Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer will maintain you heat and cozy even in the event you begin to sweat by way of it.
Advances in Wool Clothes
Trendy-day wool clothes is nothing just like the thick and itchy sweaters that many affiliate with Ugly Sweater Events and the wool turtlenecks of the previous. Wool operating attire is made virtually completely of merino wool, sourced from merino sheep which are tailored to dwell in each extremely popular and really chilly temperatures. Their fibers are a lot softer and will be made into lighter items of clothes than different sorts of wool. Whereas up to now, wool has been completely related to cold-weather runs, many firms are making shirts, shirts, sports activities bras, and underwear that may be worn all through an enormous temperature vary, together with in excessive warmth. And for these winter runs when that you must keep heat, trendy wool clothes, just like the Smartwool Traditional Thermal Merino Base Layer Crew, will even maintain you heat and dry.
Wool sports activities bras are a superb possibility for operating in any kind of climate. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Wool Blends
When selecting between the perfect merino wool operating shirts, that you must contemplate the fabric mix of a chunk of attire. Clothes objects geared towards heat climate actions will typically mix merino wool with one other materials, akin to Tencel, nylon, or polyester, to make them lighter and dry faster. Most lighter items of wool clothes can have decrease percentages of wool than these designed to be insulating layers. The light-weight Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer, which will be worn comfortably in hotter temperatures, is fabricated from 88% merino wool, whereas the Smartwool Traditional Thermal Merino Base Layer Crew, which is a a lot hotter layer that we regularly use as an additional layer, is 100% merino wool. The upper the wool proportion in a mix, the extra insulating the fabric will likely be.
Wool Sources
Once we speak about wool for athletic efficiency clothes, we’re speaking about merino wool. Merino wool is a fiber grown by merino sheep, that are a rugged breed that advanced to resist excessive temperatures in mountainous terrain. Merino sheep are mostly raised in Australia and New Zealand, the place they will face up to temperatures from 5 to 90 levels Fahrenheit with their heat but light-weight and breathable fleece. This fleece creates a effective, light-weight fiber that’s a lot softer and extra breathable than conventional wool — so that you received’t really feel like you’re operating round in an itchy turtleneck.
Merino wool is a biodegradable and environmentally pleasant materials. All the businesses featured on this information supply their wool from humanely raised, ethically sourced, non-mulesed sheep — so you may really feel comfy about investing in merchandise which are good for the atmosphere, good for the animals, and good for you!
Why You Ought to Belief Us
The iRunFar workforce has been operating in several types of clothes for many years. We’ve run in every thing from cotton socks to shirts constituted of totally artificial supplies, and the fabric many people maintain coming again to is wool. A few of our testers, particularly these susceptible to partaking in multiday fastpacking journeys or lengthy highway journeys the place laundry doesn’t get completed repeatedly, will flip their noses up at something not fabricated from wool and have assembled operating wardrobes consisting completely of wool or wool-blend items of clothes.
Some objects on this information have been in our testers’ wardrobes for years, getting changed repeatedly as shirts and socks get worn out, and a few objects have been new to everybody. We took a wide range of wool items out within the deserts and mountains of the American West, the mountains of Oregon, and the various and infrequently moist terrain of New Zealand to check them for consolation, sturdiness, breathability, and doubtlessly, most significantly, the stink issue. Many objects that made it into this information have been used on a number of multiday outings to look at how one can carry out after a number of days of steady put on. One of many greatest attracts of wool clothes is its means to keep at bay smells, and we needed to verify we might put on any objects we suggest a number of instances with out them growing a stench.
Wool shirts are nice for baselayers, additional layers for heat, and informal put on. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Incessantly Requested Questions on Wool Attire for Operating
Is wool higher than artificial supplies?
Whereas wool and artificial supplies can do an distinctive job wicking moisture from the pores and skin, wool has the additional advantage of not getting smelly as quick. We’ve all skilled the stench of an artificial shirt after a scorching run, and wool can maintain the odor to a minimal. Wool attire is a wonderful possibility for highway journeys the place you need to have the ability to re-wear the identical shirt a number of instances between laundry classes, lengthy journey days, and fastpacking journeys the place you don’t need to drive your accomplice out of the tent with the odor of your clothes.
Due to the distinctive moisture-wicking properties of wool, it stays dryer than many artificial choices. Due to its materials properties, it removes moisture from the pores and skin as a vapor as an alternative of permitting it to type into droplets earlier than being depraved away. This inherently retains the fabric dryer, and it’s uncommon to really feel clammy in a wool shirt after a run. Wool is a wonderful possibility for socks due to this as properly. The very best wool operating socks, just like the Darn Robust Stride Micro Crew Extremely-Light-weight Sock, can maintain your toes dry and cozy in each the warmth and the chilly. Wool also can present insulation, even when it’s moist, which is crucial in the event you’ve sweat by way of your clothes or run by way of a rain storm.
Is wool an environmentally pleasant materials?
In some ways, wool is a renewable and environmentally pleasant materials. Because it grows on sheep constantly and will be harvested repeatedly, it may be thought of sustainable in some ways because it doesn’t straight use non-renewable supplies. Nonetheless, elevating sheep on land has environmental impacts, together with environmental degradation and animal waste. Animal rights additionally must be thought of. All of the objects on this information are constituted of wool that comes from humanely raised, ethically sourced, non-mulesed sheep, so you may be ok with carrying them. A number of objects, just like the REI Co-op Merino Wool Liner Gloves 2.0, even have recycled polyester in them.
Is wool operating attire sturdy?
If there’s a main draw back to wool attire, it lies in its sturdiness. Wool tends to be much less sturdy than artificial supplies, together with polyester and nylon and will be susceptible to tears and rips that run.
A number of components can have an effect on the sturdiness of a chunk of attire. Wool clothes can are available in numerous weights, and their thickness impacts their sturdiness. The material density of a chunk of clothes additionally impacts its sturdiness, with thicker and, thus, hotter merino clothes being considerably extra sturdy than thinner items. To assist with the sturdiness challenge, many firms use wool blends as an alternative of pure wool. This might help scale back the possibilities of tears from abrasions or snags on the path. A lot of the gear on this information, together with the Icebreaker ZoneKnit Merino Brief Sleeve T-Shirt, is fabricated from a wool-blend materials to extend its sturdiness and stretchiness.
To increase the lifespan of wool clothes, it’s vital to clean them in chilly water and allow them to dry on a line as an alternative of placing them in a dryer. A correctly cared-for piece of wool clothes can final for a very long time and is properly well worth the funding.
Jeff Rome runs in Silverton, Colorado, at dawn in a wool shirt. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Is wool clothes good for hot-weather operating?
Due to its distinctive moisture-wicking properties, wool is a wonderful possibility for operating within the warmth. Wool transfers sweat from the pores and skin earlier than it may coalesce into droplets that get your shirt moist. This might help maintain you cool and dry within the warmth. By utilizing wool blends for materials, firms can create extraordinarily skinny clothes that also keep all the benefits of wool with out being heavy or heat. The Icebreaker ZoneKnit Merino Brief Sleeve T-Shirt is extremely mild and ideal for hot-weather outings.
Is wool clothes good for cold-weather operating?
Wool is likely one of the unique cold-weather clothes supplies due to its insulating properties, and the Smartwool Intraknit Racerback Bra is a wonderful possibility for when the temperatures drop. Merino wool fibers are evolutionarily tailored to maintain merino sheep heat in chilly climates and supply an excellent quantity of insulation for his or her weight. Most wool clothes designed for insulation are fabricated from pure wool as an alternative of a mix. Wool can maintain you heat even when it’s moist. This may be helpful in the event you sweat lots throughout a operating effort or get caught in a rain or snowstorm. Whereas different supplies, specifically cotton, can get extraordinarily chilly and thus harmful when moist, you may belief wool to offer heat below any situations.
Can I layer with wool attire?
Wool is a wonderful possibility for practically any layer of your operating equipment. As a base layer, wool can wick moisture from the pores and skin and transfer it outwards so your pores and skin doesn’t get clammy. Thicker wool shirts, just like the Smartwool Traditional All-Season Merino Base Layer, are a superb possibility for including layers because it will get colder. The share of wool in a chunk of clothes will decide how insulating it’s, with pure wool shirts being the warmest. Many shirts designed to perform in heat climate as a standalone or base layer within the chilly are constituted of a wool mix. By mixing wool with different supplies, firms could make clothes extra sturdy and faster drying.
Many firms make each high and backside wool baselayers, a superb basis for a operating equipment in chilly climate.
Name for Feedback
- Do you run in wool clothes? Which objects or manufacturers are your favorites?
- What climate or temperatures do you discover wool probably the most comfy?
