My old Merino wool shirts both have a hole now. They were the cheapest Amazon ones I found and sold even cheaper because the label was wrong. I want to buy new ones, but I need suggestions before buying a shirt for 70€ on the internet. I want a loose fit and black colour. Any suggestions for high-quality shirts? I’m in Germany.
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I don’t know if Merino wool is the best use case for BIFL.
My take on wool: Wear it as long as possible, patch it and recycle or upcycle it when the time comes, and buy something that’s 100% wool instead of having synthetics mixed in, so it can be composted after use.
Unfortunately, in my experience, 100% wool doesn’t last nearly as long as wool blends when it comes to durability. No matter how hard I try, I get small holes and tears within a few months. I’ve had the best experiences with 80% wool blends.
For merino performance fabrics at least. Look at a microscope picture of merino next to another wool, and you will understand why it’s so soft but why it doesn’t last as long. It doesn’t help that merino t-shirts are really thin usually.
The only socks that come with a lifetime warranty are “Darn Tough” and (AFAIK) just one other competing brand. IIRC, both are made of Merino wool.
EDIT: Darn Tough socks are a blend of Merino wool, nylon, and lycra spandex.
In any case, Marino wool must be durable if socks makers are offering a lifetime warranty on it. The only material that I would expect to do better would be aramid (Kevlar™), though that’d be quite pricey since that fabric must be laser cut.
Varusteleka, and you can also get a wool hoodie, wool pants, wool socks, etc.
You can also get shipping by re-pack so the packaging is not wasted either, it goes back to posti for delivery back to businesses.
BIFL shipping packaging haha.
I second Varusteleka. Great quality and most of their Särmä line is manufactured in Europe
Varusteleka is amazing, I highly recommend them to anyone looking at outdoor gear and wool clothing
When we were in New Zealand we learned that most of the wool goes to China for processing. So I bought a Merino undershirt from aliexpress. Definitely not as nice as Icebreaker, but the price keeps me warm!
From the US I’ve bought from both Icebreaker and Wool and Prince. Expensive and not as durable as regular shirts but wow they are great for me in both warm and cold weather.
I’m curious on other true merino wool sources.
Maybe something from smartwool?
https://www.bergfreunde.de/marken/smartwool/?searchparam=Smartwool
