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In the early days of skiing, no
one knew you could take plastic and turn it into a garment.
We wore cotton turtlenecks, wool sweaters, and burdensome
coats. We got soaked to the skin and still managed to smile
as we rushed down a ski slope. Then, polypropelene and
fleece hit the market. We banished cotton from our ski
clothing, and tucked the heavy wool sweaters away.
But wool has come back into our closets with a vengeance, making a large impact
on our ski comfort and regaining popularity as a highly technical and efficient
material. And with the advances people have made in manufacturing it, wool is
becoming easier to care for.
So let’s look at wool. More specifically, let’s talk about merino wool, that
fine fiber from the New
Zealand merino sheep. |
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There are so many great qualities
that naturally exist in the fiber, it’s almost too much.
Because we’re talking about merino’s benefits as an insulating
layer, we’ll try and stick to that as much as possible.
However, we might digress into interesting tidbits, like
the fact that it’s biodegradable (it does, after all, come
from a renewable, organic resource: a sheep).
Wool’s inherent qualities work together to create a garment that is highly breathable,
water-resistant, has a higher warmth-to-weight ratio than almost anything else
out there, regulates your body temperature in cold OR hot weather, can retain
a good dose of moisture before even feeling damp, is super-soft and itch-free
when made from a fine fiber like merino, is nearly hypo-allergenic, and is odor-resistant
or odor-free, depending on how you spin it. (Whew, we told you there was a lot.)
Breathable and water-resistant: The shaft
from a Merino’s fleece is very fine compared to traditional wool. But
like all wool, the exterior of the shaft is scaled, like tiles on a roof,
so water more readily falls away from it. On the inside, the shaft is hydrophilic,
or water-loving. This means the shaft can absorb a great deal of water before
it ever gets to your skin, giving it more time to evaporate into thin air.
Another benefit here is that wool can absorb 30% of its own weight before
ever feeling wet, which in turn keeps the cold clammies away from your skin.
Warm: In addition to the diameter of the shaft, wool is measured
by its crimp. The finer the wool, the more crimps per unit of measurement.
The more crimps, the more air pockets that can hold and trap air to insulate
you, regulating you in hot or cold temperatures. These air pockets also assist
in drying the garment. Finer wool does dry more quickly than traditional wool,
which also aids insulation and wickability.
Super-soft, itch-free, hypo-allergenic: A lot of people moan
about wool being “too itchy” or that they’re allergic to it. In fact, a mere
0.8 % of the population is truly allergic to the fiber. It’s usually the itch
factor that leads people to believe that they are allergic. We admit it’s
difficult to ‘turn’ an anti-wool wearer into a believer. But when people slip
into a piece like Icebreaker’s
Oasis Crewe, they can’t believe it’s wool, and they’re certain it’s blended
with something else. Do the touch test on the new Patagonia
Wool 2, and it'll likewise be soft like silk.
The fact that wool in general itches is attributable to the scales on the shaft
(the same scales we mentioned three paragraphs above). The thicker the shaft,
the more apparent the scales. It’s actually quite natural that thick wool does
itch. But, the finer the shaft – like in merino – the finer the scales. Also,
the finer the shaft, the more numerous the crimps. The more numerous the crimps,
the more tightly the fiber is woven into a soft knit. (If you have a Merino wool
garment and it itches, it might be an inferior Merino. Or you're part of the
0.8% who are allergic.)
Odor-resistance: Merino’s natural resistance to odor is
a big plus over synthetic layers. Synthetics usually retain odor until you
wash them. Over time, synthetics will go back and forth between retaining
odor and dispelling it and eventually keeping it forever. Not so Merino!
Ski for a day in the Icebreaker
Atlas Long Sleeve and sweat a bit. The pit will smell. Hang the garment,
and the next day, the odor’s gone. Do this for a week, and still the odor
will not materialize. If over a few months of not washing the garment it
eventually starts holding onto your funk, just wash it and the odor washes
away. This is true with Icebreaker and Patagonia
Wool garments.
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Like any natural fiber, you can rest assured that you have a garment that came
from an organic source. In this case, since a sheep isn’t slaughtered in order to render up its fleece, wool is from a renewable source. It bears a natural resiliency that springs into shape if taken care of properly, and in cases like Icebreaker and SmartWool, is machine-washable. Hang it dry for longevity. Don’t
throw it in the dryer.
Wool is naturally flame-retardant too, making it safer around a campfire. Not that we want to see you put a match to yourself, but in tests performed by Icebreaker, wool went up in flames at an extremely slow pace and eventually burned itself out without burning through the whole garment. How quickly does your synthetic clothing melt or flare up when an ember flies through the sky?
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Practially all of us at The Alpineer
(except for the newbies) own on average THREE pieces of Icebreaker.
And most of us have a slew of SmartWool and Bridgedale socks.
We've had a full year to test Patagonia
Wool and are pleased with the results. We wear
our Icebreaker everywhere, though. Skiing, riding, snowshoeing,
XC skiing, out for dinner, to a show, around the house.
If you get stuck in a smoky bar (which actually won't happen
anymore since Colorado now has a ban
on smoking in bars and restaurants), hang it up overnight, and the smell
of cigarettes will be gone the next day. A couple of us don’t even wear the
synthetic stuff anymore. Merino wool insulates, keeps us warm, regulates
us even in warm temps, won’t
give us cold, clammy skin, and keeps us warm even when it gets too wet. It
has the longevity of an oak and looks great year after year with proper care.
For winter 2007, we're psyched to try Icebreaker
Socks! We're carrying a
select few for hiking and skiing and will stock some bike/run socks in the
spring. Icebreaker gave them a test run before releasing them to the public
to make sure they were the premium quality that Icebreaker garments are known
for. They may be a tiny bit pricier, but if you're talking about a sock to
last, buy a pair and give them a shot yourself.
If you have any qualms or questions or want more information about merino wool and its capabilities, just give us a call or drop us an email.
We’d be happy to help you out! |
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