Apparel made of 100 percent merino wool is great for winter activity—until it isn’t. It insulates, wicks, and dries admirably, as well as mitigates odors—up to the day your fingers pop through the tops of gloves. Or shirts and leggings develop random holes and start opening at the seams. Even your favorite hat might sprout unwanted ventilation spots. Those wardrobe malfunctions can happen suddenly, and often too soon after purchasing.
But now that we’re several years into merino gone mainstream, brands have found creative methods to make it more robust. For the last three months I’ve been running, hiking, canoeing, and doing yardwork in cold-weather gear that combines merino with other fabrics to increase durability. Here are five keepers.
Ibex Woolies Tech Long Sleeve 1/4 Zip ($135)
A key way to improve merino’s durability is to wrap merino fibers around a nylon core. Doing so can increase abrasion resistance by 30 percent or more while maintaining merino’s moisture-wicking magic.
Ibex’s quarter-zip baselayer top—made of 81 percent merino, 12 percent nylon, and seven percent elastane—is an exemplar of this approach. At 180 grams per square meter (gsm), it’s light…
