I have long ignored this line of Filson shirts, not understanding why it might be good or why it might be popular. After deciding I wanted to look a little more put together for hiking, or when wearing clothes for working in the yard, I started thinking more about this shirt. Then I read David Coggins raving about how he loves this shirt, and I decided I needed one.
I picked up one second hand, then another, and then Filson put them on sale, so I got another. It turns out, there’s a reason people love these, and that reason is that this shirt is very comfortable and very durable.
I own both the long and short sleeve variants of Filson’s Washed Feather Cloth shirt, the only difference is the sleeve length. (This review is for the washed variants, the previous variant was not labeled as ‘washed’, but the material was the same.)
Materials and Sizing
This shirt is 100% cotton, which is listed by Filson as: “tightly-woven 3-oz 100% cotton.” This is almost like a poplin in feel and texture, but a little more substantial hand to the fabric. It’s very thin, soft, and yet it doesn’t catch snags.
The collar is a spread collar, with box pleats on the back and custom Filson buttons (they say Filson) — though some variants have a different back pleat setup depending on when they were made. On the long sleeve the cuffs are adjustable. On both models the fronts are a full button placket with tails long enough to tuck them in.
This washed variant is “heavily prewashed” by Filson, and looks fresh when it arrivess, but is very soft.
The only performance claim which Filson makes on this is that it dries quickly (and it really does). There’s two large chest pockets with a button flap and a large gusset in the middle. They are positioned nicely if you are worried about transparency around the nipples, and they are very functional as well.
The next thing to note is the sizing. This is a classic Filson cut, which is roomy, bordering on boxy, through the body. I typically wear a large in all my shirts, and here I wear the Medium in the short sleeve (which is almost perfect, if a touch narrow in the shoulders) and a large in the long sleeve (for the sleeve length). For me the long sleeve fits rather boxy. I believe in past variants this came in tall/long/x-long sizes (Filson has changed that naming convention a few times). These days it only comes in standard letter sizes.
The material and finishing is quite nice and typical of Filson. No complaints at all.
Performance and Wear
My first thought was: this shirt feels like a Vollebak cotton, cut in a workwear style. And many dozens of wears later, I still hold this opinion. The shirt is thin and light, while being soft and comfortable. No matter which variant I wear, I move well in it and never get bound by the garment.
I can see why Coggins and others like to wear these out fishing, it’s a great material and an excellent visual style. It looks like a classic outdoors shirt, while being light enough that you can wear it deep into the summer.
I wore these each time they were clean when I was moving and unpacking boxes after our move, and I soaked them with sweat repeatedly. They had box edges scraping against them. I’ve worn them hiking. And the only sign of wear is slight fading to the colors. Both my rust colored shirt and my blue shirt have a little dye fading around the edges. It doesn’t look bad, in fact I feel that on these shirts it looks even better when this happens. That’s the only sign of wear I see on these — not a single snag.
I know a lot of people would toss on a t-shirt for all the times I’ve been wearing this Feather Cloth shirt. In that past, that’s what I would have done too, but there’s something about these shirts which excel at work. They are light, breathable, durable, and have some handy pockets. It’s hard not to like them.
- I still struggle to believe that these shirts do not have any small tears, snags, or other damage from the type of work I have been wearing them in. I don’t believe it, simply because of how light weight the fabric is — it feels like it should not be this durable.
- The pockets are fantastic for stashing things like padlock keys, sunglasses, or other small items you want to temporarily store.
- While the fit is boxy, that does mean that it’s very easy to move in these shirts. My arms and shoulders never were bound up by the fabric, instead I was able to do whatever I needed to get the work done.
Over time the colors are fading on these shirts, as I mentioned, but this is a workwear style shirt to begin with so any fading only lends to the credibility of a well worn work shirt. And while they are very comfortable, there’s no magic here: it’s a good quality cotton shirt, in a very thin fabric weight.
My only complaint is the sizing. I love that Filson honors its legacy in items like this, but I do think a trimmer fit would make this shirt an even easier buy. It doesn’t need to be much trimmer, just a touch.
Overall
I am a huge fan of these, and they will keep finding a lot of wear even as the weather cools off. It’s a good way to look a little more put together than a t-shirt, while still wearing something that performs as well or better. They dry pretty fast if they do get wet, or if you need to hang them dry overnight.
Heading into fall and winter now, they are going to make a great shirt for layering under, or over, items.
Big fan, recommended.
Buy here: Short Sleeve $98, Long Sleeve $125