I was looking to hit a free shipping minimum and tossed in a 50th Anniversary Edition of the Wickron Long Sleeve Tee from Montbell — this is their standard active material which can be found in many variants across the lines of clothing Montbell sells. I’ve been using it for many weeks now, and thought I’d share some quick thoughts.
Generally, there’s better options on the market than this.
Materials & Specs
This is made from Wickron, which is Montbell’s proprietary fabric, here’s some choice quotes on how Montbell describes:
- “Wickron evenly disperses perspiration to speed evaporation, keeping you drier and more comfortable.”
- “Wickron This fabric utilizes a “fiuffy” yarn and a “smooth” yarn alternately in the knitting process to create a micro-vented structure without any adverse impact on weight, improving breathability.”
- “By utilizing both a thick and a thin fiber within the yarn, the resulting fabric has a cotton-like softness.”
- “In an effort to fight natural body odors a photo-catalytic agent has been added to each polyester fiber.”
Not all polyester feels similar, and Wickron certainly feels different than most. It is one of the most cotton-like feeling, looking, and draping polyesters I have seen. There’s a solid openness to the weave on this as well. It’s a nice feeling and looking material.
Wearing
I’ve worn this on hikes, and rucking in the mornings. I’ve put a lot of use on this shirt since getting it. Here’s what is great about it:
- The shirt is lightweight feeling when you wear it, as the weave allows for a lot of air pass through.
- Because of the above, the shirt breathes exceptionally well, even though the garment feels ‘thicker’ than other options.
- The overall feel of the shirt is really nice, it’s very cotton-like in that manner. It also looks more like a cotton t-shirt.
- I’ve found the shirt dries quickly, both when wet from exertion, as well as out of the wash. Even around the seams, the shirt dries fast.
- Nothing about this shirt feels delicate at all, which means you can have a lot of confidence when wearing this out in the mountains.
There are two areas which let me down:
- The arms on this size large are too short. This is common across all long sleeve items from Montbell — if you never worry about sleeve length then you’ll be fine. If you are taller, as I am, then this is not going to work well. Sizing up would resolve the sleeves, but leave the body feeling quite large.
- Even though there’s anti-odor treatments applied to this, I have found that this shirt tends to grab body odor faster than others I have. It’s not so bad that you instantly smell it, but the standard I have is that I should be able to go 4-6hrs without that build up, but I smell it after a single 45min ruck and want it off ASAP.
The biggest benefit to this shirt is the fact that the material, in feel and look, can look quite close to cotton. Which means you can wear Wickron casually if you’d like, while still avoiding cotton and the drawbacks associated with that. The issue is that it sucks at odor resistance.
An idea here would be a shirt you hit a hike in, then can casually wear to lunch right after without looking like you are in hiking clothing. And it will achieve that. But you’ll smell. Pass.
Overall
Even if this shirt fit me well, I’d still not buy another of these. There’s far too many other options to accept the lack of odor resistance on this shirt. It’s a shame because the material feels and looks much nicer than other shirts I have, but it’s let down by the poor anti-odor treatment.
I cannot recommend this shirt.