Dress like a prepper: the wonders of wool/nylon blends

Jon StokesStaff - July 17, 2020

Back in November and December of 2019, before the viral apocalypse ravaged global supply chains and sent us all indoors, I redid my entire wardrobe. I
[See the full post at: Dress like a prepper: the wonders of wool/nylon blends]

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Have you tried the Outlier shirts?

https://shop.outlier.nyc/shop/retail/ultrafine-merino-tee.html

 

I’m a big fan of Outlier. I have a number of pairs of Strong Dungarees and Slim Dungarees, and their Ramielust t-shirt. But I have not tried their other T’s. My main issue with the fine 100% merino T’s is durability. These don’t really stand up to the number of washes as the nylon blends.

 

Thanks! I have been wearing pants from Bluffworks but will give these a try.

 

Do you have any suggestions for vendors offering tall sizes? I guarantee nobody wants to see my midriff.

 

I don’t, unfortunately, but I’ll keep an eye out and make a note of this in future clothing posts!

 

is there anything specific to the wool + nylon pairing, or would other wool-blends provide similar advantages?  I didn’t go to the lengths you did but I rolled the dice on a targeted ad from “Woolly” which seems to aim to be a 100% Merino brand, but they make some exceptions, for example they have some cotton-wool blend pants (out of stock at the moment).  I haven’t stress tested them but I found them comfortable (but also pricey).

 

Different blends will have different properties depending on the synthetic, because synthetics are more distinct than you might think. Scroll down and take a look at the chart in this link that compares Dyneema, nylon, and polyester:

https://theprepared.com/gear/reviews/tarps/#materials

Basically, nylon is going to give you more abrasion resistance, and polyester is going to give you more UV resistance and less stretch. So it all depends on what you’re going for in the fabric.

I think nylon is pretty close to ideal as a blend with wool fibers, because abrasion is the main place wool is very weak. It pills up easily when abraded. So by blending in the nylon, it keeps its structure and can handle a lot more abrasion wear.

 

Hi John,

Great article, I have worn merino top layers for 20+ years and they are fantastic. My favourite brand is Icebreaker (https://www.icebreaker.com/) and I have T-shirts that are a decade old and still use as a base layer. Comfy, warm in cold weather, cool in summer and don’t stink even after 5 days bush-bashing in the New Zealand widerness. The fire/heat resistance is a big plus, I’ve had polypropylene long johns vanish in seconds by standing too close to a campfie, whereas merino just gets the odd hole from errant sparks but doesn’t even fray much.

Cheers,

Mike

 

Thanks for the recommendation! I’m definitely going to try some of their stuff when I get around to picking up some fall and winter clothes.

 

Interested to know what you think of hemp and hemp blends for fabrics. Most of the time it’s blended with cotton, but there are also hemp/linen blends. Edit: looked a bit more into it and it looks like hemp is a good summer fabric but has the same issues as cotton in cold, wet conditions.

Hmm, how about silk/wool blends though? It seems like taking a trade-off compared to wool/nylon – more cool in the heat, at the sacrifice of less abrasion resistance. Sigh, it does seem like the wool/nylon blend is the best. I occasionally see wool/polyester blends online (like https://www.makersandriders.com/collections/pants-1/products/washable-wool-jeans?variant=41342373764), but I really dislike polyester.

I’ve been inspired by this article and looking around at some local stores that carry the sorts of brands that use these fabrics (usually just hoping to see one of the exotic brands there), but so far it’s been a disappointment. When I do find a button-up shirt suitable for the office it’s usually a cotton/polyester blend or 100% polyester. Unsurprisingly, survival clothing that doesn’t look like survival clothing is a tough niche…

 

I’m definitely interested in evaluating other blends and materials, for sure. I have looked at hemp but haven’t pulled the trigger. I’m currenly writing this in a ramei fabric t-shirt from Outlier that I like, and am thinking of picking up their ramie long-sleeve shirt for summer wear.

Some of the Icebreaker stuff in the previous tweet is a wool/wood blend, which is interesting to me. So I definitely want to explore further. Please post an update in our forum if you get an interesting blend and get good (or bad) results with it!

 

Anything with a lot of linen in it is going to wrinkle like crazy & you’re going to look rumpled unless you iron it constantly and/or starch the heck out of it. Ramie is commonly blended in with linen to try to solve the wrinkling issue (very common to see women’s nicer summer clothing in linen / ramie blends). Both are pretty breathable & lightweight but not as durable as either plain wool or a wool blend.

Silk does breathe well, it can be made into winter underwear (lots of serious skiiers invest in 100% silk long johns) but it is high maintenance around cleaning & can retain odors. I’ve not seen a lot of silk / wool blend fabrics out there in men’s clothing, I don’t know if that’s because they’re harder to make in the first place or they’re harder to maintain. I’ve seen silk/wool blends in women’s business suiting, but they’re inevitably ‘dry clean only’ & some fabrics you can ruin if you do anything but dry clean them.

Polyester is pretty low maintenance / easy care even if it has an ‘icky’ non-breathable hand feel. If you’re considering something with wool and/or poly in it, I’d see if I could get a swatch of it to test out how it feels. Merino wool is usually pretty soft, not scratchy because of the type of wool used & the way it’s knit or assembled into cloth but it’s not as tough or durable or hard-wearing as regular (itchy) wool. You also want to scrunch the fabric up in a ball with your hands to test for wrinkle retention & wear.

Plain cotton can wrinkle too which is why men’s dress shirts are going more towards the polyester (no or minimal ironing needed to keep them looking crisp, who has time to iron and/or starch them?) & away from cotton (like 100% linen, 100% cotton dress shirts get wrinkled & the wearer looks rumpled unless you iron them constantly and/or starch them)

 

I’d love to hear more about the wardrobe. Are the clothes versatile enough for office wear?

 

Agree that the SWRVE shirt looks a little too ‘tactical’ probably because it’s the combo of the color (reminds me of my late father’s 70s era Army fatigues though those were not made of wool) & the styling, plus worn unbuttoned it looks like a jacket (there was a time when people who weren’t military would wear surplus fatigue jackets similar to that shirt in style) the shirt is just missing the patch pockets on either side near the front bottom hem to truly look like a jacket. Also yeah, the rip stop grid fabric is a little weird for a shirt (looks more like jacket fabric to me).

Maybe in a different color (at least like the blue) it would look less obviously prepper-ish? Anything in an olive green to me screams ‘military’, navy blue, less so

Also could the buttons be removed, set over a bit more towards the edge & resewn on to make the buttoned fit a little looser on you when buttoned (it’s a home ec class trick, people who sew may be able to help you do this).

Bummer about the pull/flaw in the fabric, at $150, that’s so not good.

The Ts & socks however are far more everyman / grey man / blend in to the rest of the world in their styling, those are all great finds!

 

This article sent me down a 2 month productive/interesting rabbit hole having known basically nothing about textiles, and while I’m no expert, I wanted to share my conclusions/findings with the group in case it points someone in the right direction (typed up anyway for my notes).

Outdoorgearlab.com is a great place to start to get information/recommendations performance outdoor clothing.

norwaygeographical.com has a lot of material and brand comparisons and it’s not an annoying review site where it’s clear all the author did was read Amazon reviews all day. The authors aren’t engineers or anything, but it’s a good place to start.
norwaygeographical.com/polyester-vs-wool/
norwaygeographical.com/wool-vs-cotton/
norwaygeographical.com/polyamide-nylon-vs-polyester/
norwaygeographical.com/dryvent-vs-gore-tex-technology/
Interestingly, my son’s down coat with polyester exterior veruses mine with nylon exterior – I could never tell which is which in a blind test.

bullmoosepatrol.com/bmp/2014/12/1/keep-your-hands-warm-in-winter
MN boy scout winter camping leader, good advice
Warmth is all about layers! Wool base layer for insulation and moisture mgmt (you will sweat), down mid layer, waterproof outer layer.

For those of us in cold climates, down is the #1 insulator with wool at #2, but unlike wool, down is worthless when wet. Down mfrs have various ways of coping with this, but plan on a waterproof hardshell over your down. Wool slighly repels water due to its natural lanolin present in varying degrees based on mfg method and absorbs a lot of water before feeling wet, still insulates when wet.

DWR is a waterproofing applied to synthetic material exteriors (polyester, nylon/polymide) and has special washing requirements. It can be reapplied (Nikwax laundry soap/products).

gsm or g/m2 is the measurement of material density. For reference, 150 is a lightweight baselayer, 250 is inulating but not thick.

Smartwool (Outdoorgearlab highly rated)- I’ll see how my new 100% merino 250 baselayer holds up as a baselayer. I wear it a lot as such and hardly have had to wash it. When I do, it goes in the pedestal washer on Hand Wash with LANACare Lanolin Soap which replenishes waterproofing lanolin natueral in wool. Superwashing is a chlorination process which negates many of the environmental benefts of wool versus synthetics. It “de-scales” merino for a softer feel. I’m not sure if Smartwool superwashes. Patagonia and European mfrs do not.

I have to say my Smartwool baselayer and Fits socks were just a tiniest bit itchy upon first wear, but this quickly went away with wear or first wash and now they’re amazingly comfortable. The cut on the Smartwool is also excellent. See this image to understand wool scales, course wool vs merino, etc:
ellaswool.com/blogs/news/soft-wool-vs-scratchy-wool-heres-the-difference

Fits socks – I first went with the Light Rugged Hiker and Medium Rugged Hiker (merino interior, nylon/wool exterior). Extremely comfortable, not too constrictive. The crew cut doesn’t quite stay up perfectly on my calf, but it really is fine and the foot/ankle stays locked in place which is the important part. The Light Rugged was too hot for a 70 degree hike so I got the Micro Light Performance Trail which I think will work great when it gets warm again. Also the Heavy Expedition might be the best sock on earth, albeit very warm. I want to try the OTC cut to see if they stay up, but not sure I want that much material up my leg. It’s really hard to go back to regular cotton socks after wearing these out and around the house. Good thing I can wear them for days without washing, just airing them out at night.

Europe has been doing merino for a long time (Engel in Germany, Janus in Norway, Hocosa in Switzerland). Janus has nylon blends. Engel has wool/silk infant/kids baselayers for comfort along with insulation. A bit hard to find, but cheshirehorse.com has a lot of great kids and women’s gear, some men’s. I’m awaiting receipt but the quality appears high.

Alpaca (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca_fiber) – Everything merino does, alpaca does it better except for (1) availability especially in performance gear and (2) price. More water resistant without lanolin (which some are topically allergic to), only absorbs 10% of it’s weight in water versus wool’s 30%. Drys much quicker than wool (this is wool’s downfall). Warmer yet equally breathable. Odor resistant and flame resistant like wool. The most sustainable option (rasing cashmere goats is terrible for the environment).
Appalacian Gear Company – Mfd in North Carolina. Demand is insane; they sell out minutes after a restock announcement. Get on their email list, know your size ahead of time, and jump on it. I’m awaiting mine in the mail.
Arms of Andes – CA based, mfd in Peru (Alpaca HQ of the world). Nice small business story. Definitely performance oriented although not as obvious as AGC. I got my wife one of these 230 hoodie zip baselayer shirts (wanted the 420, but man, expensive). Seems really nice; time will tell on durability. Again, like the merino, actually the tiniest bit itchy according to her, but I have no doubt this will “wear off” like the merino.
Woop Wear base layers. Blended 70/30 with tencel (another great non-synthetic textile – strong, performant). Too lightweight for me @ 170gsm
And that’s it as far as performance alpaca goes.

Qiviut – Wool from muskox (a badass arctic animal) A interesting novelty. 8x warmer than wool, softer than cashmere, durable, not water resistant. Extremely expensive ($2000 sweater, $200 beanies)
reactual.com/clothing/warmest-socks-gloves-hats-scarves.html

Here’s the gear I purchased so far, organized by layering system. Since I was buying so much at one time, I emphasized bang for the buck with minimal quality sacrifice.

-Carhartt Waterproof Breathable High Dexterity Glove – XL
-Coleman’s Miliary Surplus Gloves, Wool 5-finger, 2 pair – L (fits under the Carhartts)

-Coleman’s Miliary Surplus U.S. G.I. Extreme Cold Weather Arctic Mittens
-Seakskinz Waterproof All Weather Ultra Grip Knitted Glove (thin, waterproof, merino lined = an amazing mitten liner glove)

-Smartwool 250 baselayer shirt & pant
-Appalacian Gear Co alpaca mid layer hoodie
-Rab Microlight Alpine Jacket (one of the best water-resistant down jackets)
-Marmot Minimalist Jacket & Pant (technically a rain jacket, very durable, hardshell-esque because true hardshells were expensive)

-Fits Light/Medium Rugged Hiker / Micro Light Performance Trail
-Red Wing Exos Lite boots

-Fits Heavy Expedition
-Coleman’s Military Surplus U.S. G.I. Extreme Cold Weather N-1B Mukluk Boots & Liners (breathable, warm, not waterproof)
-LaCrosse Utah Brogue Overshoe 14″ Black (waterproof outer layer for mukluks, will use as-needed mainly for getting out to the hunting stand where they will be removed)

I got my wife basically the stuff except her alpaca is the Arms of Andes as mentioned and I got her this mitten setup instead of the military ones. The two mittens combined were about the same price as a one-piece down-insulated, waterproof, but I figure much better this way since if the outer gets a tear, I can replace only that for half the cost.

-Outdoor Research Revel Shell Mitt
-Outdoor Research Transcendent Down Mittens

Honorable Mentions:

-Military Mikey/Bunny Boots (the latter are the white ones, warmer). They work so well because there’s a rubber liner that keeps its insulation air gapped, but your foot is basically guaranteed to get wet with sweat, albeit still warm.
-Meriwool – good budget merino brand, they have a nylon/merino blend crewneck sweater
-Sullivan Glove Co – hand made reasonably priced leather work gloves
-Frost River Pennsylvania Choppers in the water resistant waxed cotton

 

Update:

Received the U.S. G.I. Extreme Cold Weather Arctic Mittens from Coleman’s this evening, size large. They are laughably enormous, like oven mitt. I could fit my head in the gauntlet. It doesn’t matter that they have leather palms; you’re not stacking firewood or doing anything with these things. Back they go.

 

I’ve been having a lot of trouble finding this kind of wool/nylon blend for women. I’ll buy men’s clothing for my BOB if I need to, but it just seems like this is a niche someone has surely filled. Any suggestions?

 

REI has some nice options, you just need to look in the description of the item before buying it to make sure it is a blend. The clothing by Icebreaker and Smartwool seem to have nice blends. 

They’ve always had a great warranty and I like being able to return things in store if I need to.

 

I’m really looking forward to the women’s version of this article. This article is exactly what I’ve been looking for, but I need women’s clothes. Thanks for the great work!

 

For those of us who’ve been looking for a female version of this, note that Wool & Prince now has a women-focused subsidiary. Personally, I’m eyeing the Sloan long-sleeved T-shirt, the Axis leggings, and the Aspen sweatsuit (all of which are wool-nylon blend).