Best Base Layer (2025): Ibex, Smartwool, and More

These smooth and stretchy unders are comprised of capilene, an insulating material spun from one hundred pc recycled polyester. The artificial threads carry out about on par with wool. Capilene can be nearly as snug, all whereas being mild and quick-drying. Patagonia sells the bottom layers in two thicknesses: midweight and a heavier thermal weight. They arrive in males’s and ladies’s sizes, and the tops can be found in a crewneck or collared zip-neck. I examined these within the fall in Minnesota and in San Francisco, so I wore the midweight model with a crewneck high.

Benefiting from the precision afforded by working with artificial material, Patagonia has made some attention-grabbing design decisions. The clothes are clean on the surface, and have a subtly embossed diamond grid sample on the within. The corporate says this diamond sample creates little pockets that entice warmth and assist wick moisture. That declare is subsequent to inconceivable to confirm, aside from to say: The material did preserve me about as heat as merino wool.

Like most Patagonia attire, these match somewhat looser than the identical dimension would from different manufacturers. Regardless that I have a tendency to love my base layers cosy in opposition to my pores and skin for max heat, right here I appreciated the additional room within the shoulders, within the groin, and below my arms. I wore them for 2 days straight on a canoe tenting journey—even sleeping in them—and after a wash every week later, one other two days commuting to and from my workplace. They did not chafe or bag out, and the elastic factors by no means pinched. After every multiday put on, they did stink somewhat—greater than wool would in the identical state of affairs, however miles higher than different synthetics I’ve tried. In case you’re avoiding wool due to allergy symptoms or since you’re eschewing animal byproducts, this fair-trade licensed two-piece is a strong various. —Michael Calore