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Patagonia Capilene Midweight
Zip-T
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Price:
£35.00
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Weight: 275 grammes (men's
L)
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Features: Long
sleeves, zip neck, collar, 73 per-cent spun polyester /27
per-cent microdenier polyester with Capilene technology,
flat seam construction, drop tail
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All conditions base layer
Capilene treatment loses some effectiveness with long
term wear
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Patagonia's Capilene baselayer fabric pretty much ushered in the idea
that baselayers were about wicking rather than keeping you warm.
They've been around for ages and are still a bit of a bench mark for
effectiveness. The fabric is polyester with a chemical treatment to
give the fabric high-wicking ability.
When new it works fantastically, wear it without a shell and you
can practically see the moisture working its way to the surface to
form a moist sheen. The design is also spot on, with flat seams,
decent zip and collar and a drop tail combined with a luxurious soft,
stretchy handle (as the pros say).
The mid-weight variety is ideal for year-round use as well. If it
has a drawback it's that the performance does tail off with heavy
longterm wear and repeated washing. It's still reasonable after a
couple of years regular use (yes, we have used it for that long) but
no longer as spectacularly good as new.
Capilene is also available in a lighter, silk weight,
microfleece-like expedition weight and in Airius-T, a relatively new
incarnation which combines mechanical wicking with chemical
treatments to make a mega-wicking high intensity activity fabric.
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Verdict: Still a top wicking
baselayer after all these years with market leading comfort
and just the right degree of elasticity. The philosophy is
very much, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It loses half a
mark for the deterioration in performance with wear, but we
are talking a lot of wear and you could minimise this by
washing using non-agressive detergents.
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for time:
The original and still nearly the best. Comfort and
stretch are second to none and wicking when new is
spectacular. It loses some of its wicking performance with
sustained washing, but is still acceptable and one of the
best baselayers on the market.
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