Reader Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5

Amazingly soft, and no itch.
Awesome stitching and the fit isn't too tight and isn't too loose.
Its just right. 8)

Defiantly softer and finer than Icebreaker, but Icebreakers are awesome too!

Blue color is really nice.
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I wanted to update my review.
Today is 4/01/09

I ordered another small ibex nelson from backcountry.com and just got it.

After trying it on i was surprised that the new black nelson ibex felt smaller and tighter then my 2 week old blue nelson ibex small.

So i compared the too and found a couple interesting differences.

1) the labels are different. The label on the blue shirt is a slim rectangle with off white background and blue lettering. It is attached further down off the collar. The black one has the label attached right to the back of the inside collar and looks more traditional. It also has a smaller label next to it with the size and made in usa etc info. Not really an important difference but i though i'd note it.

2) the wrist end of the blue shirt is much looser and has a flatter stitching then the black and gray ones. Its much more comfortable in my opinion. When i roll my sleeves up the blue feels very nice, but the black ones feels like its cutting some circulation off.

3) In terms of length on the shirts, the blue one is about an inch and a quarter longer.

4) the collar seems tighter on the black one then the blue.

I'm guessing the black and gray versions of the nelson are made in a different place or machine then the blue one.

My rating of 5 applies only to the blue version and the other colors I would give at most a 4.

Edited by intheswim on 04/02/2009 08:52:45 MDT.

Rating: 5 / 5

Too often it seems that merino manufacturers, in an effort to avoid scratchiness, process merino in a way that tends to make it feel more like cotton or even silk. How they do this I'm not sure. But the Nelson definitely feels like wool, slightly fuzzy feeling, but not at all scratchy. I imagine the fuzziness comes from the small scales at the nodes of the wool fibers (perhaps some manufacturing processes mill these off somehow). These small scales, which can feel scratchy, are more widely separated, and therefore fewer in number, in merino, compared to ordinary wool, but probably trap air against the skin, increasing warmth, and also help to wick away H20. The 17.5 mil fibers, though not that much smaller than the 18.5 Ibex often uses elsewhere, make a perceptibly smoother garment with a higher warmth/perceived weight ratio.

Edited by swimjay on 02/10/2011 10:33:20 MST.