Some years ago I was at DSEI in the Taiga booth and looking at a different wool net shirt, which the very enthusiastic Swedish men manning said booth told me in no uncertain Scandinavian terms was the absolute best thing since sliced bread. Not in an attempt to sell me their product, because you can’t buy at DSEI, but I have rarely ever encountered such clear and genuine admiration for a design style within the world of apparel.
They honestly convinced me to try out the concept, so I picked this one up from Varusteleka (though they no longer offer these sadly), but I’m afraid to say that for purely shallow reasons I have never worn this shirt in order to actually assess the performance. I think, however, that irrespective of my lack of experience, it is at least worth a brief post here to highlight the idea. This is an item for those who might often find themselves out in the cold, and want to find the best possible kit to suit their environment.
These exact shirts from Aclima (along with the matching trousers) are one of the very few items not made by Crye that is sold direct through Crye on their website. That is a pretty strong recommendation in and of itself, given Crye’s flagship clientele and strict standards as far as how the company is perceived by everyone outside of it. Over the past few years they have built towards offering a full suite of layering garments to suit all weathers and climates, and for cold weather base layers they currently import the Aclima items shown above.
Garments such as these are in fact a staple amongst the issued layering systems for the militaries of nations such as Norway and Sweden, where extreme cold (from the UK/US perspective) is pretty much the standard operating environment.
For those unfamiliar, this design might at first glance seem to be highly inefficient in terms of heat retention, but the basic idea is for the gaps in the mesh to trap pockets of dead/un-moving air. Given that air is a highly efficient insulator, the thermal properties are reported to be excellent. Plus, of course, the shirt stays extremely lightweight given that a lot of it is simply empty space, so the ratio of insulation to weight is top drawer.
You do have to layer one of these in the correct way however – the dead air retention concept obviously won’t work without another layer that is a closed knit and fits closely on the outside of this one.
Reportedly, the net fabric can also work much like a spacer mesh you find on other tactical kit. By creating just a bit of stand off between the skin and other layers, there is supposed to be a really efficient and effective moisture wicking effect. I am very far from an arctic survival expert, but I would imagine many people would agree that keeping your base layers dry in super cold climates is even more important than in hot ones.
I am a tiny bit put off by the Norwegian flag sewn in, given that the item is made in Poland, however I am always very glad to see any quality apparel being made within any Western-aligned nation rather than being farmed out to Vietnam, Pakistan or (worse), China.
Again I apologise I that I can’t provide my own experience with wearing this, but even without looking I can confidently say there will be many other experience-based accounts documented and easily found online. An odd looking garment to many people, but one worth considering if it fits your use case.
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