climbing clothing

[Steve Bullman]

i hear you wear the pink ones

[Marc]

i wear the stretch air t-shirts...they might be expensive but they last far longer than cotton t-shirts. in the cold i wear a good quality base layer, dont skimp on these. and the best warm top layer ive found for climbing is a cycling jersey....tight fitting, and thin.....also a little pouch in the back for a mars bar!

 

 

I bought a stretch air shirt at Capel last year, I was'nt impressed, the fabric is o.k, but I hate the seams, I wear braces and find the lumpy seams chafe.

 

I just don't find stretch air all that! for the price you think they would have good qaulity flat seams.

 

I wear base layers all year, and have done for over 8 years working outdoors.

 

I've used Lowe alpine, Helly Hansen, Mountain hardwear, Berghaus, Paramo, Outdoorscene and Rab base layers at work. All these have flat seams and comfortable designs all are far better than stretch air.

 

The Best in terms of price and durablity are Berghaus Tech T's, tough fabric does'nt pick or pile, second is Lowe alpine, then Hellys.

 

The worst have been mountain hardwear, the fabric picks and wears in no time.

 

For warmth i've become very attached to my Paramo Mountain smock, much better than a fleece, its slightly more windproof and just as warm.

 

Or a Rab Vapour rise smock (thanks to Buzz for telling me about these I love em)

 

For drizzle and high winds, I wear a Stretch Air jacket with the schoeller fabric wind proof and sheds water well, shame about the poor qaulity stitching and very high price.

 

 

Cheap comfort i'd go for cheap base layers like Berghaus tech T's or Outdoor scene, cheap fleeces like Fruit of the Loom fleece (which you can get a company logo on) and a Jacket.

 

Its good that companies like Stretch Air are trying to make clothing for our work, but its over priced and poorly designed compared to other outdoor brands that have been making hardwearing out door clothing for years.

[Steve Bullman]

well i dont know what you're doing wrong, but ive had my stretch air t-shirts for 18 months now and they look good as new still, poorly designed it definetly is not!

[Mike Hill]

just a quick question, what do you guys wear when climbing, particularly upper body? I have been issued with company uniform, but as an experienced outdoor person in several disciplines, i find the combo of polo and sweat shirts sadly lacking. when undertaking private work, i stick to my usual outdoor gear (micro fleece etc) but this is not possible in the day job.

Kev.

 

Three words:LATEX CAT SUIT

 

Waterproof,flexable,durable and daring.

 

Why they havn't caught on is anyones guess?

Oh,thats it,not chainsaw proof.

[Marc]

well i dont know what you're doing wrong, but ive had my stretch air t-shirts for 18 months now and they look good as new still, poorly designed it definetly is not!

 

Yeah well i'm a bit of a nerd/sad I suppose when it comes to outdoor clothing, easily fooled by cleaver marketing etc.

 

I like my Stretch air base layer, it does have good fabric, which is durable, after nearly 12 months it still looks good.

 

There are other tops, that have similar fabric, which is just as tough, with better seams, nearly half the price and look just as good.

So I won't be buying any more Stretch Air tops.

 

Its the price which gets me, there aiming it at us climbers in particular, but really they don't compare with many cheaper better alternatives.

 

Just my 2 cents, i'll shut up now.

[Steve Bullman]

another thing i wear is one of those think skull caps.....they go under your hardhat perfectly...and make a whole lot of difference to your warmth

[Mr Ed]

I'm Really gay!

 

 

RAOFLMAO!

[benedmonds]

I'm a big kit junky and having spent lots of time staying warm and dry in cold wet places and when employed by others used to hate the fact that most work wear is so basic. If I'm in the hills on a weekend I'll be wearing technical gear, so if I'm in similar conditions day after day in the week I don't want to be it a cheap cotton T.

 

Being the boss means I can choose. Can't beat the Helly Hanson Lifa for a shirt. We've had logo's added and they look great. It is a bit of an issue now we have staff, I started off giving them regular t shirts but they moaned and looked sad.. They are looking the same way at my Hi viz gortex, but they can keep looking. I have provided them with the costly HH's, but recon they last lots longer, also the ladies love the sight of our muscled torso's.. and yes we've also got stihl hifex's to show off our behinds.. Could this be our USP?

 

Another benifit of providing/wearing good gear is you can keep going whatever the weather.

 

I also am very impressed with gore windstopper N2S. Silvermans do a shirt, at £55 it is expensive, but again very hard wearing.

[MattyF]

Ive always worn mostly husky forestry jackets for climbing in found them light and well vented ,evan in summer ill wear a jacket if i need to get stuck in and not get chaffed up...i really like the stretch air jacket at the momment found it really well cut for wearing a harness over somthing the forestry jackets especially the stihl ones are not.

under that a sweatshirt and polo shirt or on hot days a stretch air shirt

[treejumper]

Summer - T shirt

Winter - Windstopper + Microfleece (or two microfleeces if it gets on the nippy side)