View Full Version : Merino Wool
For those of us who like natural fibres can I point you in the direction of Chocolate Fish. I have bought other gear including Swannie kit and this stuff is every bit as good. The lady who runs the firm, Amanda, is incredibly helpful and friendly. I couldn't recommend the firm highly enough. [I'm not linked to the company, just a very happy customer]. It's just a pity there's not more stores like it.
Too Much Kit To Carry
11-02-2007, 16:44
For those of us who like natural fibres can I point you in the direction of Chocolate Fish. I have bought other gear including Swannie kit and this stuff is every bit as good. The lady who runs the firm, Amanda, is incredibly helpful and friendly. I couldn't recommend the firm highly enough. [I'm not linked to the company, just a very happy customer]. It's just a pity there's not more stores like it.
Do you have any more info? Website, address, etc?
Cheers,
Phil.
Hi,
www.chocolatefish.co.uk
Tack
Too Much Kit To Carry
11-02-2007, 16:54
Hi,
www.chocolatefish.co.uk
Tack
LOL - should have googled it :lmao:
Thanks for the link :You_Rock_
Phil.
Do you have any more info? Website, address, etc?
Cheers,
Phil.
Should have given the address, sorry.
:o
MagiKelly
11-02-2007, 17:03
I have also dealt with Amanda and she is as helpful as you could wish for. I am a real merino convert now and their prices are by far the best. The only downside is their long sleeved tops do not have long enough sleeves for me so I have to get Icebreaker stuff at much higher prices. Amanda does assure me though that they are looking at getting longer sleeves.
The observant of you will notice the merino and possum fur hat that Ray was wearing a lot in the latest Wild Food programme. I have the gloves and they are toasty warm.
dommyracer
11-02-2007, 17:27
nice one. I've been using Howies merino baselayers for a while and they are the best - they don't stink up like manmade stuff tends to, keep you warm when its cold and cool when it warms up a bit.
might be purchasing some stuff from here...
treadlightly
12-02-2007, 11:43
I have a couple of old M&S merino wool jumpers which the moths have got at and they make perfect base layers for camping/walking trips, much better, I think, than synthetics. Check out your local charity shops.
I have also dealt with Amanda and she is as helpful as you could wish for. I am a real merino convert now and their prices are by far the best. The only downside is their long sleeved tops do not have long enough sleeves for me so I have to get Icebreaker stuff at much higher prices. Amanda does assure me though that they are looking at getting longer sleeves.
The observant of you will notice the merino and possum fur hat that Ray was wearing a lot in the latest Wild Food programme. I have the gloves and they are toasty warm.
If you are after Icebreaker stuff, try these (http://www.outsidesports.co.nz/) folks. They are a shop but they post overseas, and they take the NZ sales tax off which pretty much covers the shipping costs. The web lady is everso nice and great at keeping you informed about how your orders are progressing and the shipping is fast too.
I have a couple of old M&S merino wool jumpers which the moths have got at and they make perfect base layers for camping/walking trips, much better, I think, than synthetics. Check out your local charity shops.
In what way would they be "better than synethtics"???
Great stuff!
Its hard to find older styles of wool garments nowadays though.
dommyracer
12-02-2007, 21:31
In what way would they be "better than synethtics"???
I can't speak for anyone else, but I find they feel warmer, nicer next to the skin and don't smell after a few days wear.
Hi Guys,
If you can get a couple days out of your synthetics you are lucky! i have to wear coolmax T-shirts for work and they start to ming after about 3 hours, and my smelly hansen lifa top is just as bad!!
lou
Check out the Arktis Antartica (http://www.kmnw.co.uk/arktis_police_&_mil.htm) merino/nomex base layers, really good imo.
Also wool doesn't feel as clammy as fleece if you work up a sweat.
Personally, I find the clammy feeling with synthetics is only related to polyester baselayers such as Coolmax or Malden Mills products. There is one brand of synthetic out there that positively will not feel clammy, and that is Helly Hansen's Lifa brand of polyproplyene base layers.
Don't get me wrong, I love wool and I wouldn't trade my wooly pully sweater for all the beers in Canada but to be flat out honest, I truly believe it to be lacking as a baselayer. The purpose of a baselayer is to transport moisture away from the skin and into the thermal layer where ideally, it is carried into the outside ambient air by the (hopefully) breathable outer layer. And to put it frankly, wool just doesn't cut the mustard in terms of moisture transportation. Warm? Oh gosh yes, it'll keep you toasty on days when you'll be shivering you rear end off in synthetics. I suppose this biased point of view of mine comes from doing high energy, fast paced sports where I'd be soaked to the skin if I didn't wear synthetics. And while I understand that bushcraft isn't really a fast paced sport, I do think that synthetics should not be dismissed outright!
Mind you, that's only my two cents!
Adam
Danceswithhelicopters
13-02-2007, 09:57
Another vote for the Arktis Antartica-great bit of design-long arms, thumbholes, long zip neck for venting (it is warm!) Smoothe face fabric and soft interior. Only comes in gren and black so maybe not for the style crowd.
Icebreaker is lovely but ever so expensive in the UK.
Possum fur hat.....sounds waaaaaaaaaaaarmmmm :)
gregorach
13-02-2007, 10:01
I've gotta say, I find my merino baselayers wick much better than my synthetics, inculding HH Lifa prowool. If you haven't tried 'em, you don't know what you're missing.
swamp donkey
13-02-2007, 12:00
A couple of points I find both choclate fish and howies to have size problems there xxl is not as big as any of my other xl and arm pit to waist from s to xxl is only about an inch different. so if you are tall ,broad and have longish arms you might have to look elsewhere.
In reply to Andy I have been using merino wool base layers since 1978 when it was called botany wool and you could only get it in off white ,so we dyed it green or black. I have tryed most of the other types of synthetic none of which have come anywhere near merino . If you do heavy work (big sac, heavy sledge etc)and sweat a lot like me wicking is just a non starter . So long term comfort is the essential and in my experience ( I have camped for up to seven months in both the high Arctic and Antarctica) merino gives you that every time . My daughter (20) spent 3 months camping in the High Arctic last year (March to June ). On my recomondation and against that of the kit list used merino and was the only girl not to get chill blaines . The only other thing which has comes near was the old norwegian army string vest with the patches over the shoulders.
C_Claycomb
13-02-2007, 12:25
I second the comment about the ChocFish sizes being smaller than other stuff. I bought their large t-shirt and it is closer fitting than most of the medium stuff I usually buy. I know that base layers are meant to be close in order to work, but it is not a style I like and find it distinctly unflattering :rolleyes: :D
Spacemonkey
15-02-2007, 21:58
I've long been a fan of the North Face polypro base layers with an Icebreaker or two on top.
TNF base fabrics contain silver particles that kill the bacteria and are made in a way not to harbour any ion the first place, so they don't smell. I have worn them for 5 days without washing (yuk) with no smell.. and I do get a bit mingy normally. Recently I bought some Peter Storm base layers as they were on offer, and they are just as good but thicker. Again, tested for 5 days with no ill effect. My last trip to Dartmoor was spent mainly walking with kit, and my mate with normal cotton Tee base stank. Hoo eee... it was not nice. I was fresh as a daisy. Job done..
"Like the first monkeys blasted into space- sacrificing themselves for the good of mankind..." ;)
British Red
15-02-2007, 22:23
......notice the merino and possum fur hat that Ray was wearing a lot in the latest Wild Food programme. I have the gloves and they are toasty warm.
Now I normally wear a flat cap as a lot of you know but there are times when something warmer is required and my old watchcap had been used as a pot holder one too many times :rolleyes: . So I just invested in the hat based on Johns recommendation. Wow thats a warm hat. It'll get a field trial up on the Welsh Marches this weekend but intial impressions are of a REALLY warm and very well mate hat for what it cost me
Red
MagiKelly
29-12-2007, 20:35
Well I followed my own advice. I use a Tilley Winter Hat i the cold and most other times but I have at last got the merino and possum hat for my Christmas. As Red says it is really warm. The girls seem to like it to so I might need to get spares.
The other piece of news is Chocolate Fish now have tops getting manufactured for themselves and these have got good long sleeves for the ape armed among us ;)
Amanda is still blindingly efficient as well so all good.
-Switch-
29-12-2007, 23:31
Well I followed my own advice. I use a Tilley Winter Hat i the cold and most other times but I have at last got the merino and possum hat for my Christmas. As Red says it is really warm. The girls seem to like it to so I might need to get spares.
The other piece of news is Chocolate Fish now have tops getting manufactured for themselves and these have got good long sleeves for the ape armed among us ;)
Amanda is still blindingly efficient as well so all good.
I got one of them :cool:
I'm not a kit person really but I always wanted a decent hat that doesn't itch. The idea of a hat made of merino wool and possum fur was too tempting.
I got it in the summer (I get a cold head at night) and have worn it pretty much every time I've been out since.
Best thing I've bought for a long time :D
I can't speak for anyone else, but I find they feel warmer, nicer next to the skin and don't smell after a few days wear.
They also keep you warm when not moving around, something synthetics cant deliver that good.