Armadillo Merino Clothing

Armadillo Merino ‘In 2011, Andy was watching images of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with avoidable burns and injuries from the clothes they were wearing. Wanting to stop these avoidable injuries, he founded Armadillo Merino®. ‘
At DBK we were first introduced to Armadillo Merino in early 2016 by an outdoor fanatic who swore on Armadillo Merino. They looked good so we tried them and…. we were instantly hooked. In this review we take a look at the properties of Armadillo Merino clothing and our experiences with them.

What is Merino wool, Fit , Comfort and insulation

What is Merino wool exactly, I hear you asking. Merino is a breed of sheep know for the finest quality wool available.  Merino sheep are hardy and thrive in environments, which are much too harsh for other domesticated sheep breeds. They are well suited to the high altitudes and mountainous landscapes, for example, in New Zealand’s South Island high country, where temperatures can range from 35°C in summer to -15°C in winter. Evolution has given these sheep wool that insulates from both coldness and heat giving it excellent properties for clothing. Armadillo Merino buys ‘fair‘ wool meaning they only buy from shepherds who treat their animals well.

The first most important thing of clothing is the comfort. You will never buy or wear a shirt that doesn’t fit comfortably. Armadillo Merino makes by far the most comfortable shirts that I have ever worn. The wool is soft and stretchy but doesn’t itch. Combined with the seams that are carefully placed on locations where they don’t irritate when wearing a heavy backpack, ballistic armour or many layers it easily makes for one of the most comfortable shirts on the market. Armadillo Merino offers many different models that offer, long sleeves, short sleeves, athletic fit, regular fit, body hugging fit, different micron sized weaving, crew neck, turtle neck and what not. If that’s not enough for you they even offer tailoring service to customize it to your needs. Comfort is nice and all but Armadillo Merino looks sweet on da street as well!
Now comes another important part. Insulation, a very important aspect of outdoor clothing. Armadillo Merino believes in the layer system. You put on as many layers as you feel is necessary and take them off as you get warmer. In the layer system Armadillo Merino will be the base layer. If you want to learn more about how to layer for bushcraft click here.
Merino wool has hollow fibres which give excellent insulation.

The hollow fibres create a small pocket of air between your skin and the surrounding air keeping the air from cooling your body. The great thing is that this also works with water. Armadillo Merino is both still warm and comfortable to wear when wet. At least much more comfortable than cotton or nylon. This also makes it an excellent workout shirt. Best thing is that the Merino wool also has anti-bacterial properties keeping the smell at bay when you sweat a lot. I can assure you that it makes working with Mikkie B a lot easier.

 

Fire Resistance

‘The annual USA average from 1997 to 2006 for clothing-related burn injuries treated in emergency departments was 4.321’

Bushcraft, survival, work or even daily life fire resistance can be a big pre on clothing. Armadillo Merino claims that Merino wool has fire resistant properties making it ideal for soldiers, fire workers and outdoors people. To see if these claims are true we set on fire one of our shirts!

As you can see Armadillo Merino puts itself out within a few seconds. This is the main reason we love Armadillo Merino so much. We love sitting around the camp fire and with these shirts you don’t have to be afraid that your shirt ends up like a Swiss cheese..

Washing and durability

We all know it feels… your favourite sweater that you enjoyed wearing so much.. now only usable as a cozy… If you buy expensive clothing you want to know how to wash them. Instructions that I would have loved to see included in the package. Luckily Armadillo Merino explains how to wash your Merino wool in their site. Personally I separate my Merino clothing from my regular clothing and wash them together without any sharp objects like zippers in the machine at a maximum of 40 degrees Celsius. I also recommend using a washing bag. Your washing machine can have burrs on the inside that can damage the fabric when tumbling. I use regular detergent but no fabric softener (also not needed).  Merino wool dries very fast so it’s best to just leave it hang for a night.
I’ve been wearing Armadillo Merino for over a year now and some of my shirts have tiny holes in them (note I practically wear them every day). The holes are mainly located around my crotch. I blame my belt buckle for it (flip closure and auto-grip buckle). I’m a hot headed guy so usually don’t wear anything over my Merino shirts. When we’re filming we are bushcrafting we sometimes walk trough bramble bushes etc. If you’re not careful it can leave a small hole in your shirt. Nothing that wouldn’t happen to a cotton shirt though.  With the right care the shirt can last youa very long time depending on how often you wear it and what you use it for. I’ve also never had any problems with stitchings coming loose.
When the time does come that your Armadillo shirt reaches end-of-life you can just throw it onto the compost heap! That’s because Armadillo Merino is completely biodegradable!

Verdict

If you have followed our channel you’ve probably already noticed that we wear Armadillo Merino pretty much all the time. Armadillo Merino makes one of the best shirts we have ever tried. We actually wear them almost every day. These shirts look great, feel great and have great properties.. these bloody shirts have even been to outer space with the folks from NASA, how cool is that?!
Our personal favourite property of Merino wool is definitely the fire resistance. It really is ideal for bushcraft. Especially if you’re a pyromaniac like we are…
Like every other piece of clothing though, if you wear it a lot they won’t last a life time but definitely long enough to keep you satisfied. Are they worth the price? That’s up to you. If you like to hike, backpack, sport or do bushcraft a lot like we do I can definitely recommend these shirts. For professional use like fire-fighters or soldiers they can even prevent you from serious burn injuries. Armadillo Merino is designed for comfort in those uncomfortable situations and it definitely does just that.
I personally can’t recommend any better shirts than Armadillo Merino. These shirts are definitely DBK Approved! Below are some models we can definitely recommend.
– Armadillo Merino Cougar
– Armadillo Merino Panther
– Armadillo Merino Cobra
– Armadillo Merino Falcon

Here’s some fun for you as well! 
Armadillo 10% off coupon code: DBK2017-10
DBK Interview by Armadillo Merino: http://bit.ly/DBKinterview
DBK Quiz by Armadillo Merino: http://bit.ly/DBKQuiz