I know this sounds disgusting, but bear with me. Icebreaker challenged us to wear one of their wool baselayers for 7 days, and for some reason, we (I) accepted. To give you some idea of how much abuse this poor baselayer was subjected to, I’m going to quickly take you through my daily routine. Enjoy 1 Baselayer, 7 days challange with me.
A Day in the Life of My Active Routine: Testing a Baselayer
I’m generally awake at around 5:30am, at the gym for 7am and done by 8:30am. So by 9am (the time I’d start work), it’s already had an hour and a half of fairly strenuous use. I’ll then either be working in Trekitt’s offices, in the hills filming for our YouTube channel/social media platforms or a mixture of the two. 5:30pm rolls around and it’s time to commute home. I want to say hello to the Spaniel, have some food, then it’s a mixture of admin, watching YouTube videos or browsing Facebook marketplace for useless automotive tat that I definitely don’t need. This is repeated for 5 days, with the exception being Friday where I’d work from home. With that in mind, here’s a day-by-day diary of how the baselayer performed, what I’ve learnt and whether I’d do it again.
1 Baselayer, 7 Days- Day 1
Immediately I’m too warm. I’m used to wearing a t-shirt and jeans and now I’ve got a long-sleeved woollen baselayer on—it’s taking a while to adjust. The fabric itself, though, feels great and not too dissimilar to cotton which is a big plus in my eyes. In the gym it performed pretty well, if a little warm at times. By the time I’ve taken it off for 10 minutes to have a quick shower. All the ‘stink’ that was previously present has worn off and it’s good to go again. By the end of the day it’s probably a 2/10 on the stink scale. With 1 being not smelly at all and 10 being “get that thing away from me”.
1 Baselayer, 7 Days – Day 2:
I’m not wearing it in bed, because just no. I left it on a hanger to air overnight. By the morning it’s back down to a 0/10 and doesn’t smell of anything. A cotton t-shirt would be absolutely rancid by now. But the woolly pulley seems to be handling its new routine relatively well. Day two is almost an exact repeat of day one with nothing drastic to report.
1 Baselayer, 7 Days – Day 3:
Today’s a filming day. I meet Ben at his place for 9am. We head into the hills to grab some content for some new products we’ve got coming in. This is a full day of walking. Standing around whilst Ben carries out pieces to camera and an obligatory coffee stop on the way home. We’re on our way by about 4pm [I’m driving] and I ask Ben whether he can smell the baselayer—he can’t, luckily. The Icebreaker lives another day. Stink rating is probably a 3/10 by the end of today. However even this is only noticeable if you press your face right against the fabric. I’d hope that not many of us do that on a regular basis.
Day 4:
Probably a 1/10 this morning. Light smell but nothing offensive. I did a load of driving yesterday, so today and tomorrow are work from home days. Most of today was spent writing blogs and working on the website, so it’s not had a hard time. By the end of the day it remains a 1/10 and I think this’ll probably be the baseline rating until I wash it.Day 5 in same base layer
Decided to do a quick home-gym session this morning, followed by more blog writing, some video editing and a dog walk in the afternoon. Visually, the baselayer looks exactly the same and doesn’t have that loose, stretched appearance of a cotton t-shirt that’s been worn for a few days on the trot. I’m pretty used to its warmth now . I also do like the fact that I don’t have to think about what I want to wear for the day—just stick on the green baselayer and off we go.
Day 6:
It’s Saturday and it’s my favourite day of the week—leg day. I promise this blog isn’t all about the gym, but this is my routine and I do what I want, mate. The gym I go to is essentially an oversized shipping container—it heats up like nothing else. Ordinarily a cotton t-shirt would be sodden after a few hours, but the Icebreaker was almost entirely dry; it wicked away sweat as well as my synthetic layers. Stink rating was the highest it’s been so far, 5/10. By the time I left the gym it was tipping it down (November in England; standard) and the dog needed a walk, so we drove to our local woodland and wandered around there for a few hours.Testing odour resistance
I didn’t realise at the time, but the hem of the baselayer was drooping just a bit lower than my hardshell and it got pretty soggy. By the time I’d driven to the local town and got a coffee (sensing a theme here?), it was dry. The remainder of the afternoon was spent sifting through photos and planning some trips. Again, I took the layer off to have a shower and by the time I got back to it, it had ridden itself of the day’s odours almost entirely. 2/10, maybe?Day 7:
Today was supposed to be a rest day but I want to see how far I can push the Icebreaker before it throws in the towel—we’re going biking. We meet in the Forest of Dean (our local MTB mecca) and start exploring a load of trails I’ve not done before. The ups are mellow but long and the downs are twisty, loose and full of damp roots covered in autumnal leaves. Every now and again your elbow twangs a branch and a torrent of rainwater dumps on you from the shaken leaves above. So, I’m warm (sweaty), wet (rainwater) and getting progressively more disgusting as the day goes on.
Final Test Results: How Did the Baselayer Fare After a Day in the Mud?
The rear of the baselayer is now covered in mud. Apart from one small strip in the centre where my backpack provides some relief to the onslaught of mud and grease. Since this was the last day of testing, I brought some spare clothes in the car and changed into those before driving home. I asked my biking mate whether she’d be an independent adjudicator and give the baselayer a quick sniff test to end this weird challenge—surprisingly she agreed.
“It honestly smells new; like, it’s still got the ‘new’ smell”. I’d probably give it a 1/10 to a 3/10 depending on where you smell it.”
Breaking the Laundry Myth: How Often Should You Really Wash Your Baselayer?
We’re conditioned to believe that our clothes need to be washed after every use. For cotton socks or underwear that is probably still true, but this test highlights that not all clothing needs such regular maintenance. If I can wear this one baselayer for a week of constant abuse. You can definitely wear it for your next multi-day trip without bringing spares.
Now I think it’s time I bung it in the wash. If you’d like to shop our entire range of Icebreaker baselayers then you can do here.
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