It bears repeating: the shirt is a truly versatile garment! Often overlooked by people who practise outdoor activities, and in some minds a little out of fashion, the shirt has real strengths to offer for all your outdoor pursuits and travels. Let's explore those undeniable advantages…
Versatility and modularity
The first advantage of the travel and hiking shirt is its versatility: you can roll up the sleeves when it's hot or roll them back down to protect yourself from insects and the sun. It's also a go-anywhere garment — equally at home in the countryside or the city. A shirt or short-sleeved shirt is perfectly suited for an evening at the end of a stage if you're dining somewhere a little more relaxed and pleasant. A shirt works perfectly for exertion, rest, breaks, meals and cultural visits alike.
Lightness
Today's fabrics used to make shirts have come a long way. Most innovative technical materials shed their heavy weight. Beyond actual lightness on the scales, there is also the lightness you feel. Thanks to its more or less relaxed cut, you get a real sensation of lightness on your upper body. What's more, a shirt rarely takes up much space in a suitcase and will add little weight to your luggage at the airport!
Ventilation
Not only are today's fabrics highly breathable, but a shirt is naturally well-ventilated. Air circulates freely under short sleeves or through the front of the shirt. You can also open your shirt as needed depending on the heat and weather conditions, and close it again at will when the temperature drops.
The practical side
Shirts generally come with pockets, most often on the chest. This lets you keep essential items close to hand and secure. That might be your passport, money, or anything else useful for your trip. And those pockets are very rarely accessible to pickpockets! On top of that, many manufacturers are innovating with functional improvements and ideas that are often genuinely useful.
New materials
Not only do the new materials used to make hiking shirts give them unbeatable lightness, they are also often paired with some rather impressive technical features. For example, many fabrics incorporate fast-drying, highly breathable fibres — so you gain in comfort, but also in drying time, and above all, the shirt creases less and needs far less ironing.
Furthermore, for warm-climate countries, certain fabrics are treated with insect repellent, such as the hiking shirts in the CimAlp range, which feature EULAN anti-mosquito treatment — used by NATO forces and tested against mosquitoes carrying yellow fever and ticks. In this range, the sleeves are mid-length and adjustable via a button tab; the collar has a double fold to provide optimal protection for the back of the neck; they feature a small chamois leather insert for cleaning sunglasses, and even a hanging loop to make drying and storage easier.
It's clear to see that the hiking shirt has a great deal going for it — it would be a shame to overlook it, especially when it offers far superior comfort to a t-shirt or a polo shirt.
So don't hesitate to reconsider your clothing choices for hiking and travel, and to place the technical, comfortable hiking shirt very high on your shopping list — one you'll have nothing but good things to say about afterwards, I'm sure.
