Looking for a breathable, high-performing t-shirt that doesn’t feel like sandpaper on your skin? Wool might not be the first fabric that comes to mind, but the Ibex Women’s GOAT Short Sleeve Crew proves it deserves a place in your wardrobe.
Designed for comfort, durability, and temperature regulation, this shirt is a serious contender for everything from workouts to everyday wear. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what makes this merino wool tee stand out – and whether it lives up to its bleat-worthy name!
Ibex Women’s GOAT Short Sleeve Crew Overview
Ibex is a well-known brand in the wool clothing industry that’s been around since 1997. All of their wool comes from sheep farms in Australia and New Zealand, and as a brand, Ibex really values transparency. You can find them sharing detailed information about their wool all over their website. I found it to be both engaging and educational in a very exciting way! From explaining the micron that they share on every product page, stating how wool is biodegradable and therefore sustainable, to shouting (bleating?) their mission from the mountaintops.
As a Climate Neutral brand, I’d say Ibex is doing a great job of living out their mission in “leading the charge for ethical apparel and amplifying the message to buy less, buy better.”
Where It Shines
While not the most budget-friendly item I’ve ever owned, the Women’s GOAT Short Sleeve Crew has a lot of things going for it. This is a wonderful mostly wool t-shirt that’s great for exercising in lots of different weather conditions. I really like it, and hope I can represent it well for other consumers too.
Comfort
One of the first things that really stood out to me about this product is how comfortable and soft the wool is. Often, we think about wool as a clothing material that’s scratchy and uncomfortable, but that wasn’t the case with this shirt! And Ibex does a great job of explaining why this is so. It comes back to the micron that I briefly mentioned earlier.
So, what’s a micron? It’s a unit of measurement that determines how fine a wool fiber is. And the smaller the micron, the finer the wool, the softer the shirt will be. If you look on their website, they have graphics to visually show you the measurements and softness rating, which I found really helpful to see where this shirt falls into the softness category.
It’s considered a super fine merino wool, which covers the range of 16 to 19 microns, as it comes in at 19.3 micron. Turns out the GOAT isn’t even their softest fabric though! Despite that, this material is one of the most comfortable and breathable fabrics I’ve owned.
Lightweight and Breathable
Made with what Ibex calls Weightless Wool, this wool blend is 89% merino wool and 11% nylon. The nylon is there in order to enhance the durability of the fabric, and Ibex uses what they call Beta Spun® technology to achieve the wonderful soft and strong texture of the GOAT fabric.
Since it’s merino wool, it’s naturally breathable, which means temperature regulation and odor resistance. So far I’ve found this to be true! We’ve had an unusually hot Minnesota summer this year, and I can verify that this fabric is great for hot and humid days where having lightweight and breezy clothing is a must.
Temperature Regulation
I wanted to go into more detail on the temperature regulation of this shirt though, as I feel this category really deserves its own spotlight.
I haven’t tested this shirt in especially cold weather yet since I haven’t had the chance, but I’ve tested this in a cool, regulated climbing gym. To note here, I usually start my climbing session with a sweater until I warm up after a route or two. I didn’t need to this time though, as I walked in feeling cool but not cold. And even on my last route of the day I still felt cool. Definitely warmer than when I walked in for my climbing session, but I wasn’t overheating either.
And when I tested this shirt on a 95 degree day where I went on a bike ride, I could still feel the heat, but it helped me stay cool. The breathable fabric helped create a little cooling zone by allowing the breeze in the air through the shirt to regulate my body temperature.
Sun Protection
Another great perk of the GOAT women’s crew shirt is that it has natural sun protection. It’s rated as a UPF 50+ shirt, so you can go outside in the sun without too much worry! Pair that with its breathability, odor resistance, and temperature regulation…it truly shines as the GOAT for any outdoor activity or leisure.
Potential Pain Points
Honestly, it was pretty difficult for me to come up with pain points for this article in comparison with the previous articles I’ve written here. This shirt is really good quality for the price, comfortable, and stylish, so I don’t have too many Cons to address overall. That being said, the overall price of the GOAT t-shirt is probably going to be the biggest potential pain point for consumers.
Price Point
While the price point for Ibex clothing does tend to be on the more expensive side, consumers are paying premium for the perks the GOAT crew shirt provides. The fact that this wool-blend t-shirt is durable, non-itchy, odor resistant, and helps with thermoregulation is why the price tag is so high. So, all things considered, $85 for a high-quality wool t-shirt that actually performs the way the brand markets it is pretty affordable.
But despite everything you get for the price, $85 is still $85, and in the world of clothing this falls more into a mid-range budget. Not budget-friendly, but also not quite to that premium-level price tag, though the Ibex brand does have other clothing items I would put into that category. Definitely not a costly item that will break the bank for most, but this is a spendy brand. Buy at your own peril. ;)
Sweat Stains
The material of the Ibex women’s GOAT crew is actually very breathable and moisture wicking as a natural fiber. I just wanted to make a brief mention of the potential embarrassment of this fabric leaving noticeable sweat marks, as Ibex does advertise that their merino won’t sweat it. I see wool as a material that will help you sweat less, not prevent it altogether, so I did not find this to be the case for me.
Likely though, the point of their statement was to make a humorous play on wool fiber’s naturally breathable and moisture-wicking properties. For what it’s worth however, I will say that my husband’s underarms stayed dry through the exercises we did in 95 degree weather, but mine did not. I think it comes down more to the individual than the advertisement in this case.
If the intention of using this shirt is for exercise, sweat stains aren’t anything unexpected anyway. Just know that even though it’s a natural and breathable fiber, breathable doesn’t equal sweat free.
Final Verdict
As far as wool clothing goes, my personal experiences say that Ibex really does stand out above the rest. As a brand, I find a lot of value in their mission to deliver quality so that consumers don’t need to cycle through mediocre, short-lived clothing.
I really appreciate their transparency as a company and will likely add some of their other wool items to my collection. They go above and beyond to educate their consumers on the qualities that wool provides, and you know you’re getting good quality clothing because the shirt actually holds up to the performance expectations. In a few words, this shirt is not too hot, not too cold, but just right.
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