Background:
I grew up in the piney woods of Southeast Texas. Camping was a quick trip into the mosquito-infested woods behind the house. I started hiking in my college years and my style has evolved over the past 17 years - from my discovery, heavy gear, period (internal frame packs, sleeping bags and tents) to - believe it or not - heavier, more expensive gear. Over the last 3 or 4 years, I have begun to take a lighter weight approach to hiking gear (I still use sleeping bags and tents, just lighter versions) and I have rediscovered the pleasure that can be involved in being outdoors with your gear. While I have flirted with lightweight hiking, I feel that I am more of a mid -weight hiker now. My philosophy is one of comfort, while carrying the lightest load possible

Manufacturer's Details
Website: www.hotchillys.com
Style: 2233
Weight: NA
Sizes: S, M, L, XL
Year of Manufacture: 2003
Colors:White and Black

Tester's Details
Style: Long sleeve, zip neck, crew collared shirt
Weight: 10 oz (289 g)
Size: Medium
Color: White

Test Conditions:
The testing has taken place in Southeast Texas in a variety of climatic conditions. The temperatures have ranged from 30 degrees F (-1 degree C) to 70 degrees F (21 degrees C). The precipitation has ranged from none, all the way up to a full downpour. Wind has varied from 0 mph (0 kph) to over 20 mph (32 kph) during the testing time.

Testing:
The Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt has been used as an under shirt to sleep in and as an outer shirt to hike, sit around camp, play disc golf, and generally be outdoors in. My test plan was simple: wear the shirt in a variety of conditions, with and without deodorant, wash it, and see what happened.

As the test has progressed, I have experimented with wearing the shirt on at least 14 occasions between washings. I also returned to my original pattern of wearing it on 7 occasions before washing.

Stains:
The Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt has proven to be easy to stain (what white shirt isn't?), but just as easy to clean. I have washed the shirt using standard detergent powder with no special stain treatments. Any food, ashes, or dirt on the shirt came out very easily. One thing I have also watched for are yellow stains that many of my white shirts develop in the arm pit area, but the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt has yet to show any signs of this type of stain.

I have never used a dryer to dry the shirt. I have air dried it after every wash or after it was wetted by sweat or rain. The Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt never took more than one night to dry this way, which is a very nice benefit of the shirt.

Durability:
I have worn the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt while doing everything from sleeping to mowing the yard. It has not torn, ripped or developed any out of control snags while hiking. Wearing it under a pack has also not led to any pilling in the areas of the shirt that the pack rests against. Considering that I have probably worn it on at least 15 occasions with a pack, this is a very good sign.

There are also no loose seems, stitching, or other signs of wear on the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt. Its overall construction has held up to heavy use without giving out.

One thing that I like is that the shirt has not stretched out from my use. After washing it retains it original size and I have not deformed it in any way by pulling it off, stretching it, or anything else that threatens to stretch or break fibers in the fabric. It always snaps back to how it started without stretching out permanently.

Odor:
The selling point of the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt is its ability to reduce odors. After the initial wash cycle I noticed that the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt tends to develop a body odor while wearing it, but removing the shirt and allowing it to air out removes the obvious body funk that I deposit on it.

Even when I wore it on 14 days/occasions(These days were not always consecutive.) without washing, I noticed that the same held true. Prolonged wearing of the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt led to it picking up odor from my body as I exerted myself. After the shirt was removed and aired for a couple of hours the odor dissipated. After several days, the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt did not smell fresh after airing, but it did not stink. Most other synthetic shirts I have worn would have knocked me down after 14 days of wearing, but not the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt.

I don't feel that the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt will completely prevent odors when worn with or without deodorant for extended periods on the trail, but it has not developed the reek of death that is permanent.

Final Impressions:
The Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt turned out to be much more than I had ever expected. Its two ply construction made if far warmer than the normal long sleeved shirt that I carry during cold weather. While I never liked zip necked shirts in the past, I soon realized that the zipper on the Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt allowed me to vent better when I warmed up from weather or exertion. This alone makes the shirt very useful and allowed me to use it in a far wider range of temperatures than I would have expected.

I also liked the fact that I could wear my normal hiking shirt during the day, wash it and let it dry, when I was in camp. The Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt allowed me to wear one shirt instead of depending on layering my day shirt with my long sleeved night/camp shirt to keep warm.

The Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt was also very comfortable to sleep in. I never felt constricted or bound up when sleeping in this shirt. Most importantly, after sleeping in it for several nights in a row, it did not stink bad enough to keep me awake.

The Hot Chilly's Bio-Silver Bi-Ply Shirt maybe a luxury on the trail, but it is one I can recommend. I wore it under fleece, under jackets, and by itself in all kinds of conditions. It was constantly comfortable and most of all it lives up to its press. It smells much better than any other sythetic shirt I have worn on the trail after constant use. It isn't completely stink free, but it does keep the reek down.

This shirt is going in my cold weather pack on a permanent basis. It does too much to leave at home or risk a combination of items doing their job less effectively.

Read more reviews of Hot Chillys gear
Read more gear reviews by Thomas Vickers

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