Personal Information:
Name: Christine Korhonen
Age: 30
Gender: female
Height: 5'4" (1.6 m)
Weight: 165 lb (75 kg)
E-mail: chris@wormguy.com
Location: Western Montana
Date: April 12, 2004

Backpacking Background:
I'm in Montana where I'm becoming re-acquainted with winter. Now that I'm back above the snow line, I'm attempting some winter camping and snowshoeing. I'm a lightweight backpacker mentally, if not always in practice. I've gotten my summer multi-day pack weight down to 13 lb (6 kg), but winter backpacking is still new to me, and my winter pack weight hovers around 25 lb (11 kg).

Product Information:
Manufacturer: Ibex
URL: www.ibexwear.com
Style: Women's Climacore Ribbed Woolies
In Ibex catalog: Winter 2003/2004
MSRP: US$52.50 top, US$50 bottoms
Sizes tested: L top, XL bottoms
Colors tested: Heather Blue top, Black bottoms
Listed average weights: top 4 oz (113 g), bottoms 4 oz (113 g)
Measured weights: L top 6.0 oz (170 g), XL bottoms 6.2 oz (176 g)

Ribbed Woolies Description:
The Ribbed Woolies are a lightweight, superfine (18.5 micron) Merino wool baselayer, or, in layman's terms, extremely thin long underwear made of wool. The Ribbed Woolies are the lightweight style among Ibex's Climacore baselayer line. The top is a long-sleeve crew neck shirt. The bottoms have an elastic waist and tapered legs. Both pieces are made out of a stretchy, ribbed knit, and have flat seams. The neck, shirt bottom, and cuffs have simple rolled hems. The women's Woolies come in different colors and sizes than the men's version.

Documentation:
The Woolies came with full-color hang tags describing Ibex's wool baselayers and providing contact and warranty information. Pictures on the hang tag describe five properties of the baselayers: no stink, no itch, regulates temp, machine wash, and merino wool. "No stink" is designated by a picture of what must be a skunk, though it looks more like a squirrel with a stripe on its tail. I've never seen a skunk sit on its hind legs like that. The Woolies also came with a very nice, 61 page full-color catalog describing Ibex's line of wool clothing and providing tidbits of wool knowledge, most of which is also listed on their website. There is one picture in both the catalog and on the website of two men in the snow with their pants pulled down, showing their Ibex skivvies. Brrrr! But the guy in briefs looks happy enough.

First Impression:
This is wool?!? Wool, to me, means scratchy sweaters and thick socks. These clothes are not thick. The material is so thin I can see through it. The material is about as thick as my lightweight polypropylene, but it's not slippery like polypro. And it's not scratchy. It's really soft. If someone gave me these clothes with no tags, I would guess that it's made of ribbed silk. Not that I've ever seen ribbed silk.

Ribbing:
The description "ribbed" makes me think of thick cotton sweatshirt cuffs. These clothes look nothing like sweatshirt cuffs, but the material is definitely ribbed while still being extremely thin. The material is knit in tiny (1/16" [1.6 mm]) ribs, so the entire material stretches. I can easily stretch the fabric to half again its resting size. Because the material is stretchy, additional ribbing on the collar and cuffs isn't necessary, and the material is clingy when worn.

Top:
I am testing a size L top, and it fits me rather well. I normally wear a size 12 blouse (EU 42), but I have long arms (24" [61 cm]). The sleeves on the Woolies are long enough that I can pull the sleeves down over my hands when it gets cold, and the top is long enough that I can raise my arms over my head and my belly button stays covered. I would prefer if the top wasn't so "close-to-body" at my waist, but I can live with that. And I really like the blue color. The material is see-through when I put it up to my eyes and look at a light through it. When the shirt is on, I can make out a contrasting colored bra worn under it, but not a bra similar to my skin tone. This is the same amount of transparency my other lightweight baselayers exhibit when worn. This top is extremely comfortable to wear. It's so light and soft! The Ibex catalog claims it feels "barely there," and I have to agree. After I got it on, I didn't want to take it off.

Bottoms:
I am testing a size XL bottoms. I normally wear size 14 pant (EU 44), and the XL is a little big on me. Since the material is so stretchy, I could probably fit into a Large. However, the "close-to-body fit" keeps the extra material from hanging loosely or bunching up, so I'm happy with the XL. The bottoms have a piece of 1" (2.5 cm) elastic encased in the waistband. The elastic is attached to the waistband along its lower edge and at the back of the waist. I was a little surprised by the narrowness of this elastic. Most of the elastic waistbands I've worn lately are 1¼ - 1⅜ (3.2 cm - 3.5 cm), and that quarter inch (0.6 cm), though small, makes a big difference. I will monitor this elastic throughout the test to see if it twists in its casing and if its narrowness is uncomfortable. The bottoms have a gusseted crotch and seams down the inner thigh. There are no seams down the outer thigh. Wearing these bottoms around the house, I could feel the inner seams rubbing together a little. I will monitor these seams to see if this becomes uncomfortable. The material is also very comfortable on the bottoms. It's like wearing nothing, only warmer.

Tags:
There are three tags sewn into each Woolies item, two cloth and one a thin plastic. One cloth tag identifies Ibex as the manufacturer. One cloth tag says that these are the women's version, the size, and the location of manufacture (Fiji). While a third, large (1½ x 2¼ [3.8 cm x 5.7 cm]) plastic tag has washing instructions in English and universal symbols, suggested detergent (Ivory Snow), clothing composition (100% superfine Merino wool), the location of manufacturer (Fiji), and the Ibex website address in a large font with lots of white space. In my opinion, this plastic tag is too large, and worse, it's itchy. I would prefer if the washing instructions were screen-printed on the material, if possible, or at least were located on a small, soft tag. One other thing, the catalog says these items are made in New Zealand, but the clothing tags clearly state "Made in Fiji".

So Far:
So far I've been really impressed by the Ribbed Woolies. Both the top and bottoms fit well and are extremely comfortable.

Like:
Lightweight
Soft
Stretchy and bounces back

Will watch:
Large, scratchy tags
Thin waistband elastic
Seams on inner thigh

Test Plan:
During the coming months, I will test four of the baselayer properties listed on the hang tag: no stink, no itch, regulates temp, and machine wash. I will also test how well these layers deal with moisture, both from my sweat and from rain. I will watch the three items listed above: tags, elastic and seams. I will be testing the Woolies primarily in the parks and on the trails of Montana and Wyoming.

Read more reviews of Ibex gear
Read more gear reviews by Christine Korhonen

Initial Report

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