Gear Review: Rab MeCo 120 Tee

Baselayers can be boring or overwhelming, depending on your perception of clothing as equipment. The push in the past several years has been towards merino wool and now it seems like everyone and their dog is selling merino wool baselayers. Smartwool, Icebreaker, Mammut, and Patagonia are the big boys, but now all the smaller companies even have their own. What’s the difference? Wool is wool, right? Well, not exactly.

Many of these wool products are very similar, the main differences being in the production methods and quality. Some may have greater durability, use more environmentally sound methods, or use a combination of wool and synthetics in different places, but in the end they all get the job done.

The new Rab MeCo baselayers are a different animal because they use a blend of 65% merino wool and 35% Cocona (a coconut/nylon fabric designed to increase the garment’s drying time).

I got a chance to test out the Rab Meco 120 Tee recently and it gets a big ProLite Gear thumb’s up! My new t-shirt stayed on my back constantly during waking hours, five days straight. I wore it at work and I wore it for play, including a full day of rock climbing in 80+ degree heat and a few post-work runs.

Here are the results:
Smell: After five days it doesn’t smell like roses. Don’t be misled by people claiming wool doesn’t smell. It does. BUT it takes a lot of activity to get it to qualify as funk. I can usually stink up a shirt in a few hours, and although my MeCo Tee didn’t smell like lavender it took the full five days and lots of sweat to funkify. My coworkers and girlfriend kept pretty quiet until the last day, and that never happens. After washing, it was back to new and actually felt more comfortable since the wool fibers had softened slightly. My synthetic layers tend to retain their stink despite repeated washing, so the wool wins so far.

Dry time: The two main tests used for dry time were rock climbing and running. The mile-long approach in 80+ degree heat gave me something to sweat about, but as soon as my pack came off my back was dry. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the Cocona fabric increased drying time. But what about highly aerobic activities like running? We’re all multi-sport athletes so I wanted to see what would happen if I really cranked up the volume.

I went outside for a run and no plan for distance or time. My only plan was to sweat. Since I started wearing the MeCo shirt, I noticed I wasn’t sweating much and I needed some experience with its drying time. So I ran. I ran and ran but was getting frustrating that there was no sweat. I’m usually pretty sweaty when I run, but I first noticed sweat after approximately four miles. I’m not a dedicated runner so I was getting tired and felt relieved to find more than a few drops on my back. But I also noticed that my neck and head were already pretty well soaked. I had been sweating the whole time, but the t-shirt fabric transferred moisture so quickly that my torso never felt wet. I stopped my run about eight blocks before returning home, just so I could see how long my shirt would take to dry. When I got home the shirt was just the slightest bit damp. I have never had a wool shirt dry that quickly.

To learn more about how the CoCona fabric helps keep you dry, click here.

Check out the Rab MeCo baselayers here.