My go-to adventure T-shirt for all the sports

Stephanie Dietze

Stephanie Dietze

— 3 min read
The Icon Merino T-shirt in tie-dye print thrown over a Foxtail Agave.

Hey friends,

It's been a couple of weeks and I hope you've been well while I've been busy creating my freelance website and moving my family to Tenerife for a month (sounds tough, I know).

We're currently spending our last week at a house that's 1000 meters up the mountain, where clouds often silently pass through the garden or just hang out all day. But lately, the sun has gotten stronger even up here and with it came warm light, moving shadows, and glistening reflections.

Shadow of a blue-spotted glass in the sun.

Which has finally gotten me into the mood of adventure planning. I'll be attempting my first multi-day gravel event in June this year (because I want to find out what happens if I just keep riding when the sun sets). We'll be celebrating a friend's birthday in a mountain hut (perfect way to celebrate, if you ask me), and there will most likely be some kind of surf trip with the family, because the beach makes it easy to entertain a child.

While all of these trips will require a completely different set of gear, there's one piece of clothing that I know I'll bring on every one of them—because I brought it on literally every trip since I bought it four years ago. It's a simple, lightweight merino T-shirt (if you've read my last post, you knew it would be something made of wool 😏) and great for cycling, hiking, running, or simply existing.

Stephanie wearing the Icon Merino T-Shirt standing under a tiny bus stop shelter next to two bikes loaded with bikepacking bags.
Finding shelter during a thunderstorm last summer.

My shirt is the Icon Merino T-Shirt by Mons Royale, and while any 100% merino shirt will give you a similar experince, there's a couple of reasons why I love this one in particular:

  • The cut. It's a boxy cut, but not unisex, meaning it fits well at the shoulders. It's slightly cropped and the sleeves are on the longer side, but not too long.
  • The print. I love the tie-dye look and it hasn't lost its appeal over the years (at least for me, lol).
  • The lightweight fabric. Makes it lofty enough to wear on a long-ish bike ride, and quick to dry after handwashing.
  • The material. The fact that it's 100% wool makes it breathable, fine to wear for a couple of days if you air it out at night, or warm enough to sleep in on a cooler night.

There's currently a men's version with a much cooler print than the women's version comes in (why, Mons Royale?), but it's worth checking second hand platforms for prints from previous collections. I bought the green men's version of my shirt on Ebay Kleinanzeigen in order to have two, but the cut is, surprise, actually made for men. Which is why I gave it to my partner and remind (read: force) him to wear it whenever he goes cycle touring, even if we end up wearing the same shirt next to each other—something I absolutely avoid usually, but this shirt makes me forget my principles.

A man wearing the Icon Merino T-Shirt while cycling through corn fields.
Somewhere in between Frankfurt and the Taunus last year.

Avid readers of this newsletter will have noticed that I mentioned the Icon T-Shirt in my 10 things I did not buy last year list—and I'm still sad I didn't buy it in last year's print. I'm just too scared that I'll lose mine or that the tiny hole in the left sleeve will get bigger before I'll get myself to sit still for ten minutes and mend it.

I'll be waiting for another actually nice looking print to be released, I guess.

Patiently waiting,
Stephanie

PS. Do you have a T-shirt for adventuring that you'd recommend? Let me know in the comments :)

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