Buy it on sale ... I usually wait until it's 50% off :D

Quality engineering doesn't come cheaply (neither does employing people to engineer, design and construct the garment itself in the EU).

I guess that I've always been a fan of having fewer items that are of higher quality than more items of lower quality.

I wanted to share my experience about how well the UA baselayer worked for me, not to turn this into a where is it made bashing thread. If one prefers another over the UA great, otherwise I would respectfully ask the mods to close this thread.

Really? I mean just be happy no one has said that they wear cotton longjohns and jeans in all weather yet. Disputatiousness is the heart of the interwebs...

:lol:

UA recently came out with a "Loose fit" cold gear which is awesome. The Nike hyper warm is also really good. In the end I think if UA or Nike was making junk, word would get out and they would be done. Nobody is going to pay that kind of money for something that is junk with the company surviving. Pro athletes help with the design of that stuff which I think is more important that what an engineer writes on paper.

UA Coldgear is nice, but I find the Nike Dri-fit and the Asics equivalent to be warm too. The shirts have short collars for added warmth. And you can pick them up for $15 at Marshalls/TJ Maxx/Ross or similar store.

what is this?

u: UA is the best
me: Assos is technically superior
u: your crap is too expensive
me: my stuff isn't made in an asian sweatshop, it's made in a European sweatshop where the people only get 25 paid holidays/year (instead of the full 35/year) and are forced to drink free drip coffee rather than free espresso all day long, so it's a little more expensive than stuff made in an asian sweatshop
u: give me my ball, i'm going home

:lol:

Can't find the word [crap] in my post. Have a nice day

:lol:

+1. Merino undergarments beats poly any day of the week in any climate. Poly is ok for middle and best for outerlayers.

I've been wearing a thin Merino wool sweater as my baselayer on colder morning. Very effective. Add an extra wool sweater and a wind blocking layer and good down to about 5F.

Target C9.

I spent about $500 on wool layers this winter. Great stuff.

Poly is better than... cotton.

Does wool require special washing/drying procedures?

That's where I'd go for more if I needed them, but I'm still wearing a lot of the same clothes I bought about 5 years ago.

Not especially, but the important stuff is a) cold water b) line dry.

I use the Champion C9 stuff for mountain biking and under layer road riding long sleeves under my jersey.

This winter I bought two of the $20 merino wool sweaters from Costco for commuting and they worked out awesome.

I used to wear cotton longjohns under cycling tights and it worked pretty well under subzero F conditions. Life is too short to ride in jeans in my view, but YMMV

Merino socks go in the washer and dryer. All other merino layers wash in the washer but dry flat or hang dry.

op you might try tossing the cotton anything too.

For longevity, I hand wash my merino clothes in cold water and line dry. I get into a routine where I wash the garments as soon as I get home; it's only a ten minute process.

Nice generalization there.