IHSH-287-TUR - Micro Fleece CPO Shirt - Turquoise
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Here to answer my own questions;
I picked up one of these from IH Germany recently after a bit of back and forth on the sizing and I ended up going with a Large. Their measurement came up suspiciously narrow in the chest when everything else aligned with the sizing chart on IHUK. At the end of the day, I took a bit of a chance and went with it to find that the chest was right exactly to the chart and maybe even a little bigger. This fabric has a lot of friction/static so even when you think you have all the fabric pulled out, you might not, as evidence by my having to measure and shake the fabric a few times to get good repeatable measurements.
As for the fabric weight, this is on par with what I would say most outdoor technical manufacturers refer to a 200 weight polar fleece. It is not hard faced on either side and is wonderfully brushed. So soft and cozy.
The material has a good amount of natural elasticity to it, just like any other fleece. You pull, it stretches, and it returns to its original size. I'm not expecting this to meaningfully stretch permanently or even relax much to be honest, just like most of my other fleeces. The only exception is when I have a tight fleece sweater and pull sleeves up my arm does anything ever relax/tighten after wear/washes, respectively.
That aside, this is a fantastic shirt. I was confused over its use case and buying one but was able to rationalize this quite well for any sort of travel that might have cooler/wet weather, yet you still want to have a nice shirt. This will be easy to wash/dry fast, will have minimal bulk/weight when packing, and still looks sharp.
On that last note of looking sharp, today is the first day i've worn the shirt and already two people stopped me to compliment it. That really never happens with my other clothes, maybe with the exception of a type 3 jacket. Anyway, glad I snagged this thing and I'm sure it will be a staple going forward.
Hope this post helps someone on the fence or needing more info about the fabric.
edit: for reference, I'm usually an XL in western UHF's and a L in work shirts and IH Tees/Thermals. I sized down on the recent run of 293-OD's to a size Large to fit like a shirt rather than a jacket.
edit#2: Thanks to graham, oaktavia, and sabregirl for answering my questions in chat as well! That helped me make the right choice. Also of course to IH Germany, Shane, and Nic for putting up with my many measurement requests.
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@pechelman Great observations and writeup! Much appreciated
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@pechelman For the record, IH Germany uses the measurements taken by IH UK for Iron Heart products. If there is a discrepancy, it’s due to a cut and paste error or because a correction was made by IH UK that IH Germany wasn’t aware of.
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@pechelman interesting, maybe that shirt is difficult to measure since it’s a bit stretchy.
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@Alex said in IHSH-287-TUR - Micro Fleece CPO Shirt - Turquoise:
Unlike other Iron Heart CPO shirts, these have no side pockets - in line with early original CPOs.
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