Friday, January 16, 2009

SWOBO Sale / Love for the Merino Bobby

SWOBO is having a yard sale on some great items! If you want some wool clothing with a little more styling, then they're your ticket.

Sunday Bobby
I have to confess, I've been lusting after the merino bobby for a while but it was a bit too spendy for my wallet in these tough times. However, they're on sale and I ordered a few of them. Let me tell you, they're pretty awesome as far as polos go (something that I thought I'd never wear). The lines of the collar on the bobby are sharp and contemporary. The polo sports a single breast pocket attached with some red stitching for a little bit of contrast. There is also the signature sewn in chain plate on the left sleeve with red thread, so as not to be confused with those nerdy polos :)

The wool has a nice smooth hand and instantly feels like a shirt you've owned for a while. The wool weight is thinner than say the typical Riv wool shirt but thicker than an Ibex baselayer (is this wool-speak making sense?). I've only owned the shirt for about a day or so, so these are short-term impressions, but I think these have a good chance of being some of my favorite shirts.

These shirts are casual enough to wear just lounging around but also look nice enough to wear on a night out or at some meetings. Definitely a step up from the basic wool crew cut T-shirt. For me, I forsee these being my "go to" shirts on Spring and Summer days for photo shoots (heck I'm going to wear one at an assignment in a few hours). They would also make great riding shirts or touring shirts (they're a little more respectable looking so it doesn't look like you just tumbled out of the woods).

Anyways, a great buy and at this price you can get a few.

A few other things of interest that I don't own so I can't really comment about...

Men's Bruno Knicker
These are a nice looking knicker. The Yard Sale price makes it bit more competitive with say the offerings from Chrome and Bicycle Fixation (and definitely Rapha). If it's the typical Swobo quality then these would be a steal!

Women's Hickey Knicker
I'm not a woman, obviously, but if I were these would be on my short list. In the era of 3-digit knickers, one that comes in at $60 and made from Swobo is a good deal.

Men's Merino Origins T
Priced at around what a Smartwool or Riv. merino shirt would cost, but with nicer better styling.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you're interested in respectable-looking clothing for on the bike as well as off, I'd recommend checking out Nau. Lots of great merino wool items with an eye towards performance AND style, as well as being socially and environmentally responsible. I picked up a bunch of their clothing when they had a big clearance last May and I can say that it's all really awesome stuff. The downside is they're really expensive, but they occasionally have sales.

RussRoca said...

Nau IS nice! I think Laura got some wool pants when they were having a sale...

I'll definitely have to wait for a sale for my mere mortal budget...

Unknown said...

I now have 4 swobo merino jerseys thanks the the fact that chainlove.com has been selling them half price. They are by far my favorite non-summer jersey.
Now if I could only find a rapha jersey at 70% off...