Undershirt Review: Second Silverback Apparel Tester Who Suffers from Excessive Sweating Sees Promise in Bamboo Fabric

Here’s a great dialog between one of our Silverback Apparel testers and the folks over at Silverback.

The thing I really like about this dialog is that it intertwines practical information about excessive sweating, various fabric characteristics, and some good foundational information on one individual’s perspective on the various Silverback undershirts as it applies to his personal body conditions.

Before you read the information below, I would like to offer up the context in which it was written. Our tester wore the undershirts and tested them under an extreme condition of working out to see how they may perform under worst case conditions. It does not necessarily represent how the undershirt will perform under normal body temperature and wearing conditions.

I also did this not too long ago in my Sweat Challenge series where I wore a few undershirts as a base layer when working out to determine if high performing moisture wicking undershirts actually made the situation of sweating through to an outer layer worse. Overall, our findings are similar in that under heavy sweating conditions, it appears that it’s better to wear an undershirt that will absorb sweat than one that will wick (transfer) sweat.

The challenges with finding undershirts that perform well under heavy sweating conditions are:

1. the fabric is too thick/heavy and it makes you warmer and then you sweat more
2. it does a good job in soaking up the sweat but it retains the moisture and stays wet longer and no one really likes to wear a wet undershirt
3. it performs ok, but the engineered fabric retains your B.O. more and you wind up smelling worse than when you wear natural fabrics like cotton

Let me warn you in advance, it’s a long email exchange so go grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy!

[Tester]

I want to thank you once again for sending me the undershirts to sample. Overall, I have to tell you I was very impressed with the Bamboo shirt, but not so much with the X-Static (which was somewhat surprising to me given what you told me about each, and what I read about them on your website). Anyhow, before I dive into details I want to provide you with a couple important caveats as background.

First, please know that hyperhidrosis can be a very socially debilitating condition. As such, when I evaluate an undershirt’s performance, it’s almost 100% about functionality for me – namely the ability of the undershirt to retain moisture and NOT soak through to my outer shirt. Some of the more aesthetic features of the shirt (such as comfort, fit, feel, style, etc.) that are important to most consumers are of lesser concern to me. So please forgive me if I spend relatively less time on these qualities. For what it’s worth, I’d actually give your undershirts high marks on all these attributes.

Second, the weather in {Mid-West City} is still relatively cool. So with the intent of getting you feedback sooner rather than later, I decided to “stress test” the undershirts by wearing them under a plain cotton t-shirt during an intense 30-minute workout. In some respects, this represents a higher bar because one might not expect the product to work under such strenuous conditions (i.e., I sweat buckets when I workout). But in other respects, I think it was an easier test because I only wore them for a brief 30-minute period. Regardless, what I’m most interest in assessing is how an undershirt works on hot, humid days when I’m outside for a prolonged period of time, but not necessarily doing vigorous activity like running. The good news is I think I’ll have the chance to find out in the next few weeks as May is rapidly approaching.

Finally, please know that I have tried a multitude of products over the years to address this challenging condition, including Dri Fit, Cool Max, Kleinert, and Underarmour – just to name a few. I’ll try to make comparisons where possible. For context, I’ll be providing my feedback on your shirts relative to these brands (which I consider to be in your competitive set), as opposed to comparing them to traditional cotton undershirts like Hanes, Jockey, Fruit of the Loom, etc.

X-Static

I tried the X-Static product first, and as I indicated above it was not as effective as I had hoped in preventing sweat from migrating to my outer shirt. Specifically, I sweat profusely (as usual) during my run, and both the X-Static and my light cotton outer shirt were completely soaked when I finished my workout. Also, contrary to what I was expecting based on your description, I did not notice it drying any faster than an ordinary undershirt when I hung it out to dry after my workout. Although once again this is of secondary importance to me relative to the primary benefit I seek of not sweating through to my outer garment.

In retrospect, I’m not all that surprised by this result because I believe you indicated in an earlier email that the X-Static is designed to “wick-away” sweat (much like Dri Fit and Under Armour). Personally I’ve not had good success with this technology in the past, and I actually think this is an undesirable characteristic for my condition because the single most important thing to me is that sweat does not penetrate through to my outer shirt. Almost by definition/design, “wick-away” will wet an outer garment by way of transporting perspiration from the inner garment to the outer garment. Contrast this with what I consider to be the best sweat-proof undershirt I’ve encountered to date – Kleinert – where the premise is to retain moisture within the undergarment and not let it pass through to the outer one.

The other challenge I had with the X-Static is that it is 96% polyester. As you might expect, polyester can be highly problematic for hyperhidrosis sufferers because it doesn’t breathe like cotton, and therefore actually makes one feel hotter and therefore more prone to heavy sweat. Once again for comparison, Kleinert is 100% cotton, and does not pose this same problem. So you can probably see where this is going…I felt like I was sweating even more than I might have otherwise because of the polyester material, yet I was wearing an undershirt that didn’t retain (and in fact actually wicked) perspiration to my outer shirt.

Bamboo

Conversely, I was pleasantly surprised with the Bamboo undershirt I tried next and hope the favorable results I received in my initial wearing will carry through to other wearing situations. Similar to when testing the X-Static, I wore the Bamboo underneath a light cotton t-shirt during a 30-minute fairly intense workout. When I finished, the Bamboo shirt was drenched with sweat, but the outer t-shirt I was wearing was actually relatively dry. Interestingly, the little perspiration that did manage to find its way through to my outer t-shirt was on the back, outside of the “double layer” zone. I think this is further evidence the sweat-proof area did its job. One question I have is why wouldn’t you extend this double-layer protection to an even broader wearing area?

I also found the shirt to feel more like cotton than the X-Static. I assume this is because bamboo as a operates more like cotton than the polyester that’s in X-Static? Anyway, I didn’t feel as “suffocated” in the Bamboo as I did in the X-Static, and I’d say it felt as “cool” as a Kleinert in terms of breathability. Furthermore, I actually liked the comfort/fit more than the Kleinert, which fits/feels bulkier than the Bamboo.

So in conclusion, I am very pleased with Bamboo’s initial results and would love to further “road test” it under the hot, humid conditions I mentioned above, and obviously without the artificial intense activity of a workout that I was using to simulate heat. Please let me know how I go about getting more of the Bamboo undershirts, as I believe they hold promise yet believe it is difficult to make a definitive conclusion without wearing it on a more consistent basis. Conversely, if you think my “one wearing” results may be an anomaly, please let me know and I’d be happy to give the X-Static another try and keep both options open a little longer.

I hope this helps and please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do for you to return your generous favor. Also, if you don’t mind, can you please let me know your thoughts regarding my experiences? Are you surprised by my results? Do you have any thoughts/explanations for why one seemingly worked better for me than the other, and whether this is unusual?

[Silverback]

Thank you for your well detailed and comprehensive review. I am happy to see that you are taking such a keen interest in testing out our products. The differences you observed between the Bamboo and the X-Static don’t surprise me. The shirts themselves were designed to be worn as undershirts rather than workout shirts, which is why the X-Static shirt would start to behave more like an athletic shirt. I’ll explain the X-Static shirt a little more in a bit.

First I would like to give you a little background regarding the materials. Our Bamboo/Cotton material effectively can be considered a softer and more breathable cotton with anti-microbial properties. It is better than cotton in every way and this is why our company chose to use it over cotton. Our X-Static fabric on the other hand is a high performance wicking material, and has proven to perform better than most of the fabrics in it’s category. The shirt is also made of 4% pure silver to utilize silver’s anti-microbial properties. The silver guarantees the shirt says fresh and will not start smelling even after washing, which is a problem for most other polyester shirts. What makes it effective for sweat control is it’s ability to soak-up sweat and wick it. The reason for this is to increases the surface area exposure of the sweat and thus facilitate rapid evaporation.

The issues you were having with the X-static are from the amount of sweat that was developed during your workout. Bamboo has a larger sweat carrying capacity than cotton or polyester, where as our X-Static (polyester) has a greater drying capacity than cotton or bamboo. Depending on how much you sweat, the X-Static shirt can either be beneficial or detrimental. Plus it’s ability to induce rapid evaporation will also help keep you cooler, as the evaporation takes heat away from your body. I am surprised that you found the shirt to not dry quicker than a cotton shirt. Could this be because it was underneath the cotton shirt and absorbed a lot more sweat than the cotton shirt? Our tests and our customer’s emails, X-Static has proven to dry very quickly. Could you please try wearing it on an average day, and see how it performs better for you.

You compared X-Static to Kleinert, but you should actually be comparing it to similar fabrics, such as Dri Fit, Cool Max, and Underarmour. One advantage with our shirts is that the material we use is a lighter material and reduces the amount the shirt warms you up. We did not make the the double layer on the back wider in order to keep the shirt from making you too hot. If you don’t mind, would you be able to send us more details on the Bamboo shirt and how it compares to other products you have tried?

[Tester]

Thank you for your response. First, a point of clarification regarding the drying time on the X-Static… I was actually referring to the time it took for the undershirt to dry AFTER I had taken it off and hung it to dry. I placed it over a towel rack and it literally took hours to dry completely, which I found surprising. Also, you bring up a good point about comparisons. I agree Cool Max, Dri Fit and Under Armour are the right products to compare to X-Static (Kleinert is probably better to compare to Bamboo). I am happy to give the X-Static another try. I think next time I’ll “test” it under more realistic conditions (e.g., walking to work on a hot and humid day, as opposed to during a workout). I have to admit I’m a little skeptical only because I tend to find wicking undershirts as a bad match for my condition.

As for Bamboo, I am very encouraged by my one-day results. In fact, I would say that if these results can be consistently achieved under more normal wearing conditions (e.g., walking outside at a leisurely pace on a hot, humid day), Bamboo could very well become my undershirt of preference. For perspective, my current favorite undershirt for hyperhidrosis is Kleinert. and I like Kleinert for two reasons. The first is because it has demonstrated the best results in retaining (NOT wicking) perspiration, and preventing it from soaking through to my outer shirt. The other thing I like about Kleinert is that it is 100% cotton, and therefore breathes better and doesn’t make me as hot as synthetic material.

There are three things I do NOT like about Kleinert. First, although Kleinert’s performance on sweat retention is “the best of the lot,” it is still somewhat hit or miss. For example, if I’m sweating heavily on my back and then lean back against a car seat, the sweat will often penetrate the Kleinert undershirt and soak the outer shirt. Second, the sweat retention mechanism is chemical, which means it requires special washing treatment and is only effective for a certain number of washes. Lastly, Kleinert is a fairly bulky undershirt which doesn’t fit me nearly as well as Bamboo. As I mentioned yesterday, aesthetic characteristics are less important to me than sweat-proof performance, but if I can obtain relatively equal sweat-proof results from two different undershirt brands, I’d obviously go with the one with superior aesthetics (fit, feel, etc.).

I hope this answers your questions. Please feel free to let me know if you’d like me to elaborate on anything in more detail, or if you have additional questions. As I mentioned yesterday, the real test for me will be in how the undershirt performs over time, and under various wearing conditions.

Other posts you might be interested in...

• Upcoming Undershirt Review: Silverback Apparel
• Undershirt Review Update: Silverback Apparel Tester Says Shirts Perform Very Well in Hotter Conditions
• Ask Tug: Undershirts for Hyperhidrosis