CPO Shirts and Shirt-Jackets

[floater]

My favorites are from engineered garments, particularly the older heavy wool ones, japanese design/fit but made in nyc

 

[Eagledog]

Weatherwool heavyweight jacket. Notice the giant pockets. One side has a zipper security pocket. The hand pockets are enormous. They connect to to the top opening on the inside pocket. I dump my dog leash inside while walking the Small Munsterlanders. This jacket is super soft. It's amazing. So flexible and comfortable. Lovely to wear around the evening campfire, watching ducks gathering on the lake for the evening.

 

[Eagledog]

This is the weatherwool CPO midweight fabric. It is much lighter. Feels like wearing nothing. So easy to toss on in the morning whilst enjoying the first cup of coffee on the balcony. Just like the jacket, it is super soft. No itching.
They also make lovely blankets.

 

[jchance]

I recently tried on Mister Freedom CPO shirt and holy cow, I didn’t know wool could be made so soft without any itching. I think I’ve found my grail CPO shirt, though the price is a bit steep

https://misterfreedom.com/products/crackerjack-cpo-navy

 

[Kfz]

McNair merino wool shirt from England is another solid heavy weight shirt designed by high altitude mountain workers.
https://mcnairshirts.com/

I have a Charcoal Large, near new for sale. 45.5” pit to pit, 31.5” back length. If anyone is interested

 

[Guppy]

Here's another update...

I learned about the Weatherwool company through The Iron Snail's youtube channel.

When I checked out their website, they had none in stock, and the way they are set up, you can place an order for $0 to be notified when they are available again for purchase.

Initially I didn't think I could justify $475 for a shirt, but they did it to me -- a one-off goof with their fabric specification resulted in what they are calling an Intermediate weight shirt, which for them is 15oz. Limited run, one time deal, FOMO...



Weatherwool normally have a Medium Weight and Full Weight wool in 12 and 18oz, respectively. The fullweight is used in their Shirt Jac, and the Midweight for their CPO shirt. So the extra-beefy intermediate weight 15oz seemed right up my alley. They also make a "wool denim" fabric -- 100% wool, woven like cotton denim, which looks really interesting.

I got an email notifying me that the new batch of CPOs were being made, and read about the special fabric, woven like the midweight, but with the heavier yarn they usually weave the full weight from, and decided to bite. They sold out quickly, and the ordering page has been removed from their site already... so who knows, but depending on the response they get from the buyers, maybe the'll deliberately order more of this new Intermediate weight fabric.

I'm waiting on delivery of my order, should be a few weeksmonths. I'll update when it gets here. I've been spending a lot of time outside and with the weather cooling off it's nice to be able to pull out the heavy wool again for another season.

My Weatherwool CPO shirt was delivered a couple of weeks ago. A bit later than expected, but better late than never. I wouldn't complain about it, good things come to those who wait and all. Plus this is a lifetime purchase.

Fortunately its arrival coincided with some of the coldest weather we've had this year. We had a couple of days where the temperature was near 0F, so I got to use the shirt for its intended purpose.

My initial impressions of the shirt were very positive. The fabric is thick, soft, soft enough to be worn against the skin with no base later under it, and the weave has a lot of loft, yet feels dense enough. It blocks wind well, yet breathes. It instantly warms you if you put it on indoors. It's amazing, it feels like it radiates heat somehow, the instant you put it on. You can wear it indoors when the thermostat reading would have you reaching for a sweater, and be comfortable.
This shirt is woven in what they call Intermediate Weight, 15oz, and is woven like their Fullweight jacquard woven fabric, but using the thinner yarn used in the Midweight fabric, a mistake resulting in a fabric of a weight between the 12.5oz Midweight and the 18oz Fullweight. A happy mistake, I think this is just about ideal. I haven't felt either the midweight or the fullweight, but I think this Intermediate weight is fantastic -- plenty warm, plenty thick, but not too thick, and a bit fuzzy, almost like a microfleece. It's not a regular offering, so when it was announced I jumped on it and I'm glad that I did. I hope that they will consider adopting it as a regular option that they will produce again. Since it's a mistake fabric, the label inside says "Midweight". It would have been a bit much to expect them to run off a batch of "Intermediate weight" labels for an error.

The color, Drab, is a nice solid olive drab color, but it's hue has got a bit of a warm, muddy brown to it, compared to military OD green.

Construction is solid, very well stitched, the buttons sewn into reinforced nylon strips, very securely fastened to the fabric. The collar, due to the thickness of the fabric, tends to stand up a bit, rather than folding over and laying flat. I expect this will change with further wear, as the fabric seems to be molding to my body the more hours I put into wearing it.

Fit is generous, I sized down to a Medium, and it fits as I wanted it to. The measurements given on the website were very accurate.

Outdoors is where it really comes into its own. I wore it while walking around at the park on a windy day temperature about 15F, under my Aero Thunder Bay jacket. I had forgotten to zip the jacket, and didn't even notice the cold, at least not on my body. My exposed skin, on my face and hands, were very cold, but none of it got through the shirt under the open jacket.

It's my most expensive shirt, at nearly $500, but the quality is there. I'm impressed by the quality, every aspect from the wool fiber to the weave to the pattern and construction, there's no compromises.

While very expensive, I am happy with it and would buy it again, absolutely no regrets, and will get a lot of use out of it.