Review: Jackeroo Shirt

My recent foray into Tough Mudder gave me a reason to break out my safari shirt: Our Team, the Funk-A-Mentals had a 70's theme, and my best offering to this was this khaki safari-shirt, by Jackeroo, the same people who brought you the Hooded Vest I reviewed previouslyy. This was also a Giftmas present, same year, same batch. Made from a fast-drying nylon outer and polyester liner as the vest, and hardy stitching throughout, this is a durable shirt, that just happens to look like it fell out of Jurassic Park. I don't mind that at all, and happily wore it to work on a number of occasions.

One of the great features was the pectoral pockets which fasten with hook-and-loop and have an internal pocket on the left side as well. This was sufficiently well closed to withstand the Tough Mudder mud, water and crawling around, and not loose my spare Contour GPS battery. It also features a extendable fold-up collar, for those times when getting a sunburnt neck doesn't appeal. Another interesting and well placed feature is the mesh lining around the shoulders, and vents under the arms. I found that in an urban setting, the material actually made me a bit sweaty, whilst out and about in the wind this wasn't nearly as much of a problem. Somewhere along the line the shirt picked up a weird blue stippled stain over one shoulder, which reduced its work-wear potential, and I popped a button adventuring. These things made it an ideal piece of clothing to put through Tough Mudder. I can tell you, that is a pretty harsh test for clothing's durability.

I saw a lot of discarded gloves, shirts, socks and trail-packs. I wasn't planning to discard anything, though at several points as I was caked in an inch of mud over my entire body I did feel like shedding layers just to drop that mass. However, the material of this shirt sloughed off the mud fairly easily, didn't get snagged or hooked up on any of the obstacles, be it the Berlin Walls, trench crawls or cargo nets, and once I got to running, dried speedily and broke the heavy headwind nicely. The sleeves were cut such that I could do all the crawling, climbing and scrambling I needed to without hindrance.

As you can see, it got fairly cruddy, but after a couple of washes, it was as good as new. Or at least, as good as "before Tough Mudder". If K-Mart still stocks these, I'd be strongly considering picking a couple more up, in long-sleeve, to add to my adventure-wear.

Review: Jackeroo hooded vest

Melbourne's inclement and changeable weather leads to some interesting clothing requirements. Just as in Crowded House's "Four Seasons in One Day", we can have a weekend topping 37oC and dry, then 25oC and tropically steaming and wet to 19oC drizzly and dank by Tuesday. Seasoned Melbournites can usually take this in their strides, and plan appropriately, (even if our tram and train networks seemingly can not), however having some multi-seasonal pieces of clothing goes a long way towards not being caught too badly off guard. My take on this is to wear layers, and take-off, or do-up as required. I usually keep a pair of fingerless gloves of some kind stuffed in the pockets of most of my coats and outer-wear vests, and a bandana, shemagh or Headsox scarf to round out my options. However, here is a piece of clothing that fills several niches at once. This is the Jackeroo hooded vest, which is a KMART line, apparently. I'm a big fan of vests, mostly because I wear my holster harness all the time, and a vest is a good way to cover up its lines. This adventure-wear vest is no exception. With long lines, it comes down past my belt line, even in size M, and zippers shut to give me a nice snug fir to keep the wind and weather out. There are two chest pockets, closed with hook-and-loop, one of which featuring a second, zipperable pocket and lanyard loop. The outer is a tightly woven nylon and the inner is a breathable and wicking polyester mesh.

Below this are two bulkier triple pockets; one side opening pocket for hands,and two buttoned-down gear pockets on each side give ample storage capacity. The bottom of the left pocket has another lanyard loop. The waist has a well fitted and mounted shock-cord drawstring, adjustable on both sides. The hood buttons to the body with press-studs and features the same wicking mesh as the body. A great feature of this hood is the incorporated bill, which extends past the drawstring, a great addition for glasses-wearers like myself.
 The collar of the vest also has some good features worth mentioning.

As well as having a press-stud closure, the high collar is tailored to stay up without being too constrictive, which is a welcome relief to those of us who don't like water trickling down into our drier layers.Not only is the vest quick drying (but not waterproof, mealy resistant)and very light, it also packs down int a very small bundle, for when you want to either pack something just-in-case, or the weather changes and it's too much to wear. I usually just open mine up, as the light material just whisps around me day-to-day. I have only seen these in khaki, which is great, as it's my colour, but the other products in this line also come in light-safari-green.

I'm very happy with this as an inclement weather vest, camping and adventuring-wear, and urban preparedness ready piece of clothing. It fits my aesthetic nicely, and is hard wearing, light and suitable for multiple conditions.