Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily T-Shirt Review
Perhaps the one T-shirt to rule them all.
Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily T-Shirt Review Introduction
Patagonia - this has been a review long in the making. But, the good news is that means I’ve been product testing for around 4-5 years, LOL. Can’t put any more effort into it than that! This long-beloved brand really does cover the entire gamut of gear: bags, pants, jackets, backpacks and of course: t-shirts. One category being their Capilene Cool Daily t-shirts. A t-shirt I’ve been using in my daily life and travel life for those above mentioned years.
Capilene Cool is Patagonia’s version of a synthetic wonder fabric. They have different versions (and I plan on writing a comparison when I can) meant for different things (even a merino blend), but as mentioned I like the Daily because it feels like the most versatile to me. There’s some good materials science here though, and we’ll go over that in a bit.
This is my review of the Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily t-shirt. I’ve owned upwards of 8 of these for the last 4-5 years, have taken them all over the globe, and wear them regularly in my daily life.
As always for full transparency, I purchased every item reviewed here with my own money. I had no interaction with Patagonia for this review and this is not sponsored. I do use affiliate links which help to support the site if you decide to use them to make a purchase, but you’re under no obligation to do so and there’s no additional cost to you. Thanks for stopping by!
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Capilene Cool Daily T-Shirt Overview
Support small business and look at my photo, not theirs.
Capilene fabric is Patagonia’s version of tech magic (though I have to call them out for bitin’ my style here with the fabric macros. Come on!). It’s a synthetic that they’ve bent to their green-friendly will. The Daily is meant to be the most versatile, meaning you can wear it around town, while working out, running, playing, shopping, wood working, soccer, tree climbing, casual offices, flying, boating…whoa sorry somehow I just got stuck in one of those extended-too-long Family Guy scenes. Getting back on track.
What’s in a name you might ask? Well in this case the “Cool” part is how this fabric helps keep you comfortable and perhaps cool while wearing it. The fabric is lightweight, smooth against your skin with minimal seams to prevent chafing, and in my experience is very wrinkle resistant.
The fabric itself has some additional very travel friendly features: quick drying (good for handwashing), moisture wicking for hot climates, slightly longer sleeves for less exposed skin, and my favorite - anti-odor treatment.
Lastly, I go for the Graphic versions. I just think they are more interesting and look more like a standard daily wear shirt. I also dig their often retro designs.
Fabric is 100% polyester jersey, and 50% of that is recycled.
There is an oft-rotating list of colors available, and they do include these in their semi-annual sales.
It retails for $55.00 USD list price.
Capilene Cool Daily T-shirt Fit
Will keep this short, but I wanted to make sure you all see how these shirts fit. Because they do fit a little differently than a lot of modern shirts (something I think is a good thing in this case). You can see the sleeves are a little longer by design, and if I were to change one thing it would be that. I’m pretty positive they do this for sun coverage, but have not seen that written anywhere so take my opinion as just that - an opinion.
But, many t-shirts these days are too skinny around the waist hem. I feel like they are meant for the taller, slimmer body type that just happens to wear a size Small. It forces those not built like that to size up to a medium, but that shirt then will be ill-fitting in all other ways. I think the general cut of the Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily is really solid overall and doesn’t go that route.
For reference, I’m 5’6” and around 140lbs - I’m wearing a Men’s Small.
The Performance
Capilene Cool Daily Cubed. See what I did there?
The performance of the Capilene Cool Daily really shows up in a couple of ways. First is comfort. To me, because I tend to wear these all year round, I can say that in warm and hot weather, it’s so much more comfortable than cotton, that I don’t know what else to say. It’s so much more comfortable than cotton. How’s that repetition for emphasis? But really it just feels nice on your skin in pretty much all climates. I would not use this for warmth, but for comfort, next to skin feel, and warm to hot climates, it’s so nice. (That said, a long sleeve version is definitely one of my layering pieces in my arsenal).
Odor control is the other biggest factor. There’s kind of a Tale Of Two Cities on this one (Look how well read I am with that reference). On the one hand, it’s odor treated with help from the Stink King, HeiQ. While I don’t think they really want that nickname, they are one of the most well known treatments out there. But on the other hand, it’s polyester, which historically can hold onto smells. The good news is that I find the shirts do really well with the balance of the performance factors of high tech polyester (like wicking, cool on your skin, quick dry, etc) and allowing you to wear multiple times. Like anything, keep in mind that how hard you push your body and the scented deodorant you use can play a role in how many wears you get. These will NOT compete with merino, so set your expectations there. But multiple wears is certainly possible.
Another performance update I think is the quick dry nature. In most environments, these will dry within 2-3 hours. It’s really fantastic. High humidity will affect this, but it really is great for when you’re hand washing in your hotel room. This has been my consistent experience across my ownership.
The Good
The top thing here has to be the feel while wearing it. It’s not just a clever name but there really is an effect where the t-shirts DO feel slightly cool on your skin. Because as you sweat these also do not get stuck to you, or heavy, they are IDEAL for sweaty environments. That means walking around in Kuala Lumpur, or just standing while you melt on the NYC subway platform. Both two recent true stories, PS.
I like the performance and feel of wearing them so much, that honestly I only have 1 cotton t-shirt in my rotation at this point and I think I have 6-8 Capilene Cool Daily shirts. They are my favorite travel t-shirt by far (yes I choose these over the merino super fabric) but they also just became my favorite t-shirt overall. No need for any qualifiers like “travel”.
They pack really light. They don’t wrinkle that easily. They have good retro designs in most cases. You can be colorful if you want, muted if you don’t.
Let’s give it up for the special photo guest stars as well - the packing cube and the Mini MLC pack (which I’m currently reviewing but I will say it’s possibly the best colorway I’ve ever seen in any pack EVER). You can read up more on the Black Hole packing cubes in a big round up I did: Packing Cube Comparisons.
The Bad
There are a few nits for me to pick, but I’d be shocked if these are game changers for any of you readers.
For one, the sleeve length I mentioned previously. I’d love for them to be maybe one cuff shorter. Maybe an inch. But I’m basically just pie in the sky’ing at this point. If I could change anything, I would change that.
Another thing of note is that, how can I say this, they can be a bit….nipply. The fabric is not very thick or bulky like cotton, so YMMV GREATLY on this depending on your personal scenario there. But don’t be surprised if you notice that.
Cost is a bit hard for some people too. I don’t find $55.00 outrageous overall when you consider the ethos, gear warranties, and performance of the shirt. But not everyone can fork out fifty five bucks a pop on these. So I also would not gaslight you and say that’s cheap. It’s certainly a premium price point. As a tip, always check to see if these are on sale. I’ve gotten many of mine at up to 40% off because I just grab one when I see the sale is on.
It’s a little more work to take care of in the sense that I wash on cold and air dry. So, when you want a service to do it for you, you might want to specify. Patagonia says you can tumble dry low, but I usually don’t.
Final Thoughts On My Capilene Cool Daily T-Shirt Review
I finally got around to reviewing the Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily. A shirt that lives up to its name because I do in fact wear one on a daily basis, no matter what I’m doing.
That said this is a travel site so here we go - the Capilene Cool Daily t-shirt is my pick for the best travel t-shirt out there. While it doesn’t reach the highs of merino in terms of odor performance and in some cases, the ability to be a “nicer” t-shirt - because it’s clearly meant to be casual and activity focused - I can’t look past the ease of packing, quick dry nature, and next-to-skin feel of the material. It’s just so damn comfortable in weather that usually is not. But really, it’s comfortable in most other weather. Who doesn’t want that?
Over the years these t-shirts have slowly pushed the cotton out of my dresser drawers and into the donation pile. That’s kind of the biggest endorsement I can give.
Head on over to Patagonia’s site to pick one up if you’re interested. And keep an eye out for sales.
Wander more - and wander smarter everyone.
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