(^76) FLYLIFE
eing of a certain age, I
have a fine collection of
collared ‘technical’ fish-
ing shirts. You can tell
I was a fashion plate as
shades of blue outweigh beige, there
are a couple of salmon tones, a couple
of whites, and even a bright orange.
The labels are ecumenical Columbia
and Ex Officio, Orvis and Sage and
more recently dominated by Simms
and the embroidered cowboy shirts
from Howler Bros. Models from the
last five years are typically threadbare
and faded, since these days I get more
hours a week in my boats than in
my truck.
A couple of favourites are better
than 15 years old, worn soft and
comfortable, perhaps despite, perhaps
because of the nicks from errant flies
and riverside thorns, with the odd
dubious stain from bacon grease or
Gink, so I wouldn’t advise a taste
test. You don’t buy memories, you
earn them.
KEEPING COOL
We buy ‘tech’ shirts for temperature
control and ventilation, sun protection,
and to fit in with the cool crowd via
ridiculous numbers of pockets. The
early 2000s versions of Columbia’s
Bahama and Simms’ Guide shirt were
the nadir of that particularly trend —
the fins on a ’59 Cadillac land-yacht if
you will — and the buggers still sold.
Load those pockets up and you lost
about 40% of your breathability and
made your average AFL footballer
look like Dolly Parton. I’m still not
certain why they were the uniform.
These days the lycra-ish sun shirt
styles are what is cool and groovy.
These generally have a higher sun
protection rating, the more casual
vibe of a long sleeve tee, and are tight
enough to show your gym honed pecs
and abs.
Of course, once you hit fifty, go up
a size. It’s a sad fact that the unbri-
dled sense of liberation you get from
enjoying the morning coffee naked,
once the offspring are grown and
gone, is only overtaken by the horror
felt at glimpsing any reflective surface.
You may feel 20 on the inside but the
exterior doesn’t lie.
The Arkansas summers are hot and
humid, mid to high 30s, interspersed
with pop-up thunderstorms that will
rattle your ears and have you bail-
ing like a maniac. It’s not exactly
trout weather, though the cold tailrace
waters that sustain the trout make the
river the best place to be on a sum-
mer day.
So a favourite shirt that keeps me
cool and sun-protected will get plenty
of use from March through to the end
of November. But then I started to get
the weirdest feeling, of itchy sunburn
on my back and shoulders, prompting
me to do some research on sun pro-
tection clothing.
Having come through the 70s, 80s
and 90s in Australia, I thought I had
a fair knowledge of sun protection,
but my faith in said clothing had been
a little generous, at least under the
abuse I was giving it. That shouldn’t
have surprised me — almost every-
thing labelled ‘Guide’ these days isn’t
built to stand up to day in, day out
guide life, even only 100 days a year.
SUN PROTECTION
There are 4 basic ways to build sun
protection into clothing:
THE WEAVE: Tightly woven fab-
rics (or the thicker it is), the less UV
light will penetrate.
THE FABRIC: Some synthetic fab-
rics are formulated to convert ultra-
violet light or deflect it away. Other
synthetics, like nylon and polyester,
and organic fibres like silk, reflect UV
light naturally.
THE DYE: Specially formulated dyes
help increase a fabric’s UPF rating.
THE CHEMISTRY: Chemical treat-
ments like reflective brighteners can
be applied to the bulk cloth before
being cut and sewn.
The rub of course is simple wear
and tear. Favourite shirts get put
on for more fishing trips, and get
more need for regular washing. Fabric
weaves open up over time, fibres dis-
tort and, with multiple washings, dyes
fade and treatments can literally wash
away, all decreasing the effectiveness
of UV protection. And the research is
somewhat mixed on the relative rates
of decline, from not much impact to
the loss of as much as 50% of UV
rating within a few washes.
The good news is that there are
products, so called ‘optical brighten-
ers’, in a lot of modern laundry soaps,
or specific UV dyes, which can bolster
the UV protection of garments.
The downside is trying to figure
out what rating your garment might
retain after a year’s use or two, and
in the case of US$80 shirts you’re
probably going to expect more than
a year’s use.
MOISTURE
Finally the big eye-opener is the
impact of moisture on UV protection.
Taking a swim to cool off in summer,
or simply sweating enough on a hot
day, can potentially cut your UV
protection by half. Going swimming
in your tech shirt probably isn’t the
smartest idea for the rest of your day.
So you can see that, in my 4-year-
old shirts with faded dyes, probably
50 washings a year, and damp with
sweat, I might have had more sun
protection wearing one of the wife’s
lacy underthings.
When it comes to sun protection you
can’t be too careful. Treat your tech
shirts well, wear them but don’t keep
them beyond their reasonable life. You
wouldn’t do it with the oil in your fish-
ing truck either would you?
SIMMS INTRUDER
If you can’t stomach the look of the
modern sun shirts but want similar
properties, the new Simms Intruder
BiComp Shirt is UPF 30 and really
comfortable.
I confess I wasn’t thrilled with the
look of any of Simms’ earlier attempts
to meld the two styles together. But
this one is growing on me with its
woven sun-shirt style sleeves and the
modern tech shirt core.
B
Latest & Greatest
New fly fishing products with Steven Dally
FL
(^76) FLYLIFE
For more information
email [email protected]
For your nearest stockist visit cortlandaunz.com or call +61 (0) 455 105 222
CORTLAND IS BACK
lu
(lu)
#1