At Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, I had the chance to stop by the booth of I/O Bio. With the massive popularity of wool these days, there seems to be another merino company every week. Most of these companies don’t introduce any innovation in their products. I/O Bio isn’t one of those companies.
Generally speaking, most wool base layers are pretty much the same. There’s not a lot you can do with a t-shirt that hasn’t been done before. Somehow, I/O Bio manages to break this mold. The company appears to have put a lot of thought into how their customers are going to use their products.
For example, if you ski there is always the problem of your base layer pants. Ski boots tend to come up pretty high on the thigh and the only thing you want in your boot is a ski sock and your foot. This leaves you with the uncomfortable process of finding a way to roll up your base layer pants so they still fit, yet aren’t in your boot. I/O Bio thoughtfully makes a 3/4 length pair of base layer pants that solve this problem all together.
For ladies, the company is also making wool underwear and bras that are supposed to be quite comfortable. I also got to feel the softest wool hoodie I’ve ever seen. All in all, I’m pretty impressed with the things I/O Bio is doing with wool. I can only hope they keep it up.
Unfortunately, the only thing from the company I have at the moment to test is the universal tee. However, it should give an indication as to the quality of the rest of the products. As you can see from the picture in the article, the actual weaving is very high quality. The fit of the shirt itself is much the same as the typical Arc’Teryx product. That is to say it’s an athletic fit that’s pretty much spot on.
Since the shirt is 100% Merino wool, the care instructions are a bit different than your standard synthetic base layer. You’ll have to get wool specific detergent like Woolite, or Nikwax Wool Wash (my personal favorite). As always, don’t put wool clothing in the dryer. That said, durability is excellent for wool. I’ve washed the shirt multiple times and have yet to notice any piling or stray fibers that you normally see with wool clothing.
As one would normally expect, Merino wool comes at a pretty steep price. The I/O Bio Universal Tee comes in at $59.99. It’s certainly not cheap, but it’s a quality product. I’m really looking forward to seeing what else I/O Bio has coming out in the future.
Product sample provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.
