FASTHOUSE TRACE SS TECH TEE
£34.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 140g (L) • Sizes: S - XXXL • Colours: multiple colours & designs • Contact: fasthouse.co.uk
Fasthouse’s Trace Tech Tee intentionally looks like a regular T-shirt, but there’s more going on under the hood in terms of fabric technology. This latest version has improved fit and fabric, with a slightly more body-hugging athletic shape than previously, and also a softer fabric handle.
Rather than using pure cotton, that can easily get saturated and heavy through sweating or from a quick shower, Fasthouse uses a polyester blend. With 80% man-made material and 20% cotton, it aims to deliver quick-drying, with the softness, look and feel of a traditional tee, and none of the heaviness and saggy/clingy fabric you get from cotton once it’s wetted out.
There are more Fasthouse colours and designs than you can shake a stick at, and also more sizes; including a XXXL that might be more relevant to the brand’s American motocross customer base than many UK mountain bikers.
The Trace is well cut, so while it looks regular, there’s plenty of room to move about across the shoulders and chest without it hanging loose and boxy at the sides and falling straight down to the waist. Fasthouse’s fabric blend feels super soft against skin too; so plush in fact, it’s much more floaty, light and velvety than many regular cotton T-shirts that can feel a bit stiff and coarse.
If you’re working really hard, the material here doesn’t flow cooling air over your torso or wick away sweat and moisture to the same extent as some of the best summer jerseys with more perforated fabrics.
Specialized’s excellent Drirelease Tech Tee, for example, is
£10 less (at £25) and also dries faster and breathes better
– possibly due to a slightly thinner weave that also runs cooler when it’s scorching hot. Fasthouse’s T-shirt is decent then, but there are better options that cost less.