A relaxed, straight cut.

To make this shirt as versatile as possible, it features a straight, relaxed cut that allows for layering, on and off the bike wear and a gender-neutral fit.

Versatility

One major point when designing the shirt was to find a right balance between ease and bulk. While loose, flowy shirts are great to layer over a base layer, the excess fabric becomes inconvenient when trying to wear them under a fitted rain jacket or fleece. To counter that, this shirt offers ease around the torso while the arms are slightly more fitted. The lightweight fabric used for the linen Pocketed shirt helps reduce unwanted bulk when layered over. 

This relaxed fit makes the Pocketed shirt a versatile piece of clothing that can be layered over and under, without flopping too much when riding and allowing you to look – almost – casual when enjoying a beer or a coffee in public. 

Gender neutrality

The Pocketed shirt is gender-neutral, with a cut that suits most male and female anatomies at the shoulders, chest and hips. The pattern was designed around both morphologies to refine and adapt it: it is important to us to offer a cut that (actually) fits both silhouettes. It’s an item that can be lent and handed over, that will handle slight body fluctuations and that aims to be inclusive. 

Features and ease of use

The Pocketed Shirt has been designed to be used on a bike.

The sleeves have been slightly lengthened to cover the forearms when reaching the handlebars. The Pocketed Shirt is offered with three different sleeve lengths to accomodate for different morphologies.

The sleeves are attached to the body with extra ease, allowing for a wide range of movement at the shoulders. 

Curved hems don't restrict movement, and the back pannel has been extended to cover the bottom of the spine.

Talking inspiration from traditional bike clothing, three pockets have been added to the back pannel. These pockets will carry light items that need to be kept to hand.

Linen: a durable, comfortable, natural fabric. 

Linen’s use in clothing date back at least 30.000 years. Despite requiring a labour-intensive process to make, linen fabric is still widely used today as its qualities haven’t been matched by its synthetic counterparts. Linen is a highly comfortable, moisture-wicking, durable material to wear that ages beautifully with use. 

Moisture management and durability 

• Wicking properties 

Linen based woven fabrics have been traditionally used as undergarments and as clothing in warm or humid parts of the world. This stems from linen’s ability to quickly absorb and wick moisture from the skin, leaving it feeling fresher and dry. These properties are particularly interesting to work with for clothing that is meant to be worn during physical activities: the body sweats and overheats, making temperature and humidity control a priority.  

Compared to cotton and polyester, two widely used fibres in the garment industry, linen stands out by its moisture management capabilities. While polyester barely absorbs - and wicks - moisture, linen has a similar water absorption rate to cotton, which is known to be a comfortable material to wear in warmer climates. This water absorption rate is defined by the weight of water the fibres can absorb before feeling wet: cotton can take on 25% of its dry weight, linen 20%. However, linen shines by its ability to wick the water it has absorbed, steering clear of cotton’s infamous clammy, sticky, heavy feeling when damp. 

This wicking ability is explained by the shape and nature of the fibres. Polyester fibres are made from polymer pellets that are melted and extruded to form fibres: these primary fibres are smooth, strong and uniform, with almost no variation in shape or size (like very thin spaghetti). Linen and cotton fibres, on the other hand, have a rougher, more variable shape that allows them to retain water and air. While cotton fibres resemble a twisted ribbon that can capture air and water well, linen fibres are more linear. They won’t trap as much water and will disperse it through capillarity, increasing its surface and eventually drying out at faster rate than on their cotton counterparts. 

• Durability : 

Linen woven textile is made from stems of flax plants that have been processed to isolate fibre bundles - composed of several elementary fibres-, then spun and woven. These fibres have a high degree of crystallinity, making them particularly stiff and with a high degree of tenacity. 

This structural feature has a direct impact on their durability: linen fibres present a high strength-to-weight ration for a natural fibre, making it able to withstand stress, bending and deformation.

However, linen isn’t flawless either. It is important to note that linen fabrics are prone to wrinkling as these long, rigid fibres aren’t as supple as cotton and polyester ones. Linen fabrics are also a little rough when new, as the fibres are still rigid and unbroken. They will however soften over time, as the fibres will break in.