RIDGE MOUNTAIN GEAR Merino Basic Short Sleeve Tee "Micro Border"

Introduction

We made it aiming for a T-shirt you'll want to wear every day.

Merino wool, which I met after I started mountaineering.

"A wool T-shirt!?"

Its feel against the skin was so fresh it made me murmur that out loud, and now it has become an indispensable partner in my daily life.

When you start sweaty activity during the day, merino wool's moisture-wicking works right away, releasing humidity to keep the skin always dry.
That non-clammy comfort makes it possible to move in a single layer, a big advantage in cutting down on spare changes of clothes and luggage. On top of that, its natural antibacterial and odor-resistant effect lets you stay comfortable without worrying about smell even on day-after-day trekking or long outdoor trips, so you can wash less often and pack with more room to spare.

When the temperature drops from evening into night, despite being thin it offers light warmth, protecting the body from the cold.
Layered as an inner under a shirt or hoodie it isn't bulky, and its design doesn't hinder movement, so layering comes together smoothly.

The "Short Sleeve" is ideal for wearing next to the skin from spring through summer,

and the "Long Sleeve" is ideal as a layering base for autumn and winter.

Because both use the same merino wool jersey, if you gather them into your wardrobe across the seasons, they provide the same reassurance and comfort any day of the year.

For the material we use New Zealand merino with clear traceability, drawing out to the fullest the breathability and moisture regulation unique to a low-environmental-impact natural material.

The "Merino Basic Short Sleeve Tee"—in the clear air of a mountain morning, on your commute into town, or in a casual everyday step. We think it can become your staple.

Meeting Merino Wool.

At the end of summer 2015, I made a plan to traverse the Northern Alps over seven days. In my pack I quietly slipped two shirts of completely different character—a 100% polyester T-shirt with a special anti-odor treatment, and a merino wool T-shirt in search of an unknown comfort—and decided to wear and compare them in turn each day.

When I first set off along a path clad in morning dew, the polyester one felt cool and light. But by the time the sun rose high, a faint smell of sweat gradually began to bother me, and there were moments when a cold wind made me shrink from sweat-chill. The merino wool, by contrast, released humidity as if it were breathing, and I was struck by the gentleness with which it softly held my body heat. Odor didn't build up, a dry sensation lasted even during long activity, and it was as comfortable as a "second skin."

That firsthand experience changed my gear from the ground up. Ever since, for trips of two nights or more I've chosen merino wool without hesitation, and polyester T-shirts were banished to the back of the closet.

And in the autumn of 2017, when I walked the roughly 340km John Muir Trail over 14 days. I carried two of the same merino wool T-shirts, rotating them and washing them in the rivers. They took on and dried everything—the chill after rain, the humidity of deep forest—and the moist reassurance and refreshment I felt the moment I changed into my base layer inside the tent at night was a happiness hard to put into words.

The true value of merino wool that I confirmed over and over like that—the moisture regulation, odor resistance, and gently enveloping warmth unique to a natural material—has become the most trustworthy, dependable companion among my outdoor gear.

The RIDGE MOUNTAIN GEAR "Basic" Series

At RIDGE MOUNTAIN GEAR, we put a special meaning into the products named "Basic." As the name suggests, the "Basic" series is a group of products that pursue the essential elements of everyday life and the outdoors. A design philosophy lives in this series: "strip away the unnecessary and leave only what is truly needed."

[Essential simplicity and function]

The name "Basic" carries the idea of removing decoration and focusing on necessary function. Its simple, refined design is intuitive to handle and eases the burden on the user. Designed to be used without strain both outdoors and in daily life, it embodies the importance of being "basic." Within its simplicity, the essence of function lives firmly on.

[Versatility for a wide range of uses]

The "Basic" series is not intended to be limited to specific scenes. Rather, its hallmark is a versatility that blends naturally into all kinds of situations, from everyday life to active outdoor pursuits. Flexibly meeting the user's style and purpose, it aims to be "usable not only on special occasions, but every day." It should become an item you can rely on across a wide range of settings.

[Universal, long-lasting design]

Another hallmark of the "Basic" series is a universal design unswayed by era or trend. Without being tossed about by passing fads, we put our energy into long-loved design and material choices. Designed with durability in mind, it's meant to be an item that keeps by your side in daily life. That's why it becomes something you grow more attached to through use—not from the moment of purchase—naturally blending into your lifestyle.

The name "Basic" holds a meaning beyond mere simplicity. It's about staying close to the user and playing the role of a "basic" you can be your natural self with in any environment. True to its name, the RIDGE MOUNTAIN GEAR "Basic" series continues to exist as a dependable "foundation" for any moment.

Design

The word "Basic" in the product name is there to show the "boldness of stripping away the unnecessary."
We adopted a minimal box-type silhouette, with a drop shoulder that lowers the shoulder line slightly, and a body width designed to be "neither too wide nor too narrow." This gives ample room around the shoulders and chest while keeping a straight line that falls cleanly to the hem.
It achieves both ease of movement and a clean appearance.

The neckline uses a "binder finish," prioritizing durability so it stretches out as little as possible.

Another feature is that the shoulder seams, sleeve-attachment seams, and side seams are all flat-seamer finished.

A "flat seamer" is a specification that uses a special sewing machine to join the fabric and sew it up as shown in the illustration above.

This is an image of the actual factory that sews the Merino Basic Tee using a flat-seamer machine.

As the name suggests, the fabric's seams are finished very flat, minimizing the stress on the skin. Because the seams are also finished sturdily, it's a method often used for sportswear and babywear as well.

Material

This product uses "REDA ACTIVE," made from 100% New Zealand merino wool.

The main features of merino wool material include "high warmth," "good breathability," "moisture regulation," "strong odor resistance (antibacterial)," "heat resistance," and "UV protection."
REDA, which produces the merino wool jersey RIDGE MOUNTAIN GEAR uses, is a long-established Italian wool fabric maker founded over 150 years ago.

At REDA's vast own ranch in New Zealand, the sheep are raised freely.

That raw wool is carefully knitted at REDA's own factory in Italy, from raw wool to yarn and from yarn to fabric.

Merino wool is a natural fiber. Even with anti-shrink treatment, some fabric shrinkage still occurs.
This is simply unavoidable, and some of you may have had the experience of buying a cotton T-shirt or sweatshirt—also a natural fiber—and having it shrink by more than a size after washing.

Shrinkage from washing is unavoidable as long as it's a natural fiber, but in making this T-shirt we wanted to use a material that keeps that shrinkage to a minimum.

1. Background

For this T-shirt product, we first made samples from three companies' merino wool jersey fabrics and repeatedly verified performance through prototyping, wear, and washing.

2. Issues with the early samples

Although every maker advertised "washable wool," in practice we confirmed large shrinkage of more than a size and distortion of the fabric, and it didn't reach a quality I could accept.

3. Considering the merits of synthetic blends

To make up for wool's weaknesses of "shrinkage" and "low durability," there are also many merino wool products on the market blended with nylon or polyester. It's true that they suppress shrinkage from washing and have excellent merits in terms of everyday ease of handling.

4. My own wearing experience

I myself wore synthetic-blend merino T-shirts for a long time, but once the nylon portion began to noticeably deteriorate, I couldn't keep wearing them comfortably to the end. And regarding the "high functions inherent to merino wool," such as odor resistance and warmth, I felt they were no match for 100% merino products after all. I don't intend to deny synthetic blends, but I had a strong desire to value the texture, the function, and the "atmosphere the material itself brings."

5. Selecting the final material

What I arrived at was "REDA ACTIVE," a high-performance material into which the Italian company REDA has poured over 150 years of experience and technology.

After repeated wear and washing over half a year, I felt performance I could keep wearing more comfortably than any fabric I'd tried. Shrinkage and loss of shape were suppressed, and the functions inherent to merino wool—warmth, breathability, antibacterial properties—were displayed to the fullest.

Features

1. Little fuzz and a soft hand

Merino wool is classified into various grades by the fineness (fiber diameter) of the yarn that forms the fabric, and that fineness is expressed in μm (micrometers).
This time the Merino Basic Tee uses a very fine yarn of 17.5μm (micrometers), rated as "Super 120's," finished with a soft hand that has extremely little of wool's characteristic "prickliness."

2. Uses New Zealand merino

Using New Zealand-produced merino wool is proof that it is "non-mulesed wool." "Mulesing" refers to cutting away the skin and flesh of a lamb's buttocks while it is young, to prevent flies (maggots) from infesting the sheep.

Merino sheep, bred to harvest as much wool as possible, have a large skin area and deep skin wrinkles, so feces and urine tend to collect in the wrinkles of the buttocks and genitals, making it easy for maggots to breed. In the worst case, this can lead to maggots eating the skin and flesh, resulting in death.
The means to prevent this is "mulesing," but it is sometimes performed without anesthesia and without treatment of the wounds.

In New Zealand, such cruel mulesing (excision of a lamb's buttock skin) was completely banned by law from October 2018 under the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018. Violations carry fines of up to NZ$3,000 for individuals and up to NZ$15,000 for businesses.

*The situation in Australia
In Australia there is no nationwide legal ban on mulesing, and the procedure itself is still legal today. However,

in Victoria from July 1, 2020,

and in Tasmania from July 1, 2024,

the use of pain relief (anesthesia/analgesics) during mulesing has been made legally mandatory.
Also, according to the National Wool Declaration (NWD), in the 2023/24 season **about 21.5% of the total** was declared as "Non-Mulesed," and that proportion is increasing year by year.

3. Washable despite being 100% merino wool.

Anti-shrink treatment over several processes is applied to prevent fabric shrinkage after washing as much as possible.
Even so, as long as it's a natural fiber, some degree of shrinkage and skewing (torque) will inevitably occur. To use the product longer, please refer to the care method below.

・Use a wool detergent for washing.
・Turn the product inside out, place it in a laundry net, and wash it on its own.
・Keep the water temperature to a maximum of 40°C; avoid washing in hot water.
・Avoid strong water flow; hand wash, or if using a washing machine, use a "delicate/dry course" or "gentle course."
・Absolutely avoid tumble drying.
・After spin-drying, we recommend reshaping and drying in the shade.
・If not worn for a long period, store it thoroughly cleaned together with a mothproofing agent.

About skewing (torque) after washing

Above we described the merits of the merino wool jersey used in the Merino Basic Tee, but there are demerits too. One of them is "skewing (torque)."

This product's fabric uses 60-count single yarn. Fluffy raw wool is twisted and processed into yarn, and that yarn is knitted into the fabric.

When washed, the fibers of that twisted yarn swell and have a property of trying to return in the direction opposite to the twist, from which some torsion arises. As a result, the side seams and underarm seams that were straight before washing twist and can slant front-to-back. This is "skewing."

The side seam that ran straight before washing twists after washing.

Because it's a natural fiber and uses single yarn, this skewing is unavoidable, but it can be kept to a minimum by reshaping it as close to the original form as possible after washing and spin-drying, before hanging it to dry.

Spec

Material : Wool 100% (merino wool)
Heather Charcoal = 145g/㎡
Others = 156g/㎡
Size : S, M, L, XL (Men) / S, M, L (Women)
Weight : Men / M approx. 128g (Heather Charcoal) *Slight differences occur depending on the color.
Country of origin : Japan
Manufacturer : Tokyo PiO Co., Ltd. Aomori Factory, Tsugaru City, Aomori

Color

*About product color

We do our best to make the product images as close as possible to the actual colors, but the shade may differ from the real thing depending on your viewing environment and monitor settings.
Please also note that the texture and sheen of the fabric are difficult to reproduce perfectly on screen.

Sage Grey

Slate Haze

Charcoal Mist

Size Chart

This product comes in men's sizes (Men) and women's sizes (Women). Please take note.

The overall silhouette is not greatly different between the men's sizes (Men) and women's sizes (Women), but the women's sizes (Women) have a silhouette more tailored to a woman's body, such as in body length and shoulder width.

Please see the size chart below for details.

The numbers above are in cm.

*Slight differences may occur depending on the measurement point. Please understand in advance.
*Slight shrinkage occurs with washing. Please understand in advance.

Size Guide [Men]

Size Guide [Women]

Collaborateur

In Collaborateur, we introduce the people who produce our products.

Tokyo PiO Co., Ltd. Aomori Factory.

Tokyo PiO Co., Ltd. Aomori Factory is located in Tsugaru City, Aomori.
It was October when I visited the factory. It was a very warm, calm day. The factory staff member who picked me up said, "This is a rare, fine day."
On the way from Aomori Airport to the factory, Aomori's iconic "Mt. Iwaki" was clearly visible. That, too, seemed to be unusual. The apple orchards thick with bright red apples were also very symbolic, and on the way back I received many big apples as a gift.

This Aomori Factory is a factory that mainly sews cut-and-sewn products, but it also sews some woven-fabric products.

Even so, they are truly skilled at handling cut-and-sewn goods.
The image above shows the work before cutting the fabric. Long fabric is layered many times over like a mille-feuille to make it easier to cut.
This fabric was an extremely thin gauze jersey. Pull it just a little and the fabric stretches. They line up and cut such hard-to-handle fabric as evenly as possible at the same tension. Just watching it made my head hurt...

What was especially striking was how many various special sewing machines for sewing cut-and-sewn goods were installed.

The photo shows a "flat-seamer machine," capable of a special sewing method called flat seaming. Simply put, no bulky seam allowance forms at the joint, and it finishes flat, just as the name suggests.

Because there's no bulky seam allowance, there's less stress on the skin, and it's a sewing method often adopted for underwear and babywear. However, this flat seamer takes much longer than ordinary lockstitch sewing—about two to three times as long. But I love this flat seamer, and it's the sewing method we adopt for RIDGE MOUNTAIN GEAR's cut-fabric products.

The image above shows this product, the "Merino Basic Tee Long Sleeve," actually being sewn.
The fabric is brought together from both sides, set on the machine's slim arm, aligned, and sewn up. This fabric in particular is thin and supple, so they said it was "very hard to sew..." Even so, they sew it carefully and take their time.

Not every cut-and-sewn factory can do this flat-seaming method.
Many factories don't own this machine, and actually operating the machine requires skill. You sometimes hear stories like, "The craftsperson left, so we can't run the flat seamer now."

Tokyo PiO Co., Ltd. was founded in 1971 in Sumida Ward as a small company where sewing through delivery was done by two people. After that, orders gradually increased, and from the Showa into the Heisei era it produced many products for major apparel brands and department stores; but as cheaply made overseas products grew more common with the changing times, it continues to this day to research quality with pride in creating pure Japanese-made products, and with the accumulated technical skill and confidence it holds.

As for the PiO Aomori Factory, which is also the base of the company's own domestic sewing factory, it began operations in 1999 after receiving an incentive invitation from Kizukuri-machi, Aomori, with the aim of revitalizing local industry and employment.

They unravel in their own way the image of the brand they handle and its points of insistence on the product—what kind of finish is desired?—and while submitting first samples and the like, they align expectations and produce with customer satisfaction in mind.

Also, by spreading, cutting, sewing, and finishing in a way that matches the material and fabric the customer has chosen, no strain is put on the fabric, resulting in a beautiful finish. It's a commonplace thing to say, but they make things with love for the fabric and the product. They pay fine attention even to the parts you can't see.

As makers of pure Japanese-made cut & sewn goods, we hope to raise the factory's reputation and to convey the goodness of Japanese-made products to each apparel brand. We want to keep striving and improving day by day, so that when people think of cut-and-sewn factories in Tohoku, they think of the PiO Group (Kakuda Factory, Aomori Factory).

Tokyo PiO Co., Ltd. Aomori Factory
038-3164
1-12 Kizukuri Shibata Yayoita, Tsugaru City, Aomori
https://www.tokyopio.co.jp/index.html

Attention

Following the care instructions below will help you use this product for a long time.

・Use a wool detergent for washing.
・Turn the product inside out, place it in a laundry net, and wash it on its own.
・Keep the water temperature to a maximum of 40°C; avoid washing in hot water.
・Avoid strong water flow; hand wash, or if using a washing machine, use a "delicate/dry course" or "gentle course."
・Absolutely avoid tumble drying.
・After spin-drying, we recommend reshaping and drying in the shade.
・If not worn for a long period, store it thoroughly cleaned together with a mothproofing agent.