Brooklyn-based Outlier has quietly spent the last decade making some of the world’s best technical apparel. Staples of hiking and cycling clothing bleeding into the office are nothing new for Outlier- they design everything from capsule wardrobe holy grail items to wild experiments in materials and form factors. Their S140 Hidden Pocket Pivot, which I’m wearing now, is the best shirt I’ve ever worn.
The S140 is a 100% merino shirt you could cycle in, hike in, dress up with a blazer, turn into your new work uniform, or make your go-to travel top. Apparently immune to wrinkles, the S140 looks substantial while feeling ultralight. The odor-reducing and temperature regulating properties of merino are turned up to eleven with the incomparable 200gsm fabric used here. The S140 feels different and better than anything else you’ve ever worn, with a perfect fit, stretch, and drape.
Outlier is small enough that items can come and go quickly, and sizes and colorways can be a challenge to snap up. At 4X the price of say, Everlane’s Denim Oxfords or Twillory’s SafeCotton, fantastic shirts in their own right, it’s obvious that Outlier is making aspirational investment items, not impulse purchases, but nothing else compares. Much to my delight, we’ll be checking out a lot more from Outlier soon.