Soigneur merino wool bike jerseys

I’m a big fan of wool jerseys, and I’ve amassed a collection of them over the years. I started out with some ancient Swobo jerseys (the ones actually made in SF), but most of my current wool jerseys are from Woolistic. However, I came across another company in New Zealand, Soigneur that makes classically styled wool jerseys. What caught my eye was that they also offered “semi custom jerseys” with lettering of your choice at a relative modest upcharge.

A brief email exchange with the proprietor, David, and I submitted an order for a semi-custom jersey. I was very appreciative of the fact that he agreed to provide me with a colour scheme that was not one of their standard ones, at no additional cost.

After about a five week wait, the jersey arrived today.

 

First impression is that this is a very high quality jersey, at least equal to the Woolistic jerseys. The fabric seemed a little heavier than a woolistic jersey, and this was confirmed by a comparison of the weight of this size M jersey with my size L Woolistic jersey.

The lettering is sewn right into the garment, as opposed to the chain stitching that is used by Woolistic. You can see that the weave of the Soigneur Merino is fractionally less dense than the Woolistic as well.

You can tell a lot about the quality of an item of clothing by turning it  inside out. Here you can see that the seam binding on the Soigneur jersey is very neat, and even slightly better than the Woolistic. Also note the reversal of colour of the lettering.

The fit is racer cut: rather slim fitting. I can’t give you a direct comparison with the woolistic jersey since all of my woolistic jerseys are size L. I prefer a slightly looser fit, and in retrospect I should have ordered a size L here as well.

It’s still a bit warm for wool right now, but I look forward to wearing this new jersey as fall approaches.