Repack Berino Long Sleeve Jersey Review – a fine blend of Bamboo & Merino

Bamboo is not a material that automatically springs to mind when I think of a performance cycling jersey but it turns out, that when blended right (in this case with Merino Wool) it’s a fantastic material and very much underused.

To be precise, what we are talking about here is Bamboo Charcoal.

Bamboo Charcoal is made up of pieces of bamboo, which are taken from plants five years or older and burned inside an oven at temperatures over 1000° C. It not only provides a new way to utilize bamboo, but also benefits environmental protection by reducing pollutant residue. Bamboo charcoal is an environmentally functional material that has excellent absorption properties.

So it’s got the green credentials ticked, but how does it actually look, feel and perform?

Features

According to Repack (the brand responsible for the Berino Jersey), the jersey has the following very appealing features:

• Anti-bacterial - Naturally biocidal, bamboo charcoal safely inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungii.
• Non static - As bamboo-charcoal nano particles are conductive, their presence in the fiber helps prevent charge buildup. Berino products will not give static shocks even in dry conditions.
• Far Infrared Energy - Far-infrared energy penetrates beyond the skin level and is absorbed efficiently by cells below. Near-infrared is mostly absorbed at the skin level and raises the skin temperature. Far-infrared rays can penetrate up to 4 centimeters (about 1-1/2 inches), exciting the vibrational energy of molecules and resonating with cellular frequencies – as a result, FIR rays promote bioprocesses such as increased metabolism and blood circulation.
• High Porosity - Bamboo charcoal is known to have high porosity. Various impurities or foreign matter will be absorbed over the wide surface area of the charcoal. When air passes over, if the humidity is high, the charcoal will adsorb the moisture and the air will be converted to dry air. If the air is too dry, then the charcoal will discharge its own moisture, thus adjusting the humidity in the air.

Look & Feel

When I think of Bamboo, I think spiky & brittle. But the Berino is surprisingly comfortable. To be clear, the Berino is 25% Bamboo Charcoal, the other 75% is Merino Wool that we all know and love. This gives it the natural wool feel found on most high end jerseys and base layers as well as the typical odour resistant, quick drying and thermal properties that we now come to expect from our all day ride jerseys.

In short, it feels great on the skin, kept me well and truly dry and warm whilst out on the bike and fits just right – not too tight, but close enough to not be flapping in the wind.

Personally I love the look of the jersey, understated charcoal colour with bright orange highlights. Very stylish indeed.

Function

As well as the benefits of the materials used to create the jersey the Berino comes with these additional features:

1. Full length zip
2. Long arms
3. 3 Zipped rear pockets
4. High collar
5. Thermal pressed label

The full length zip makes it very flexible indeed and is something I now regularly look for in a jersey. Most jerseys have 3 rear pockets but typically only one has a zip. The Berino has 3 zipped pockets – this is a really nice touch if you ask me and meant I didn’t end up stuffing everything into one pocket!

The high collar gives you that extra bit of protection against the elements ans the thermal pressed label means there are no annoying bits of material rubbing your skin. Nice.

Summary & Price

I simply cannot fault this jersey, it looks great, feels great, keeps me warm & dry, has a variety of secure pockets and has the extra kudos (and surprising benefits) of using Bamboo Charcoal as a material blend.

To top it all off, the Berino Ride Jersey comes in at £70 – well below many jerseys in the “natural performance” category.

Repack pitch the jersey as an all day mountain bike jersey but the jersey fits so well that there is no reason it can’t be used on the road. Also given the odour resistant properties of the jersey – it’s a perfect commuter jersey!

• Rating: 5/5
• Price: £70 from Stolen Goat
• Manufacturer: Repack