Unbound Merino x Carryology Meili Travel Hoodie

Partnering with our Canadian friends at Unbound Merino, we present the second installment of our Meili collection. 

After nearly 2 full years of design, development, patterning, engineering, prototyping, and testing on 5 continents in extremes from the Sahara Desert to the glaciers of Iceland, we’re proud to finally unveil the Unbound Merino x Carryology Meili Travel Hoodie.

Inspired by Meili, the Viking God of travel, this travel essential is built from a custom blend of the magical natural properties of Merino wool and the space age strength of Spectra® (the strongest fiber on earth). 

It’s colored with the blackest black Merino dye scientifically possible. And carefully designed with six travel-honed pockets with a special waterproof compartment for protecting your compact devices. 

WHY A HOODIE?

When we first started discussing the potential of working with Unbound Merino together, we knew it wouldn’t just be a T-shirt. No, sir. We’d design a two-piece apparel set that would prove essential to any elite travel system.

Enter the hoodie. 

The history of the hoodie dates back to texts from the Assyrian Empire, around 3,000+ years ago. Worn throughout history and finally becoming a modern mainstream staple in the 1930s when Knickerbocker Knitting Company (now known as Champion) started producing hooded sweatshirts for laborers who had to brave the cold. 

Today, nearly every apparel company has one in their stable. The utility of a great hoodie is unmatched. And when you’re traveling and you need protection from the wind, or a cozy layer to rest your weary head on, it’s incredibly hard to beat.

So we wanted to create our perfect hoodie from the ground up, a piece that could handle the abuse of travel, be clean and classic in style, act as an insulating and breathable mid-layer, pack down easily into your one-bag travel system, and even have a few tricks up its sleeve. 

MAGIC OF MERINO

So if you’ve been paying attention, it’s well-known that professional explorers and seasoned travelers both are in love with one fabric for their clothing – Merino wool. And we talk about Merino a lot. Really, a whole lot. And for good reason. Merino wool is probably the best possible performance fiber in existence for travel and everyday clothing. It’s like magic. 

Now, why Merino wool? Isn’t wool scratchy?

First, Merino wool is super soft to the touch and soft against the skin. This isn’t your Grandpa’s old sweater. It’s different from regular wool at a microscopic and genetic level. Merino wool comes from a very specific breed of sheep, dating back to the Middle Ages. Since then, these domesticated sheep have thrived in many parts of the world, the most well-known being Australia and New Zealand. The climate, the geography, and the farmers all create a perfect recipe to create the finest Merino wool on planet Earth. After millions of years of evolution and then hundreds of years of selective breeding, the result is unlike anything else. Compared to most other performance fabrics, which have only been around for a few decades, there is just no contest when it comes to the creation of this natural fiber.

The performance benefits of Merino wool are astounding. 

It keeps you cool when it’s hot outside. 115ºF summer in Texas, no problem.

It keeps you warm when it’s cool outside. -20ºF winter in Iceland, no problem.

As someone who runs hot and runs very sweaty, it wicks away moisture and breathes like nothing else I’ve ever worn. 

It’s antimicrobial, so it stays fresh and simply doesn’t stink (unlike cotton or synthetics). 

It dries crazy fast. Unlike other fabrics that could take a day or longer to dry, Merino takes hours. 

Soft against the skin. Softer than your average cotton t-shirt.

Wrinkle-resistant so you don’t look like a mess when you pop it on.

It can even do your taxes for you. Okay, I made that one up.

CARRY LESS, TRAVEL MORE

But this is Carryology; why are we talking about apparel? Easy answer. In our opinion, the number one best performance benefit of this magical fiber is directly linked to carry. Or lack thereof maybe? The single best way to carry better while traveling is to carry less. And Merino clothing allows you to do exactly that. Volume and weight are the killers when it comes to packing, and the primary source of volume and weight comes from… yep, you guessed it… clothing. 

But with Merino wool clothing, you can carry less. Way less. Radically less. 

Carry less, but better. 

Carry less, travel more. 

DOWN UNDER RESEARCH

Rewind a year. We’re in an old 4×4 in rural Australia, bouncing down the dirt road to a Merino wool sheep farm. Our first stop in our journey to understand wool at the deepest level. Freshly cut grass and sheep shit attack our sense of smell. Mr. Marius Cuming of the Woolmark Company is at the wheel. Marius is tall, always smiling, larger than life, speaks in a rich Aussie accent, and is taking us around the countryside to teach us everything about the exact Merino wool that Unbound Merino will use on this project. Our first stop is meeting the experts who grade the wool on the sheep out in the field. Right here, these experts decide which sheep have the very best wool who then will pass along their genetics to the next generation of Merino sheep via selective breeding. The better the living sheep’s wool, the better chances it will have to be selected to pass on its DNA to make Merino wool for generations to come.

Then, onto the fun part: step two. We pull into another farm, a herding dog chasing alongside the truck down the long road ending at a simple wooden workshed. Inside, a flurry of activity. Seasoned sheep-shearing veterans are skillfully and humanely trimming the wool from these sheep. Watching these experts work was like watching a form of ballet, each position seamlessly transitioning to the next, keeping the sheep in a comfortable and safe position. They toss each respective wool pelt into a graded bin, with the superfine Merino being the top tier, the stuff Unbound Merino uses. 

Next, we head to the Elders Wool auction house. Shockingly enough, when we arrived at the warehouse in the suburbs of Melbourne, we were greeted by an employee who happens to be an avid reader and fan of Carryology, Samantha Wan. Small world. She and Marius walked us through endless aisles of wool of various qualities all graded and ready to ship. And then we got to witness the live bidding on bins of wool. Basically think of one of those fast-talking auctioneers, but with an Australian accent. Representatives bid fiercely, all purchasing wool which is destined to become quality products around the world.

And finally, we’re at a high-tech facility where this magical wool is turned into ultrafine fibers and then knit into fabric for clothing. This facility is used by some of the biggest names in the outdoor gear industry and they are no strangers to creating high-performance fabrics for extremely demanding users. While ultrafine Merino wool knit fabric is incredible and this was fascinating to see… we knew we were going to throw a small wrench into this process and do something different.

As the day came to an end, we pulled up to our Airbnb in Melbourne, and right there on the street, Marius recited an incredible spoken performance of The Man From Ironbark. He had been practicing this for weeks, recalling every word from memory. Something I will never forget.

And finally, we even recorded a podcast together with Marius and were featured in their magazine called Beyond The Bale. 

Who knew nerding out on wool could be so fun?

Okay. So we already launched the Meili Travel T-Shirt and it was a massive success, completely selling out in less than 5 minutes. Now… how do we make a Merino Hoodie better than what’s currently out there?

Well, hands-on real-world Merino wool experience and a dash of flair.

Merino + SPECTRA + SPANDEX

First, we wanted to improve upon the fabric itself. While Merino wool has incredible benefits (mentioned above), 100% Merino tees need care. And for some users who are hard on their gear (and throw their tees in with zippers in the wash), it can rip or tear.

So we wanted to improve the durability, as we know many of you expect this. So we asked the geniuses at the fabric mill if they could create our own custom-blended Merino wool with Honeywell’s Spectra, the strongest fiber on Earth. Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) comes by many different trade names, but it’s all the same principle. Extremely strong and extremely light. After several different samples, we decided on one that performed the best in various climates (the Sahara Desert in Morocco, glaciers in Iceland, the streets of New York City, and more). 92% Merino wool, 5% Spectra fibers, and 3% Spandex for drape, stretch, and comfort. 

And as some of you might have already spotted, this uses a similar custom Merino wool Spectra blend of fabric as the Meili T-Shirt (with the addition of 3% Spandex in the hoodie). But our Meili T-Shirt comes in a midweight 150gsm blend, which is perfect for a t-shirt. For a hoodie, we cranked up the custom blend from 150gsm to a thicker 230gsm, so it’s the perfect mid-layer weight to keep you cozy and warm without being too bulky to pack. 

WATERPROOF STORAGE

No one expects a Merino wool hoodie to be waterproof. But on the rare occasion you get caught in a downpour when you’re out on the road, Merino wool quickly becomes the wrong fabric for protecting your digital equipment or valuable possessions from moisture. So we set out to fix this issue. In our humble opinion, an interior Napoleon pocket located on the left chest is pretty much a hard required feature for any overshirt, hoodie, jacket, or coat. It’s where most people naturally store their most important small items. While we had to create several wear samples for proper fit and patterning and comfort, we finally had it perfect. We constructed the entire Napoleon pocket assembly entirely out of a performance waterproof plain weave with 4-way stretch fabric made up of 90% nylon and 10% Spandex. This 140gsm custom textile ensures your phone, passport, wallet, or Tamagotchi stay nice and dry and flawlessly functioning. As an extra level of security and protection, we sealed the pocket up with a YKK water-resistant zipper. While I love everything about this hoodie, this is easily my favorite feature.

THE BLACKEST BLACK

Now, we had our custom fabric. There was only one color option for this and you know the answer already… Black. It just works. It’s minimal, it’s bold, it hides stains, it can be dressed up, it’s simple, it goes with everything, and it’s awesome. But, just like in the movie This Is Spinal Tap, we wanted it to be None More Black. We wanted something like VantaBlack and Mosou paint. So we contacted the folks at Coloro, the world’s leading mad scientists with decades of experience creating colors and dyes for many of the products we all use day to day. We made the same request that Nigel Tufnel asked, “How much more black could this be?” And they took that personally. Over the process of several months, Coloro had their team of scientists working on our project in their laboratories, attempting to get the blackest black possible. They did mention it would take some time to run some experiments to see what could actually be possible. Well, months later, Coloro reached out… and they presented an absolute triumph.

This collaboration uses the blackest black Merino wool dye ever made, custom-created specifically in Coloro’s laboratories for this collaboration. 

GOD OF TRAVEL

Like 90% of our other collaborations, we opened the history books for this one. And it wasn’t long until we came across the mysterious figure of Meili, the brother of Thor. The only problem is that Meili is seldom mentioned in Norse mythology. In fact, he was never even illustrated. We don’t know much about this character, other than he is the god of travel. A perfect fit. But visually, there was much left to the imagination… So how could we create a worthy image of him?

ART HERO

The folks at Unbound Merino made a Hail Mary pitch while we were trying to find the perfect artist to envision this character for the collab. Frankly, when they said the artist’s name I thought it would never happen. He’s just too good and likely way too busy. Aaron Draplin. Yes, that Aaron Draplin. Owner of Draplin Design Company. Owner and creator of Field Notes Brand. Clients include Nike, Burton Snowboards, Ford Motor Company, Esquire, and probably about 10,000 more you’ve heard of. He’s an absolute legend. And while I was lucky enough to meet him at SXSW about 10 years ago, I figured that was certainly not enough of a connection to make him remember me or want to take on this project. Well… I was wrong. We hopped on a video call with Aaron and first off, he remembered me (or politely pretended to) and second, he was totally into this project. In fact, he was stoked.

A couple of weeks passed and he sent over the first round of concepts, which we were blown away by. Selecting only one and choosing a direction was difficult, as we loved them all. But we all agreed on a concept. Then, after several rounds of refinements, Aaron created the final version of our Meili. And Meili was rocking some sunglasses. Because awesome.

EXTRA AWESOMENESS

The purpose of Meili’s character was for a few reasons…

First, because we’re history nerds and each collaboration needs a cool codename, obviously.

Second, it would be the logo label for the inside collar of the hoodie. The logo is screen printed against the blackest black fabric with vivid orange ink. Invisible from the outside, with some contrast pop on the inside. It’s worth mentioning, both the Unbound Merino team and the Carryology team agree, no shirt or hoodie should have an uncomfortable fabric tag poking you in the back of the neck. Comfortable screen-printed tagless always and forever.

Third, we wanted to include a little free gift with each shirt purchased. Aaron Draplin’s badass Meili design, immortalized via a silicone Velcro patch to commemorate this collaboration. This 50mm patch was expertly manufactured by our friend Greg Li of Suburban. Just like our Meili T-Shirt, the Meili Travel Hoodie doesn’t have any Velcro to mount the patch to. That would be weird. Attach it to wherever you want. A backpack, your patch wall, your vehicle’s headliner. But be cool about wherever you decide, okay? Meili doesn’t play.

FEATURES

Designed in a classic tailored fit for hikes and city outings alike.

230gsm, 92% ultrafine Merino wool, blended with 5% Spectra® the world’s strongest and lightest fibers for durability, and 3% Spandex for ease of movement.

The blackest black dye for Merino wool, developed with the expert scientists at Coloro.

Waterproof Napoleon pocket with water-resistant YKK zipper.

Hidden hoodie pocket with garment zipper.

Hidden side seam pocket with garment zipper.

Two large hand pockets.

Interior drop pocket.

Odor, wrinkle, UV, and abrasion-resistant for total durability. 

Packs down small for travel.

Woolmark® certified Merino, adheres to the highest standards related to fiber content, performance, color fastness and dimensional stability.

WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) certified production. 

These hoodies have been developed from the fibers up, then tested across the world and performed flawlessly. I can confidently say, this is the Merino hoodie of my dreams, the perfect solution for everyday and travel, built without compromise, and with ultimate performance and features in mind.

DROP TIME

The Unbound Merino x Carryology Meili Travel Hoodie launches Monday 22nd January 4PM Eastern NYC Time

Visit Carryology.com and click on the Exclusive Release article for the shop link. 

Good luck! We hope you score one!