Salomon 1/2 Zip Agile S/S Tee – The Tech
There’s nothing extraordinary about the half-zip Agile Tee, but it’s all very nicely done with Salomon’s own AdvancedSkin ActiveDry, a fast-wicking and drying Polyester fabric, flat-locked seams all round and some handy reflective on the sleeves and centre back.
The eponymous zip looks neat in colour-contrasting blue and is backed with a fabric flap so it doesn’t scratch or snag your manly chest hairs… Finally there’s a neat little stash pocket that’ll take a gel, an emergency fiver or, a house-key. It even has a neat little webbing pull-loop that makes access maybe 25% easier, but looks mildly trick at the same time.
Salomon 1/2 Zip Agile S/S Tee – Performance
The Agile tee became a firm favourite in days. Some of this is because the collarless, zip-neck design with blue contrasting sleeves and zip simply looks cool in an understated, contemporary sort of way.
Part of it was the small luxury of being able to un-zip the neck slightly to let off a little high-tempo steam when the going got warm. And some of it is that the polyester fabric does a decent wicking and drying job and doesn’t seem to pick up odours along the way.
We also found the bright colour reassuringly visible when running on rural back lanes, ditto the built-in reflectivity. Finally, although most running shorts do have zipped pockets, it’s nice to have an additional option incorporated in your tee. It takes an emergency gel just fine. Or a fiver.
If we’re quibbling, there are fabrics like Polartec’s new Delta, that are cooler really hot conditions and the lack of a collar potentially exposes the back of your neck to burning when things get scorchio, but on a typical British summer day, the tee works well.