Base Layer Workwear

The King of Base Layer:

Helly Hansen is the original Base Layer Workwear base layer specialist for both sport leisure work and survival. They say mother is the necessity of all invention. Helly Hansen base layer roots can be found in the harsh cold mountains forests and coastlines of Norway. Man has to learn quickly how to survive in such conditions, which is why only the best base layer will do. We learnt from experience what works and what doesn’t, to be trusted by the world’s most intrepid sportsmen and outdoor workwear professionals only underlines the high level of protection and performance Helly Hansen base layer has to offer.

To be the best at what you do or at least give your best, always depends on wearing the right gear. The key to performance in our experience is how dry you are able to keep your skin, no matter how demanding the working environment, sport or pastime. Aside from all the marketing hype, branding and fancy packaging, simply only two things matter, what your base layer is made from and how that fabrication is applied to give the best performance result. The garment care label sewn into the inside seam will immediately give away all the secrets that your base layer has to offer, but first you need a little insider knowledge as to what to look for.

If we ask the question what would be your first choice of fabric to wear next to your skin - 95% of people would answer cotton. If asked why, most would say because it feels nice, it looks nice; it’s very comfortable and it can be bought in most clothing stores. Holding that thought of cotton in your mind promotes a feeling of satisfaction and comfort. Here however we make the assumption that the cotton shirt or T shirt worn next to our skin is dry.

If we asked how you would feel about the same shirt if it was wet next to your skin, then that would be another story, horror and loathing and an immediate feeling of discomfort and disgust, all we added was a little water. Holding that thought of discomfort for a moment we now have a common base line to work from in your mind, we have established the concept and the feeling of discomfort.

Don’t get me wrong, cotton is great when its dry but when we play sport or work hard we get wet, it’s a simple fact of life, finding a fabric that will absorb less moisture than cotton is the main aim of technical base layer. The less fibre moisture absorption the dryer our bodies will remain, the more comfortable we will feel, the better we will be able to perform. So what are we looking for? A fabric as comfortable as cotton but that will not absorb so much water, that’s exactly what you get from technical base layer.

Now its time to look at that care label, most base layer will advertise the use of 100% polyester as its fabric fibre content. This is good, as polyester will absorb 60 times less moisture in it is fibre than cotton, but retains a "cotton like" feel. You can see that with such a big absorption difference polyester garments are bound to keep you far more comfortable than cotton when wet. But that’s not the whole story because as you start to push to your personal limit even polyester will become saturated, which is why Helly Hansen had to look further to find a better fabric solution.

Polypropylene is polyesters big brother, a hardcore stay dry fibre that has a much lower moisture gain, some 40 times less than even polyester. You can just imagine what a massive difference that would make in comparison with cotton. Better still polypropylene can be used as a dry fabric on its own or can be knitted with Merino wool to increase its thermal values in really cold conditions.

Football, Rugby, Cricket, Hockey, Athletics, Triathlon, Walking, Hiking, Cycling, Mountain Biking, Sailing, Skiing, Snowboarding Canoeing, Running, Mountaineering, Caving are just some of the traditional and non-traditional sports that benefit from technical base layer. These benefits can also extend into peoples working lives when there is no option but to go to work, Building and Construction Industries, Oil & Gas workers, Fishing & Farming Industries, Snow-patrol, Search and Rescue crews covering remote work locations trust the "Pro grade" performance Helly Hansen base layers offer its customers.

Now its not a question of throwing away what base layer you already have, because undoubtedly if you have made it to the bottom of this article you most probably own one or more pieces of polyester base layer, at the very least your going to have a look at the care label to see what you currently have, that’s OK, buying into the dry skin concept will improve both your comfort and performance. Polypropylene will immediately improve overall performance even when worn underneath your existing much loved Base Layer Workwear base layer workwear, wear Helly Hansen polypropylene next to your skin and feel the big difference straight away and you will never go back.