Back in my Outward Bound days, I couldn’t wait for my inaugural visit to the school’s northernmost outpost in Maine. I was a young, impressionable paddle geek, and the school’s Greenville base beckoned, with its maverick instructors and easy access to some of the state’s finest paddling. Upon arriving, one of the first things I noticed was that everyone owned the same bug shirt. In a region where biting insects vastly outnumber their mammalian brethren, this was no small detail. I ordered mine the next day. Since then, I have donned my Original Bug Shirt hundreds of times.The fabrics used in the Original Bug Shirt have an exceptionally tight weave that stops mosquito bites; the microfiber is 100% effective and the cotton, 99%. Both fabrics are also virtually windproof and block 98.9% of UVA and UVB rays. The microfiber is available in four colors: Sandstone (the company’s best seller), Ivy Green, and Camouflage; cotton is offered in Natural. The Natural and Sandstone are considered the least attractive to bugs. Cotton is more moisture-absorbent than microfiber and thus might be considered cooler, but if it gets wet it stays damp longer. Personally, I prefer the cotton as it wafts a comforting sweetness, even after weeks of continuous use.
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