This product is a lightweight merino wool base layer top offered at an excellent price that'll keep your wallet full. It features 160 advertised grams of insulation, exceptional wicking power, and good coverage throughout. Unfortunately, the lighter colors are almost see-through. It isn't only light on your wallet, but light on the body as well. Packable and protective, it presents a decent value but isn't very durable.
Performance Comparison
This lightweight top is one of our favorites for trail running, backpacking trips, and ski tours. Its super-light merino fabric is breathable and it sells at a great price.
Photo: amber king
Warmth
This top is 100% merino wool, meaning it has a vast range of thermoregulation. Different brands construct their tops differently with unique weaves and densities in their architecture. This one features a lower density of fiber per square centimeter (or so it seems), meaning it's not very warm. While the company advertises to use 160-grams of insulation (on par with our midweight competitors), we would beg to differ. This top feels exceptionally lightweight and offers little when it comes to stand-alone warmth.
We wore it while cross country skiing, resort skiing, split boarding, backpacking, and running through the Winter and Early Spring. We learned that under a good fleece layer and jacket, it is a wonderful complement to any cold-weather layered outfit. Since many of our activities in the winter are high output (meaning we sweat a lot), this thinner layer is ideal. However, for adventures that required just a dog walk or sitting around in the snow, it felt too cold.
We get caught in a little snowstorm on an early Spring hike/run up Bridge of Heaven in Ouray, Colorado. The thin layer, with fleece and jacket, offered a perfect amount of wicking power to keep us warm as we hiked and ran through the snow storm.
Photo: amber king
Wearing this top on its own isn't ideal with the see-through nature of the (creme) top, but we did it anyway to test its performance. For this case, we used it while backpacking into Colorado's Gunnison Gorge in late Winter and running around the mountains. When the wind picked up, the material didn't offer much wind resistance, which made it colder.
It also does an excellent job as a base layer in desert environments. Here we hike in Escalante Canyon early Spring when it changes from cool on the trail to hot at the crack climbing crag.
Photo: amber king
Overall, this is a highly breathable layer that skimps on warmth by design. While it functions adequately in a layered system, make sure you have a nicely insulated fleece or jacket. It will wick away moisture from your skin, ultimately keeping you warmer in colder conditions when layered properly. For use on its own, we'd recommend it for running in cool weather, or even as a sun cover in the summer.
While it's not the warmest, it does its best work for high output activities in both the winter, spring, fall, and perhaps even parts of summer. If it gets cold, simply throw an insulating layer over top of it!
Photo: amber king
Breathability
This 100% merino wool top features excellent breathability that'll keep you dry throughout the seasons. We wore this top while backcountry snowboarding, cross country skiing, and running. In all our endeavors, it did an excellent job wicking moisture away from the skin to keep us dry. That material doesn't absorb or hold the moisture either. When hiking uphill out of the Gunnison Gorge in warm weather, the temperatures sat around 70F. We started to perspire, but the top stayed on. In the end, the only part of the shirt that was wet was under our backpack, where moisture couldn't adequately move away from the body under a pack. All the other parts of our body stayed nice and dry.
The Roman Trail top is supremely breathable as we observed with its looser knit fabrics that offer lots of ventilation.
Photo: Amber King
While skiing, we wore this top under a fleece jacket that is also highly breathable. Even though we sweat moving uphill, both layers easily vented the moisture, and we were again - left dry. When running with a small pack on our back, all parts of this shirt stayed dry, with the exception of the small unbreathable patch where the backpack was.
Running is one of our favorite things to do. It's made better by great clothing that can breathe and keep you dry, even when you're sweating your butt off while trying to "run" the steep perimeter trail in Ouray, CO.
Photo: amber king
In all experiences, this super light top has become our new favorite for breathability. While we would typically wear a tank top underneath when wearing it on its own (the white color is see-through), it still offers impeccable breathability that'll keep you dry.
Comfort and Fit
The Roman Outfitter top is nice and soft against the skin with a fit that's amenable for most women. Our only discomfort is its see-through nature that isn't very welcome. When worn on its own, we typically had to layer a tank top underneath, so we weren't flashing our bra around town or on the trail.
We wore a nude bra with this top so it doesn't seem as see-through. The fit is "normal" with good length through the arms. It's not short or long, but just right.
Photo: Amber King
As is true with most brands of merino wool, it feels soft against the skin. It's not plush, silky, or smooth, but comfortable. The materials aren't itchy in any way. The collar design provides lots of coverage over the chest, while the fabrics offer a nice amount of stretch.
This top does come up just a little bit when you move your arms. But for the most part, the fabrics are soft and mobile.
Photo: Amber King
The fit of this top isn't especially long, but not short either. It's suitable for women of all shapes and sizes. The arms are medium length. It doesn't have any comfort features like pockets or thumb loops. It's pretty barebones and simple. We love fabric mobility and that we can wear it throughout the year. We don't know if it has a UPF rating (no info on their website).
We find a cool canyon to hike in the Gunnison Gorge. The base layer (without a tank underneath) provides just the right level of warmth and breathability for this exploration.
Photo: amber king
Layering Ability
The fabrics on this shirt are thin and stretchy, making it easy to layer underneath a fleece, jacket, or shell. The material hugs the skin, and you can easily grab the cuff of the sleeve with your hand while pulling it on against tighter layers. You can easily put a tank top underneath if you'd like in the summer months.
It layers easily under fleeces and jackets. A tank top fits comfortably underneath in warmer weather too.
Photo: amber king
Durability
The materials on this 100% merino wool shirt are thin. Even though we heavily tested it for only one month (and will continue to do so), we truly put it to the test.
A look at the pilling of the face fabrics. After just a month of use, it looks a little worn but still offers good performance.
Photo: Amber King
We wore it on its own while carrying a heavy pack with abrasive straps. We layered a running pack over it. We washed it several times. We put it under many different layers while playing in the dirt for days on end. The result? The material is pilled throughout the body and on the seams, even after following specific merino wool care instructions. The logo on the back of the shirt is starting to wear away, while dirt and grime that has ground into the fibers (that we haven't taken the time to scrub away) has made the white shirt look dirty. It's not surprising that a trade-off for incredible breathability is durability. Plus, after almost six months of use in extended testing, it has completely stretched out. Other lightweight tops use nylon in their construction to reinforce the fabrics, but the trade-off is less breathability and comfort. While we recognize the performance increases in other areas, we are not very impressed with the durability of this product.
Value
Even though durability is questionable, you can't beat the price tag. You'll be hard-pressed to find a top made from 100% merino wool at this price. If you are okay with the durability findings, then you should buy it. However, if you're seeking something that'll last a little longer, we recommend you find another option and spend a bit more money.
We didn't take this top off when hiking, running, and camping for three days. It still doesn't smell and is still dry and warm. We're smiling over the great price, but just wish it wasn't so see-through.
Photo: amber king
Conclusion
The women's Roman Trail Outfitters Merino Long Sleeve is a low-cost merino wool top that surprised us with its exceptional lightweight breathability. It's a highly packable layer, wear everywhere top, suitable for adventures in winter weather and long jaunts on the trail. We wish the lighter colors weren't see through (making us uncomfortable to wear it without a tank top in town) and that its construction was more durable. Size is true to fit, and we recommend considering a darker color in this top to avoid the see-through factor.
We enjoy the comforts and breathability of this excellent base layer top. Take it with you while you backpack, run, camp, and ski. It's quite versatile. Just know it's a bit see-through and not the most durable or warm. Here we hike 1,500 feet from the Gunnison River in Delta, Colorado.
Photo: amber king
