OC UV shirt review

[kylejt]

The Official's Choice makes a "premium" shirt, called the UV, which they sent me for nada. It's black, which is an interesting choice for a sun blocking shirt (kinda like making a long sleeved light blue, or cream shirt), but I gave it a go yesterday.

First thing I noticed was the material. It's an Under Armour type fabric, and quite stout. The collar is made of a similar material. It's very well built. It's fit is much better than those huge shirts of the past. My XL fit over my gear like an XL should. The material wasn't so slippery that it wanted to come untucked, either. This shirt really feels nice on, and looks great. Walking on to the field, this was my new favorite shirt. (p.s. this shirt comes out of the dryer looking great)

It was a morning game, about 80 degrees, and a bit humid for San Diego. About the third inning, I was starting to suffer. I guess it was blocking the sun, but it was also blocking the air circulation. So I was slowly steam cooking behind the plate. Not good on a warm day. Now part of this was the color, black, and I normally wouldn't have stepped into the direct sunlight with a black shirt on, but I wanted to test it out. Lesson learned.

Now I'm not really worried about UV rays coming through my shirts, as I've got a WV and an under shirt on too. So that's not a selling point. What would be great is if they used this same great material in a long sleeved, black shirt. That would be outstanding. As it is, I'll use it for night games on the bases. It's perfect for that.

Kyle

[Astrosdawg07]

But does it still have the ridiculous wide white stripes?

[Kevin Finnerty]

The first thing that made Official's Choice the laughingstock of the industry was that trim stripe on the black shirts.

There are other things, including their message and their web presence, but that black shirt started it all.

[kylejt]

But does it still have the ridiculous wide white stripes?

Not like the first generation.

That's a good and bad thing with this outfit. I really liked they're first maroon shirt. It really looked sharp at my local ball field. Then they changed up the collar, and made my stock of shirts not match the new ones. Hate that.

They're getting better, but still don't "get it" entirely. And yeah, their business model is pretty stupid. Coming in thinking they could set the standard was just dumb.

Chocolate colored shirt, near black pants, and jerseys that fit like a teepee. Not a good start. They can give those pants away now at $20. Too bad, because they're pretty good quality, just the wrong color. IMO, they need better communication with their factory in China. I'd be willing to guess that they're actually trying to match colors, and are just getting it wrong overseas. The "setting the standard" was just a CYA when the orders came in FUBAR.

Edited October 4, 2010 by kylejt