Patagonia & Polygiene Team Up: Women’s Nine Trails Shirt and Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck Review

by Shannon · Published July 31, 2016 , 7:38 pm · Updated July 12, 2023 , 4:23 am

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Patagonia Women’s Short Sleeved Nine Trails Shirt

The Patagonia Short Sleeved Nine Trails Shirt feels like your old favorite t-shirt from high school. Fortunately, the Patagonia Nine Trails Shirt isn’t made from cotton, doesn’t take 20 years to break in, and doesn’t feature a silly school mascot. The Patagonia Nine Trails Shirt is soft, breathable, and wicking on day one through day 20. I’ve been wearing the Women’s Short Sleeved Nine Trails Shirt on hiking, trail running, and camping adventures this summer with minimal washing to test out its’ integrated Polygiene (more on that later!)

Patagonia Women’s Short Sleeved Nine Trails Shirt Fabric

The Nine Trails Shirt features bluesign® approved 100% polyester spun jersey with Polygiene®. The ins and outs of Polygiene® can be found here in previous reviews: Patagonia Capilene 4 Pro Review and Athleta Chi Tank with Polygiene. Briefly, Polygiene® is added to the fabric to prevent the build up of bacteria, which causes the odors on your tech garments. The goal of Polygiene® is to allow you to wear the garment more times in between washings, which helps to reduce water use and waste, and promotes the life of the garment itself. The Nine Trails Shirt is the first t-shirt that I have tested with Polygiene® and I was impressed that it continued to deliver day in and day out. Running shirts are the most washed item in my wardrobe from mid April to late October and adding the Patagonia Women’s Short Sleeved Nine Trails Shirt to the rotation really reduces the number of items to be laundered each week!

: Two toned: Epic Blue with Dark Gray

: Solid: Harvest Moon Blue

The Nine Trails Shirt features heathered fabric, which produces the soft look of the shirt. When you see a heathered fabric, you often assume that it doesn’t wick or perform like a technical shirt. The Patagonia Nine Trails Shirt did not disappoint in this category. The fabric does pill in high wear areas, such as along the hips and chest, where my running or day packs land. This occurred after a dozen or so wears. It’s not a huge deal to me, as it doesn’t affect the performance. The Nine Trails Shirt is available in a variety of solid and two toned color combinations.

Patagonia Women’s Short Sleeve Nine Trails Shirt Fit

The Women’s Short Sleeve Nine Trails Shirt features a modified crew neck design. I say modified, as it has a slight v-shape to it, but actually cuts up high like a crew neck. This style offers sun protection at the chest, which I need, but results in a less than optimal fit. Basically, the top looks a bit unflattering for those with average sized chest as it doesn’t lay naturally and often bunches up around my sports bra. I’m typically wearing the shirt with a pack and don’t mind too much. The remainder of the top runs true to size with underarm gussets with flatlock seams to avoid chafing. The length hits just above the hip bone with adequate front/rear coverage. Two reflective logos, one at the left hem and one at the center-back, below the neck, round out the details.

: Ploy Purple with Light Gray; note the rise of the V- neck

: Gusseted sleeves make the top easy to wear all day long

: Hitting the trail on day 4 (in a row) of wearing the Nine Trails Short Sleeve

MSRP $45 for the new Fall colors. Patagonia.com has Web Specials (aka sale) for the Summer colors, $31

The Patagonia Women’s Short Sleeve Nine Trails Shirt is a no frills, cotton feeling, and breathable shirt. I believe that the price point of $45 is a bit steep, but would consider the sale price point to be more reasonable. I would like to see Patagonia tune up the neck design and offer the top in a few more bright color combinations for Summer. While I like the light purple, I feel like it was always showing dirt and warranted a wash earlier than let’s say a solid darker purple.

Patagonia Women’s Capilene Midweight Zip Neck Update

The Patagonia Women’s Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck has been a staple in my wardrobe. This season, Patagonia has made some updates to the top; some are welcomed with open arms, others’ not so much. The Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck is offered in 15 different colors. Everyone is bound to find a color that will work for them. I tested the top out in Black, and believe it or not, it is the first black top I’ve owned in a long time.

Patagonia Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck Fit

The Patagonia Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck is available in size XS to XL. The latest update features some larger changes (no pun intended) to the sizing. I typically wear a medium and like midweight pieces to be slim cut for easy layering. The photos below, show me wearing the Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck over a long sleeve button down shirt. This is not a typical combination, but I wanted to show that even over a larger under shirt, this top is quite a bit bigger than its’ predecessors. The under arm area is very generous, as is the boxy torso. For some, they may like this newer fit, but for me I would likely size down to a small to get the fit that I am used to. I have also read online complaints referring to the sleeve length getting shorter. I tend to agree, the sleeves with my arms stretched out cause the cuff to be about 3 inches from my wrist.

: Patagonia Women’s Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck with collar popped

: Cuffs with elastic thumb loop help to anchor the slightly short sleeve length

: Gusseted arms for free arm movement, drop tail for added coverage in the rear and easy tucking in during colder temps.

Patagonia Women’s Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck Fabric and Features

The Patagonia Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck incorporates the very best fabric that Patagonia has to offer: Polartec® Power Grid™ that is made of 100% polyester (93% recycled) double knit that is bluesign® approved and treated with Polygiene®. The recycled polyester comes from a variety of post consumer goods, including: soda bottles, previous garments, soda bottles, and other manufactured waste. When you add all of these qualities together you get a breathable, super soft, odor resistant, and eco conscious fabric that performs in a wide range of environments and activities. The Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck wicks like crazy thanks the grid pattern (see photo below). The top features a super long zip that allows you to vent heat quickly on the move. Flatlock seams, including an offset over the shoulders, means no hotspots or chaffing despite wearing a variety of packs.

Close up of the inside fabric

With the exception of the fit, I continue to love the Patagonia Women’s Capilene Midweight Zip-Neck for just about every adventure: backcountry ski tour, early morning trail runs, hiking, and so on and so forth. At a price point of $69, it’s a pretty good deal too as I have had my other tops for 6 years. Best of all, when you are done with it you can turn it into Patagonia to help make your next favorite clothing piece. For more information visit patagonia.com