Parrot Highlander jersey
Price: £39.99 (Save £15 if you buy jersey and shorts)
Parrot – www.parrot-online.com

Parrot are a direct-from-the-web clothing company making well designed riding gear for British conditions. Lack of shops in the buying chain also means prices are very competitive.

Very simple loose cut with split hem sides for casual flappiness.
Sleeves are lightly elasticated and there’s a big long 25mm front zip for ventilation. You’ll have to make your own pull tab though.

The shirt is also available in grey as well as ‘sage’ but visual thrillseekers should probably look elsewhere.

Very soft cottony wafty X-Static fabric with a nice fleecey back for coochy sking comfort. Does a very good job of sucking sweat off your back, but even better the silver thread woven into the material helps kill off stinky bacteria before they breed. We were even allowed to have a cup of tea and cake in the kitchen when we got back in off a ride, rather than being ordered straight into the shower as usual.

Definitely on the baggy side but intentionally so.

Just one big zipped dustbin pocket at the back. It’s secure but everything gets jumbled up and bounces around whilst riding. The high zip can chafe under backpacks or against car seats and the mesh back means you need to keep tools and keys wrapped to avoid fleshwounds.

Special features
Not really a feature of the shirt, but if you buy the Highlander shorts too you’ll get £15 off the combined price, which is good of them.

Should I buy one? The fabric makes this more expensive than most Parrot gear (but about the same as most jerseys) but if you’re a heavy sweating laundry dodger with a sensitive snout then it’s worth it.

Casual cut and lifestyle colours mean you’ll be visually as well as nasally unobtrusive too.

The only drawback is the under-designed pocket set up, but you’ll know whether that’s important to you or not.