Review of Arctic Cool Shirt

Disclaimer:  I received a shirt from Arctic Cool. I was intrigued by the technology and asked for a product to try, and was happily sent a shirt. How cool is that (I couldn’t resist the pun)? All opinions expressed below are entirely my own.

OK. I saw Arctic Cool on Twitter and was intrigued. A shirt with cooling technology? I’ll admit I’m a heavy sweater, so the idea of a running shirt that would help keep me cool sounded like something I needed to try. I wrote to them and asked if they would consider sending me one of their products, thinking they would send a towel or headband, but no, they said they would be happy to send me a shirt. Yes!

When I received the shirt in the mail, I wanted to go run in it that very day but my next long run was only 2 days away, so I waited until then. First impressions of the shirt were that it seemed like an ordinary running shirt by all appearances. It’s made of 94% Polyester amd 6% Spandex. The difference is in the “Hydrofreeze X Technology.”

How does all of this work? According to Arctic Cool, the material wicks moisture from skin, moisture is dispersed, Hydrofreeze X activates, and the fabric keeps you cool and dry. One little tidbit I missed before my run is it says to activate cooling with a spritz of water and recharge as needed.

For my first test, I ran 7 miles and even though it was a bit cooler out that day than it had been, I was still sweating like crazy. Like magic, though, my shirt was mostly dry even at the end of my run. I did spill some Nuun on my shirt accidentally, so if you see moisture on the front, it’s most likely from that. You can see sweat on my face and neck, though.

After test 1:  long run

Similar to my previous run, I still felt like I was sweating quite a bit but I also felt like the shirt was getting cooler, the hotter I got. It reminded me of a slogan I think I heard a long time ago, “We work hard so you don’t have to,” or something like that anyway. I definitely like this shirt. While it won’t stop you from sweating, especially if you sweat a lot like I do, it does help cool you off. Normally when I get home from a run I take off my wet, sweaty running shirt, but I left this one on for a bit, to let it help cool me off.

After test 2:  hill repeats

I was intrigued about what would happen if I were to wet this shirt entirely and then put it on for a run. Before I did speed work on the treadmill, I wet the shirt under the faucet then put it on. It was wet but not dripping. It turns out this wasn’t a great idea. I don’t think the shirt is meant to be that wet before wearing and I didn’t feel like it helped cool me off any better. In fact, I felt like the best was when I flicked the shirt with some water and ran hill repeats.

After test 3:  speed work

Arctic Cool also has long sleeve shirts, hats, headbands, towels, and shorts for men (alas no shorts for women). I’m seriously thinking about buying a few of these shirts for my summer running shirts. A hat would be great too.

Here’s the link if any of you would like to try Arctic Cool for yourself. Unfortunately I didn’t even think to ask for a discount code to pass along to you guys so I don’t have one. Their stuff seems very reasonably priced, however.

Happy running! Donna