Field test
The Merino edit, field-tested
Anika Sharma
28 Sep 2026 · 6 min read
Three weeks of testing the new merino-tencel blend through Himalayan trails and Mumbai monsoons.
We do not release a fibre until it has had a hard season. The merino-tencel blend spent three weeks split between a Himalayan trek and the tail end of the Mumbai monsoon — about as wide a temperature and humidity range as India offers.
Merino regulates temperature naturally: warm when it is dry, cool when it is damp. The tencel adds a smoothness merino alone does not have, and helps the pair dry faster overnight on the trail.
After three weeks the verdict was simple — the pair came back the same shape it left in, and never once felt sweaty. That is the whole brief.
Written by Anika Sharma
Keep reading
More from The Thread.
How a sock should hold the foot
The arch band, the cuff, the heel pocket — the three places a pair earns its day.
Why we knit in small batches
Why we make 500 pairs at a time instead of 50,000 — and what that means for what you wear.
Combed, twice combed, mercerised
A short glossary for the cotton on your skin — why what the label says actually matters.
