Honest First Impressions After One Week

The skinny version: KÜHL's EVADER sweater is thick but very light and while it IS warm it probably also needs another layer to shield you from the wind or any precipitation for it to truly protect against the cold when the wearer is exposed outdoors and temperatures are at or below freezing. This sweater is slightly larger than I expected (brand new) but that is useful when wearing a base layer beneath this as well as for trapping some additional heat. It is more or less worth the price tag when used appropriately. If worn beneath any kind of wind resistant jacket then you should be pretty toasty even in somewhat harsher conditions - this is a great middle layer. "Heavyweight Merino Blend": It's true that this is a "heavyweight" MERINO sweater, however, merino is a very lightweight material. If you are looking for an item to wear that has some heft to retain heat in the freezing cold then this might not be the right item for you. I would say that this is still a good solution without a jacket in >40°F weather and generally good enough when temperatures are above freezing and there is very little wind movement, you might want to wear at least a light thermal beneath it though. The sweater is certainly breathable as described on the product page which is exactly where it has some issues - the waffle texture has lots of stretch to it and wind will pierce straight through it. The top does seem to have some natural odor resistance and is very comfortable to wear, especially for indoor use. "Vintage Appeal": The added shoulder panels are soft and somewhat thin but do seem as if they would do some good for the backpacking crowd to help to prevent wear and tear. I personally am not using this product with a pack but I am inclined to do so in the future. Hard to say how much weather protection you could get out of this item. "Mountain Casual": The quality of the construction is very good and my first impression is that this has great potential to last for a long time. That being said, if you put your clothing through significant abuse then this is not an indestructible product by any means. It does have a lot of stretch which does lend well to preventing the product from tearing when lightly caught. The materials used in the construction of this sweater are a significant part of what justifies the somewhat large price tag, in my opinion.