Kerrits Ice Fil Tech Tights review and an update

Ladies and gentlemen, June completely kicked my ass.  Specifically, my day job had me so burned out and buried that the last thing I wanted to do was to come home, sit in front of a computer, and be productive again. Thankfully that craziness is over for now and I'm back to my weekly reviews.  Thanks for sticking around.

This week I'm reviewing the Ice Fil Tech Tights by Kerrits.  The company claims their fabric will lower skin's temperature by up to 5 degrees and offer UPF 50+ sun protection.  Awesome, sign me up!  I picked up my Ice Fil tights from Riding Warehouse in May and have already gotten plenty of wears out of them.  They are ridiculously light weight and have an amazing amount of stretch.  The texture of the fabric is lightly fuzzy on the inside which makes these incredibly quick at wicking moisture off of your skin. The outside of the fabric has a muted sheen with a slick enough finish to keep hair and hay from sticking. The backside of these breeches has a silicone pattern of tiny little carrots to give you a bit of grip in the saddle.  I talked about how much I love using silicone for grip earlier this year when I reviewed the StickySeat breeches and Kerrits has achieved the same great results. 

They also have huge pockets on each thigh that have enough room for your phone, horse treats, car keys, check for your trainer, etc.  Because the fabric has so much stretch I had no problem fitting this giant Samsung Galaxy 4 in an Otterbox in my pocket.

These tights are very comfortable. Very, very, very comfortable.  However, they are not at all figure flattering. I'm pretty curvy on the bottom and usually like fabrics that offer a bit more support to smooth me out a bit and these have way too much lightweight stretch. These tights aren't great at covering panty lines either so consider yourself warned.

They don't look terrible but they will show the lumps and bumps. In most breeches I'm a size 30 and I find with Kerrits a medium is borderline so I sized up to a large when purchasing. These are the tights you can put on for the hottest of days where a ROOTD is the last thing on your mind. You just may want to skip the grocery store stop after your ride and head straight home.  

What an odd thing to say about a pair of riding breeches. "They don't look great on me but they're so amazingly light, cool, and comfortable that I'm definitely keeping them," but that's exactly how I feel. I paid about $60 for them and I'd almost bet money that these riding tights will be on the special offer emails to hit your inboxes for the 4th of July sales.  

Next week, I'll be putting together a review of my custom Mattes four pocket shimable half pad.  I'll give you a hint, it's a good one.  Stay cool out there! 

Kerrits Tech Turnout Jacket

Today it got up to 55 degrees in New Jersey. The snow has turned into sticky, goopy mud, and the winds are strong enough to make your car a little wiggly on the freeway.  We are now in that transition from winter to summer and it's time to put away the parkas.  Finally! This week I'm going to show you a jacket that's on clearance all over the place and is perfect for warmer, rainy and windy days.

The Kerrits Tech Turnout Jacket is a light weight, waterproof and windproof outer layer that is loaded with brilliant details and flirty, girly styling.  I was lucky enough to unwrap this jacket at Christmas and have been getting quite a bit of wear out of it the past few weeks. In fact, this was my jacket of choice to run around New York City in yesterday.  I went from Central Park to Time Square and anyone who spends time in NYC knows that those tall buildings block the wind one minute and then concentrate it your direction when you turn the corner. The sealed seams and magnetic placket over the full length zipper did a great job of keeping the wind out without being a heavy, cumbersome coat.

The lining of this jacket is a soft polyester ventilated mesh and the outer is a polyester and rayon blend that has been waterproofed called Hydrotek. For being a treated fabric, the jacket is quite soft for its sturdy construction. The cut of this jacket is very figure flattering offering black piped princess seams, a gently tapered waist, and a rear double vent that is adjustable by two zippers to cover the cantle of your saddle in the rain. There are also two large zipper front pockets and a hidden breast pocket accessible by a smaller zipper that's large enough for your smart phone.  The hood of this jacket is large enough to cover your helmet or can be zipped into the collar when not in use.  The cuffs on this jacket feature adjustable velcro closures to further keep out the wind and rain. So far my jacket has been surprisingly stain resistant but if I do manage to get it dirty it's fully machine washable and can be tumbled dry on low.

This coat comes in quite a few colors and has some super cute plaids. I have the Twilight plaid which is a nice royal blue, charcoal and white combination.  This coat also comes in Otter plaid, a solid Shale grey, and a solid bright purple called Berry.

Since this jacket is on clearance you should be able to pick it up for less than $150.00 from Kerrits directly, Horseloverz, State Line Tack, and Mary's Tack. 

Next week I'll be talking about my Kensington Roustabout Saddle bag that has been entrusted to protect my saddle en route from home, to the barn, and back again. Until next week, happy riding!