Functional Underwear
Bikers used to say: "You either freeze or bake." But nowadays Louis offers a wide range of base layers that create a far more comfortable climate for your body.
Functional Underwear
Protective clothing begins right next to the skin – with base layers. They are designed to provide active safety by protecting you against overheating and excessive cooling, thereby ensuring that you stay fully concentrated and alert.
The fibres absorb hardly any moisture, but instead distribute it in the fabric so that it can evaporate uniformly. This is essential to allow sweat to escape in the form of water vapour through the climate membrane of your outer clothing. Your skin then feels dry and warm irrespective of the air temperature. To ensure that moisture wicking between base layer and climate membrane is not interrupted, you should also wear a warming midlayer made of technical fibres (e.g. fleece).
Ideal for touring: Base layers are extremely quick-drying. You can wash them out in the evening and put them on again next morning. They are also light – and nobody wants to carry more weight than necessary.
Technical clothing
1. Layer 1
Base layer: special synthetic fibres regulate your body temperature by allowing moisture on your skin to evaporate and wicking it away to the outside. That's also how the climate membrane functions – in summer AND winter. Conventional cotton shirts cannot do the same job because they absorb moisture.
2. Layer 2
Additional insulation for cold weather. It also serves to wick moisture away from your body. Lightweight technical shirts and jackets – likewise made of synthetic fibres – are ideal, as are fleece shirts and softshell jackets.
3. Layer 3
The outer protective layer. It not only protects you against injury in the event of an accident, but also keeps out the wind and rain. And, no less important, it ensures that moisture can be removed as water vapour via the climate membrane (which is a feature of most textile jackets and trousers).
Note:
Never use fabric softener when washing your base layers! It would clog the fibres and impair moisture wicking. It is best to use a special detergent for technical fibres.
