1000 km in Merino Wool - without wash

Say hi to Kristian, a passionate runner, who had been running a lot of kilometers in his merino wool tee, before Lars, SAYSKY founder and CEO, challenged him to try to run 1000 km in the tee without washing it - and so he did!

Read the whole interview with Kristian below and get inspired by this awesome story and the wonders of merino wool. 

Merino wool is great for all seasons, either as an outer-layer or as a layer under your jacket. It is naturally odour resistent and very breathable. You can find all our merino products here.

Please start with introducing yourself and tell us a little bit more about how your project started?
My name is Kristian and I am working and living in Copenhagen and I love running. Back in the autumn of 2016, I started to run in a SAYSKY long sleeve merino tee. I knew that merino was self-cleaning, so I just hung the merino tee up on our balcony after each run. Even though I knew about the quality and features about the merino tee it still surprised me that it didn’t smell the day after a run. 

How long did it take for you to run the 1000km? and how did you track it?
The merino tee was so comfortable that I just kept running in it, and suddenly I realized I had worn it for more than 200 km without washing it. After that time the competition started. First goal was 500 km and afterwards 1000 km. 

In total, I ran 1159 km in the period from November 2016 to February 2017, before the first wash.

What was the best part about running in merino? And did you experience any downsides? 
The best part was and is that it was self-cleaning and was so comfortable to run in every time I had it on. 

The hardest time was on my holidays in Zurich and Berlin, where I didn’t have the perfect possibilities to put the merino tee outdoor. In these days, I also used another tee helping me through the project.

We are sure that people are wondering about the smell of the shirt, so could you please tell the audience a little bit more about this? Did the shirt ever get stiff, smelly or otherwise dirty doing these 1000km?
If you sweat a lot the sleeves get stiff, but in Denmark it rains a lot, which helps the self-cleaning process. It doesn’t smell but one time after a hard interval session I forgot the merino tee in my backpack for two days - Even though merino is self-cleaning, this was way too much.

Any tips for people out there wanting to do the same project? 
If you want a high merino number you definitely need an outdoor place for the merino tee, a place with wind and sometimes rain, otherwise I don’t think it's possible to do the project.

Want to follow in Kristian's footsteps? Head over to our webshop and start your own wild project today.