Review: Morvélo Women’s Tread Thermal Jersey

By Rachel Sokal

The Morvélo Tread Thermal jersey has a sort of retro Christmas jumper look to it – which is great for anyone who wants to keep the festive cheer going into the New Year, but what I can’t quite work out is whether it falls within the “ironically cool” or “dad-like” category, but given it’s designed by those pop-art inspired chaps on the south coast (who featured in issue 85) I shall go for the former.

Kind of christmassy, but not that reflective

Tyre-tread graphics aside the jersey is beautifully designed and made. It boasts many high quality features that largely go unnoticed as they appear as they work so well: seamless underarm panels, silicon waist gripper, full length zip guard and double stitched pockets.

Functionality and style twinned

The jersey is snugly fitting with long cuffs which leave no gaps between gloves and sleeves. Like the other Morvélo kit I’ve tried I needed to size up, going for a medium rather than my usual small. Even one size up, the fit is pretty snug and could even class on the small side if I wasn’t confident it was meant to fit like this. The tight fit did mean there were no drafty bits to contend with and it worked well on top of a baselayer or underneath a waterproof depending on the weather, which is definitely how I would use this jersey in the future.

I do like a good jersey pocket and the three open and one zipped on this top do the job nicely (I had assumed that on such a well-fitting jersey they would come up a bit small). My personal record is a spares kit and pump, wallet, two phones (work and personal) and a take-away lunch box on my morning commute. And no, the jersey hadn’t bagged down towards the back of my knees and my pockets sat right where they should do – a major win by my reckoning.

Stretchy with even more zip action

A downside of this jersey is its visibility. The “M” Morvélo logo on the centre pocket is reflective but very small and as the rest of the jersey is dark it doesn’t stand out in the gloom. Given it’s a thermal number and therefore one I’ll be wearing throughout the cold and fairly dangerous dark winter months, I’d have preferred it to be a bit brighter or more reflective for road sections of my rides.

The other drawback I found was that it seemed to hold its (my) moisture more than some other thermal jerseys I’ve worn, which I suppose it keeps you warm – in a way – but I for one prefer to stay dry, especially once the freezing icy mist comes around. This was much more noticeable when I wore it as a mid- rather than outerlayer and although it never caused me a big problem given a big mechanical on a cold day it just might.

Overall: A well-fitting neatly made thermal jersey which may just fancy form over function.