Tag: short sleeve tight

Tight shirt review

OBO Short sleeve goalie shirt review.

So, here it is. The new Goalie shirt from OBO.

 

And here it is in action:

 

When it comes to keepers shirts there isn’t a lot on the market that takes my fancy, for the last 2 seasons I have been using a Nike Dri-Fit running shirt which has served me well. I’m always on the hunt for new products and equipment so after sending a few emails to Simon enquiring about testing future products, he came back to me with this.

I’ve been using this shirt for many weeks now and I can safely say it is one of the best shirts I’ve worn. It keeps my armour tight to my body yet still has enough stretch in the material for it not to be uncomfortable.

Firstly I’ll start with the style, every keeper wants to look good, right?

As you can see I have the Black and Silver top, It is very similar in design to my Nike top which is what I personally was looking for. I really like the 2-tone colour option and as it’s OBO I would expect to see numerous options available, like with the rest of their products.

How does it fit?

Me and Simon were in discussion about which size would be best for me. We were deciding between a large and an extra large and settled on the XL. If I was to re-order another one I would go for a large as the XL is just a bit too big for me.

I guess it’s all down to personal preference, I prefer my shirt to be as tight as possible, whereas others like it slightly baggy.

After a couple of weeks, I decided that I would mod my shirt to make it more tight fitting, around the chest and arms.

It could also depend on which body armour you use, Iam currently wearing the Mercian Xtreme with the bicep protection cut off. This armour is quite slim fitting with fairly small shoulder caps, some other armours are more bulky which would fill the shirt out more than my one, so take that into consideration when buying!

A fairly obvious point to make is that this shirt is definitely not an option for goalies in full body armour as your arm protection will be ruined from diving around.

Material & Breathability.

The materials OBO have used for this shirt seem to be of a very high standard, the Black material on the front is stretchy and feels very durable. The Silver material used on the back feels very strong, it almost looks similar to the material of my old long sleeve smock.

I really like the idea of having a vented back, but could see others disagreeing. Maybe there could be an option to have the shirt made entirely of the black material alongside the tops with the vented back?

Because the material of this shirt is of a very high quality, it hasn’t lost it’s shape, frayed or shrunk in the wash, other shirts I’ve had haven’t held us aswell.

Summary

In short, I think OBO are onto a winner with this top, it’s comfortable, looks good and is specifically designed for keepers. Good job guys!

 

Review of the new short sleeve tight shirt

by Michael Smith

Style
This is the style of top that a lot of keepers have been waiting for. No more ¾ length tops or using a similar style from another sport. The other company that does this style is Kukri, however they will only normally produce a GK top as part of a team order and they do not have a vented back.

For info, I had both GK’s come over from the game prior to mine to have a look and the opposition GK after our game (all in OBO kit, two had a Mazon shirt with the other wearing an older OBO design – silver/black). Also, it received a lot of compliments from my own team. That has never happened before.

Colours
Great combination and looking forward to seeing the other colours to match specific foam colours. My complete kit is red and black. [Admin: available colours are black/orange, blue/black, black/silver, blue/orange.]

Printing
Great integration of the OBO into the number one at the back. However, a lot of GK’s are not number 1; therefore, does this come as an option unprinted? [Admin: we no longer print the number ‘1’ on the back of the shirts].

In addition, I have had this screen printed with my name on the back and the number 1 on the front also.

Fit
At first glance this top (size L) look really small and figure hugging almost like a muscle top. This isn’t just my view but also that of the other GK’s who have much better physiques – (I will blame age and beer). However, once worn with body armour it really does come into its own. The body armour is kept firmly in place and whilst it is definitely snug it does provide an overall sense of protection. I can only relate to the same way it feels when wearing the stripper pants and overshorts as everything is compact but comfortable. I do not know how much difference is there is between the L / XL etc but would be worth noting the exact sizing details on the sales info.

This is definitely a top that is not suitable for the full body armour with arms; however, I believe that is self explanatory when buying a top of this nature. It fits really well with the OBO elbow guards as the fitted arms do not get caught in the guards unlike the sports tops that I wear.

Vented Back
Great for me in Australia during warm games however am not sure of the whole philosophy. If anything, the back is probably the coldest area on a keeper as the body armour always keeps the front warm. In addition, there are a large number of keepers now wearing Skins or equivalent. I still either use an OBO wicking or skins. The old style GK Tops were always vented being a spin out of ice hockey smocks with the new way being all enclosed similar to outfield players. I am not sure if there are actually any performance differences but am sure you guys have researched it more than I am aware of. In summary, I do not know whether or not it is needed and honestly do not have a preference either way.

In summary
I absolutely loved this top and consider it by far the best one I have had and surpassing anything that OBO have produced previously. The colour range will be important as it always is with OBO products as different foam colours also play a big part.