The North Face Warm Crew Review

The North Face Warm is a synthetic base layer that has a soft and warm next to skin feel. It was our lowest scoring synthetic layer. This isn't to say that it is a poor choice, but it just doesn't perform at the levels of other tops we tested. If you need an inexpensive base layer that will be durable and keep you warm for things like resort skiing or hiking in cool to cold weather, this may be a good option for you.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

This midweight synthetic base layer does a good job of keeping you warm, but the synthetic fabric next to skin just doesn't seem to feel as warm as a Merino wool layer. Because it's thick and doesn't have the best breathability, it traps heat well and has a little more wind resistance as a stand-alone layer than a Merino. Overall the warmth is ok but not impressive compared to others tested.

Breathability

We didn't find this to be exceptional in the breathability category. It holds heat very well but isn't the best at letting it escape. It doesn't want to wick very quickly and is slow to dry.

It's not terrible but compared to the others it's not nearly as good. A good option if low price is key and breathability isn't an urgent requirement.

Comfort and Fit

The soft synthetic fabric is comfortable next-to-skin. It feels a bit thick and bulky but is nice and stretchy. Gusseted underarms don't live in the armpit itself but instead a triangle against the ribs; it doesn't seem quite as effective as other gusset designs.

The Warm pulls up pretty significantly, exposing belly when arms are raised above the head. Generally, it has a good fit that's true to size, but could use slightly longer arms and torso.

Drying Speed

This had, by a long shot, the sloooowest drying time of any top we tested. It's made with The North Face Flash Dry material but there was no flash about it.

This top took nearly 1.5 hours to dry after it lovingly lapped up water like a thirst-deprived dog in a hot car. Impressive is a word that lives far, far away from our dry speed result for this top. The lesson here, if you are going to jump into an alpine lake, take this off first.

Durability

Synthetics are generally considered to be more durable than Merino layers. Not the case here, this synthetic fabric did not prove itself in this category, winding up among the least durable models we tested. In our abrasion test, it was the only synthetic layer to develop a hole through the fabric, which was surprising to us because the material is fairly thick in comparison to the other base layers that we tested, and especially the other synthetic layers.

Overall, we were not impressed with this top's ability to take a beating. And given its thick material and lack of breathability we were hoping it would at least be durable, but alas…

Layering Ability

The smooth synthetic material slides easily over a shirt, but the tighter fit makes layering over a t-shirt feel bulky and restrictive. It layers well underneath a fleece but we found it adds a little bulk underneath a snug mid-layer like the Patagonia R1. We found that the thicker material feels a bit restrictive when incorporated into a full layering system.

Value

This is one of the most affordable base layers out there. For the dollar amount, we feel that this a great value as long as you don't require a high performing base layer in technical aspects like breathability.

Conclusion