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I recently had the pleasure of wearing another great performance product from HUK. The HUK Santiago Next Level Shirt falls right in line for clothing options for summertime angling. I am a fisherman, hunter, backpacker, and I see myself as a total outdoorsman in every form. While I donned less clothing in my younger days, today I choose apparel that provides maximum coverage from the sun’s penetrating rays, but it has to be comfortable for me to even consider adding an item like this to my cart. Luckily, the design engineers at HUK apparently are thinking the same thing as me!
Advances In Angler Clothing
The new designs and products available today are light years away from what we used to wear 25 years ago. The days of short-sleeved cotton T-shirts for anglers is becoming ancient history. While these short sleeved cotton shirts can be comfortable under the right circumstances, anglers and other outdoorsman are seeking apparel to outperform older clothing options in a wider array of environmental conditions. The need for high performance gear is here and specialized synthetic apparel is taking over the market place. And HUK is one of the newer companies of the 21st century that has figured it out in expert fashion.
HUK was founded to provide innovative designs and technologically-focused apparel to meet the higher expectations of players in the modern angling world. High performance shirts are primarily stitched polyester designs, but with a modern flair. Sure, polyester isn’t exactly a new fabric since its introduction into the market during World War II over 75 years ago. But, the changes in polyester are constantly on the move with more technological advances debuting every year.
New inventions arrive on the market every year in all product categories throughout the world. But in the fishing industry, new products debut at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, better known as, ICAST. It’s the largest showcase of fishing tackle, apparel, and accessories in the world with over 600 exhibitors and 15,000 attendees represented by more than 60 countries. All the latest inventions debut at ICAST that often sets industry trends worldwide.
Just last year, HUK was one of the 600 exhibitors during the 60th ICAST event in Orlando, Florida. While many exhibitors’ new products got lost in the flood, HUK gear’s new product lines rose to the top with a new footwear line and improved fishing shirts.
HUK Next Level Santiago Shirt
One of the new fishing shirts was the Santiago Next Level button down that I got to test out right during the hottest days of my South Carolina summer. A typical summer day in South Carolina consists of 75-degree wake ups and nearly 100-degree highs. Add our 99-percent humidity and you have the greenhouse effect with a steady flow of perspiration oozing out every part of the body. Yet, when the fish are biting, the weather doesn’t stop us from venturing outside to put a bend in our rods.
The HUK Santiago Next Level Shirt is a little different than most performance fishing shirts. The typical performance fishing shirt boasts style but is utilitarian with all the right features in all the right places. When I took the Santiago out of the package, it looked more like I needed to wear it to the office or out to a nice dinner with some friends than take it in the woods or on the boat. Then, after grasping the shirt and feeling its fabrics, I immediately had to put it on. The thin, soft fabrics were exactly what I was accustomed to in their other performance shirts, but with a major improvement to style and good looks. No doubt, this shirt is capable of multiple uses in our summertime, tropical climate. It is nice-looking enough to take to our local fine dining establishment for some crab cakes and a cold brew, out on the boat for some top water trout fishing in Charleston Harbor, or scurrying through a pine plantation with a potential client.
Most dress shirts are far from comfortable outside of a climate controlled environment. The Santiago is basically a performance fishing shirt with premium styling and extreme comfort in mind that can be worn in a wide variety of situations.
Prior to completing this review, I wore the Santiago on several occasions to test out the features and to see if the Santiago had everything my other HUK Performance fishing shirts have. Typically, comfort is at the top of my list, but I keep finding myself in situations where I need to dress up somewhat even though I am outside in the blaring South Carolina tropics. Luckily, the Santiago is the best of both worlds for me that allow me to wear this shirt all day without having to change clothes between work and play. And sometimes my work is my play. If I am going to be outside and I need to look good, a shirt that can work double duty is really a need over a want.
Features
The HUK Santiago Next Level Shirt has several features in common with many of their performance fishing shirts, such as: sun protection, breathability, stain release, anti-microbial resistance, and moisture transport. But, one of the major features I can attest to is the laser perforations under the arm and in the back. Every time the wind would blow during my days testing this shirt, I would feel a gentle breeze coming through these micro perforations that cooled me off every time. In a lot of other performance fishing shirts, they will have holes or a mesh section, but I rarely ever feel the air coming through the mesh on other shirts.
Another game-changing aspect of the Santiago Shirt was the thin and light nature of the material. The material is extremely light and airy that didn’t feel heavy on my skin. The last thing you want when its 100-degrees outside is to feel the weight of material on your skin. Not only was the shirt lightweight, it dried quickly when wet. When I got home each day after wearing the shirt, it always looked the same as when I put it on that morning.
Final Thoughts On The Santiago Next Level
I will continue to wear the Santiago shirt throughout the rest of the summer when my professional duties meet Mother Nature or when an afternoon trip to the water arrives unexpectedly.
HUK filled the gap between performance fishing apparel and dress shirts when they designed the Santiago. Hopefully, the HUK Santiago Next Level Shirt is just the beginning of new lines of performance apparel from this great brand. We hope for additional styles to debut later this year to complete my collection of stylish performance apparel.
