Product Review: Go Sport ID Prototype Singlet

Front (left) and back photos of the Go Sport ID prototype
singlet I was sent and tested.

A while back during a session of #runchat, Kase - the person who oversees the Go Sport ID Twitter account, mentioned the company was going to add singlets to its line of products.

Half-heartily joking, I tweeted back to him, "if you need someone to test them out, let me know." Doesn't hurt to try, right? Well, it worked because a few weeks later, I was contacted for my address so they could send me one of the prototypes to try out.

Before I go on with my review, I feel it necessary to share two key bits of information in the spirit of full disclosure. First, this was my first singlet in years. I had not worn one since I was on my high school track team, and we don't need to discuss how long ago that was. I run in tech shirts, a few are sleeveless but not what you'd consider a singlet.

Secondly, getting the right size is important. I've always heard singlets tend to run smaller, tighter than most running shirts. I can bounce back and forth from a large to an x-large shirt in most running shirts. Kase told me the singlets run a little small, so I went with an XL. ... I should've gone with a 2XL.

The XL singlet fit, but it was tad snug. And I firmly believe the majority of my issues with the singlet stems from the sizing issue.

The logos and wording up close and
personal like.

I love the look of the singlet. I'm a big fan of the color orange. Every school I have attended and/or worked at has orange as one of its colors. So, I'm a partial to the color. The singlet is bright and easily visible. It's hard to tell in my photos above, but there are silver stripes down each side.

To be fair to the singlet, I wanted to run in it a number of times to give the singlet a fair assessment. I ran in it on four short runs from 2 to 6 miles in length, and on one 10-mile run.

When I put on the singlet, there was a little discomfort under my arms where the edge of the arm openings rubbed against me. I do believe this was an issue because of the sizing issue. However, once I began running, the discomfort quickly went away. (Thus convincing me the discomfort is from not having the correct size singlet.) The singlet is good at soaking up moisture, and it soaked up a lot during my runs as most of them were on days the temp hit mid- to high-90s and over triple digits.

Because of the snugness, the singlet felt like it was sticking to me, making me very aware I was wearing it. I never run shirtless, but I never had the sensation of my shirt being soclosetomewhileIrun like this.

All through my short runs, I had no complaints with the prototype singlet outside of not having the proper size. But during the 10-mile run, I began to feel my nipple being rubbed raw about mile 7. It was hurting, and I hated. At the time, I blamed the singlet for the chaffing. But then, I began to chaff in my next 10-mile run the following week, wearing a tech shirt I've had for nearly 2 years and had absolutely no issues with until this. Upon further review, I determined the chaffing largely resulted from all the moisture (a.k.a. MY SWEAT) the singlet and tech shirt soaked up.

All in all, I like the Go Sport ID prototype singlet I was sent to try out. I believe I would've liked it even better had I known more about the sizing and requested a 2XL.

My review is a wee bit late as Go Sport ID rolled out their line of singlets today. I like the changes they made in the look of it, and I look forward to trying one out for comparison sake.