Men's Original Airbase 120 mesh set

“I love Airbase, and it comes with me on most of my adventures. It's durable, light and works really well. That's a combination you don't often find in outdoor clothing these days.”

Peyman Almar, Arctic nature adventurer

Airbase – the set you forget you're wearing

The mesh knit of the Airbase set solves one of the toughest challenges of dressing for the outdoors: how to stay dry and comfortable when your body keeps warming up and cooling down. The loops of the 120 g/m² 3D mesh knit breathe and trap air, which cools you when it's warm and insulates you when it's colder. The fabric feels light on your skin, almost as if you weren't wearing anything at all, yet it still regulates your temperature.

Airbase doesn't absorb moisture. Instead, it wicks it away to the layers on top, so you stay dry for the whole trip. No wet, chilled back or lower body, no damp fabric against your skin. Just a dry, light feel that lets you focus on what you're doing.

The 100% polypropylene in Airbase is treated to resist odour. So when you take the set off, you're not greeted by that familiar sportswear smell. It feels as fresh as when you put it on. The treatment sits in the core of the fibre, so the odour-resistant effect lasts for the whole life of the set and doesn't wash out.

The men's Original Airbase 120 set comes with a 100-day satisfaction guarantee. We want to give you time to try it properly: wear it as you normally would for 100 days. If you're not happy with it for any reason, you'll get your money back.

Pro-tested Original Airbase 120 set for year-round wear

This close-fitting but stretchy Airbase set moves with you without feeling tight. Raise your arms, reach, squat or climb, and the shirt and bottoms follow your movements instead of holding you back.

The shirt's crew neck makes it comfortable to wear even under several layers. Rib cuffs improve the fit and keep the sleeves in place, so you don't have to pull them back down to your wrists when you put on more layers. The longer back hem keeps your back covered and warm when you bend over.

The rib knit at the front of the bottoms adds extra protection and coverage without affecting how the mesh knit works. The mesh knit around the seat and thighs ventilates effectively and keeps your skin dry, even on long trips. The soft, flexible elastic waistband stops the bottoms slipping down without leaving a red mark on your waist, and rib cuffs at the ankles keep the legs down all day.

The seams on both the shirt and the bottoms are flatlock seams that lie flat and won't rub your skin, even with repeated wear.

In the Svala AIR System™, this set is the Zero Layer: the moisture-wicking layer you wear next to your skin, under all your other layers. In freezing weather, add a warming Base Layer on top, such as the Svala Merino Extreme base layer set, for extra warmth.

Thoughts from the designer

“With a long-sleeved shirt and full-length bottoms, the challenge is the same: sleeves and legs ride up when you move or pull on other layers. I wanted to design a men's set with rib cuffs at the wrists and ankles that keep everything in place, while the set is shaped to fit a man's body. A good first layer isn't the one you notice, but the one you forget.”

Ninni Pohto, designer at Svala

Polypropylene mesh: a material refined over decades

Polypropylene is a lightweight fibre that wicks moisture away from your skin instead of absorbing it. In practice, this means your skin doesn't stay damp after you've been sweating, the fabric doesn't cling to you, and a cold wind doesn't chill you to the bone when you stop for a break. You stay dry even when you're pushing hard and, more importantly, afterwards too.

A silver-ion treatment in the core of the fibre prevents bacteria from multiplying, so your set stays odour-free and fresh for a long time. That means you can pack one set for a trip instead of several. The treatment is applied during manufacturing and lasts for the whole life of the set, so it doesn't lose its effect in the wash.

The 3D mesh knit in Airbase is very stretchy and follows the shape of your body. Its structure creates air pockets against your skin that store air and even out temperature in both directions: the mesh cools you when it's hot and warms you when it's cold. It works like a small regulating system on your skin, running in the background however active you are. During strenuous exercise, Airbase works as the only layer under your shell in temperatures as low as −15 °C. In colder weather, we recommend adding a Svala Merino Extreme base layer set on top for extra warmth.

The set is made from 100% polypropylene, which can be fully recycled into new raw material at the end of its life. Before that, you'll get years of wear out of it. The Airbase set is made at the Svala factory in Kärsämäki, Finland, with skills refined over decades. Read more about recycling Airbase.

Developed in Finland for Finnish weather

Cycling to work in the rain? Hauling in nets on an icy lake? Hiking through Lapland's autumn colours? Airbase is made for moments like these.

Products in the Original Airbase collection suit almost any hobby on land, on water and in the air, as well as leisure time outside. Your gear no longer decides how much you enjoy being outdoors.

The Original Airbase 120 set is at its best:

• At work
• Hiking and trekking
• Running
• Cycling
• Cross-country skiing
• Snowmobiling
• Canoeing or boating
• Fishing and ice fishing
• Hunting
• Everyday wear

Svala's 3D mesh knit was developed in Finland and has been tested in professional use for decades. In other words, it has proven itself on people who show their clothes no mercy: on long shifts, on week-long wilderness trips, and in wet, cold conditions where your gear decides how comfortable your day is. If the set has stood up to them, it'll stand up to you too.