La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt Review

La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt Review by Erin Trail The La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt is a feather light shirt that’s perfect for running in hot weather. Details • 100% Recycled Polyester breathable, quick-drying fabric • Polygiene® odor control technology • Bonded hems for second-skin comfort Review When the weather gets hot, I often grab a tank…

Erin Trail

April 17, 2026

4–6 minutes

La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt

Review by Erin Trail

The La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt is a feather light shirt that’s perfect for running in hot weather.

Details

• 100% Recycled Polyester breathable, quick-drying fabric
• Polygiene® odor control technology
• Bonded hems for second-skin comfort

Review

When the weather gets hot, I often grab a tank top for my runs. This can be problematic because of sun exposure and chafing from my hydration pack. I have a surgical scar on my shoulder, and every year, I forget sunscreen, and the scar turns bright pink for days. Not to mention sun exposure to my upper chest and arms.

The La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt might be the solution for my hot weather runs. It’s easily the lightest and most breathable running shirt that I have in my extensive collection.

The shirt itself is VERY smooth and slippery feeling, adding to the lightness and wearability of the shirt. The bonded seams are also great. I often get underarm chafing from t-shirts but I didn’t experience this while wearing the La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt.

The fabric is woven to maximize breathability. There are thinner areas to the box pattern weave which allow air to move through freely. The lightness of the fabric combined with the weave result in a shirt that is easy to wear when the heat gets turned up.

I wore the La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt in several runs: one was in 90+ degrees and direct sun and the other was in 70 degrees. In both instances, I wore a hydration pack.

During my runs, I was really impressed with how light and breathable the La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt felt. Even on an early 90 degree day (where things feel shockingly hot), the shirt wicked away moisture and felt light on my skin.

The fabric of the La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt appears to be delicate, due to how light and thin it is, but it hasn’t shown any signs of wear from my hydration pack. I haven’t seen any snags or pulls, or wearing from high friction points. The shirt is also slightly see-through, due to the perforations in the shirt, especially when wearing darker layers underneath.

I would call the fit of the La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt athletic. I’m a size medium on the La Sportiva size guide and I received a size medium on the Pure T-Shirt. The body of the shirt has a little room for movement and doesn’t fit tightly. The bottom hem hits me across the widest part of my hips. The sleeves are almost an issue….. I do not have slender arms and the sleeve hem is fairly tight (but not restrictive). The sleeves definitely don’t fit loosely on me like the do on the website model. It’s not a problem for me, but for someone with larger arms, this would be something to watch out for.

Closing Thoughts

The La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt is a lighweight, breathable T-shirt option to keep you cool on hot weather runs. The fabric is so light that it gives a barely-there feel. I also appreciate the sun protection for my shoulders and chest. And at $55, it’s an affordable option for those summer runs.

The La Sportiva Pure T-Shirt is available for both men and women. Men’s sizes are XS to XL and women’s sizes are from XS to XL. The Pure line is also available in a tank top for men and women.

Erin Trail

Trail Boss of Stoke

Erin Trail’s hobby is collecting hobbies. She’s a 5th Generation Coloradan and grew up exploring the outdoors on family camping trips and hikes. Her first backpacking trip was at eight years old to Grizzly Reservoir – she proudly carried all of her own gear those 3 miles from the main parking lot to the Reservoir.

Erin is an adult-onset athlete who started as a Masters Swimmer and then developed into a triathlete. She has completed 5 Ironman races and nearly 20 x 70.3 distance Ironman races, including the World Championship in Lahti, Finland, in 2023. In 2025, she raced for Team USA in Pontevedra, Spain for the World Triathlon Cross Tri World Championship. She placed 9th in her age group and was the 1st American woman in her age group.

Erin Trail on her mountain bike at the World Tri Cross Triathlon World Championship race

Erin Trail on her running at the World Tri Cross Triathlon World Championship race

Somewhere along her triathlon journey, she picked up deep love of cycling. Cycling encouraged her to see landscapes in a new way, learn new skills and to develop self reliance; now she often goes and does Type 2 rides just to see if she can do it. She’s got all the bikes: gravel, mountain, fat bike, time trial and road.

She is even known to combine her love of camping and cycling and go off on solo 24 hour overnight bikepacking trips in the mountains of Colorado. In addition to bikes, she teaches yoga, lifts weights, skis, SUPs and has recently purchased a campervan.

Erin is a former Montana park ranger with a degree in environmental engineering. She loves getting into technical details while putting her gear (and herself) through the paces. She shares her home in Colorado with her husband, Will, and her 3 cats (Zipper, Brewtus, and Simcoe).

Fall and winter 2025 will bring Erin to the “Adventure Side”, with many camping, vanlife, bikepacking, and mountain bike rides. Once the snow flies, she can be find resort skiing, fat biking, and triathlon training (inside and outside).

2026 will bring a National Championship Cross Tri race, a National Championship Road Sprint and Olympic Distance race, and hopefully a chance to represent Team USA once again in 2027 in Edmonton, Canada. She’ll also save lots of room for adventure time with her friends and husband.

When not adventuring, she can be found on a sunny patio somewhere, drinking beers with her husband.