Ah, Florida, where summertime means it’s brutally hot just before it dumps rain for an hour and ends brutally hot with humidity high enough that you need scuba gear to breathe. Okay, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but it’s still bad enough that we were grateful to get our hands on the Brunt McKenna Sun Hoodie for some midsummer testing.
Brunt McKenna Sun Hoodie — What They Said
The Story
Chris McKenna started working for a landscape company when he was 16. This quickly turned into his passion and he pursued a degree in Landscape Contracting. When he graduated, the cotton t-shirts he wore didn’t breath or wick sweat and offered no protection from the harsh sun. Chris worked with BRUNT to help design The McKenna Sun Hoodie – the ultimate performance hoodie for long days outside.
Eric Girouard, Brunt Workwear Founder + CEO
Materials and Build
Brunt starts with a blend that’s heavy on polyester with some spandex alongside. The exact blend depends on which of the five colors you want. The Blue Heather and Brunt Orange are 88% polyester and 12% spandex. The Grey Heather, Army Green Heather, and Orange Heather options are 89% polyester and 11% spandex.
The material is constructed into a lightweight, highly breathable long-sleeve hoodie designed wick sweat and protect you from the sun during the hottest days. 4-way stretch ensures you have plenty of flexibility in the material while flatlock seams help avoid irritating your skin. Here are some more details:
- UPF 50+ sun protection
- Three-piece hood is hard hat compatible
- Quick-drying
- Drop shoulder seams reduce abrasion and chaffing
- Imported from Indonesia (Blue Heather/BRUNT Orange)
- Imported from Taiwan (Grey Heather/ Army Green Heather/Orange Heather)
Wearing the Brunt McKenna Sun Hoodie
It’s one thing to make a lightweight summer shirt, it’s another when it has to be jobsite durable and Brunt does a good job of blending the two needs. It wears light and sits comfortably on your skin while not giving you the impression that it’s going to rip the first time you catch on something.
Where we are in central Florida, you can only count on being dry for the first few minutes of the work day and the material blend does a nice job of pulling the sweat away instead of sitting there sweat literally dripping off of your sleeves.
Those same characteristics are helpful when the afternoon rain hits as well. If you get caught before you can grab a rain jacket, the shirt dries back out more quickly than the cotton-blended shirts we wear.
Two other things really stand out for our crew. First, the hard hat compatibility is great, helping avoid the need to put a separate neck shade on the back. The other is the sun protection. Our UV index frequently hits 11 on a scale of 0 – 10 this time of year, and we can spend less time slathering on sunscreen. We still have to hit our hands and faces of course, but at least our arms, backs, chests, and necks are covered.
Brunt McKenna Sun Hoodie Price
Brunt is a direct-to-consumer company, so their website is the best place to grab a few of these shirts. No matter which of the five colors you want, they’re $49 each and have sizes that range from small to 3XL.
The Bottom Line
The Brunt McKenna Sun Hoodie can help you successfully win the summer season on and off the jobsite. It’s purpose built to handle the heat, sweat, and humidity summer throws at you while protecting you froim the sun’s rays. It’s competitvely priced and with multiple color options, go ahead and grab a few to make your outdoor work and play more tolerable.
