Plaid That Performs: Pladra Workhorse Wool Flannel Review

This spring, I brought a stack of flannels to wear around the chalet on a ski trip to the Alps. We were visiting a lodge on the French-Italian border for some après-heavy backcountry skiing: Plaid shirts, warm fires, morning coffee in tiny cups — that type of stuff. The days were crisp, and the mountains were calling.

I’ve never worn a flannel skiing and wouldn’t recommend a cotton flannel while wringing out a sweat in the backcountry. But this was France, and the shirt was uniquely tailored for the experience.

The Pladra Workhorse Wool is the first from the brand to use the sheep’s clothing, and I ended up shouldering the cut for a 10-mile tour, up and over the resort and off into the backcountry void by skis.

Wool is the OG of flannel, but it can feel scratchy against the skin. After years of flirting with the idea, the team at Pladra — one of my favorite purveyors of flannel — finally brings a wool flannel to market. It was the most rigorous testing I’ve done on a flannel, and frankly, I’m a convert.

In short: While not cheap, a fantastic fit and close attention to details make Pladra’s Workhorse Wool a heritage-quality shirt that is up for a work-hard/play-hard lifestyle.

Looking for a new flannel? Check out how the Workhorse Wool stacks up against the rest of the competition in GearJunkie’s Best Men’s Flannel Buyer’s Guide.

Pladra Workhorse Wool Flannel: Review

Flannels shouldn’t be hard, complex, or wildly different. A good flannel follows the rules of taking a twill and brushing it into submission until it yields a soft, lofty nap we warmly know as flannel.

Pladra takes this and elevates the overall shirt with consistent attention to detail. Never satisfied with a shirt, the brand is constantly seeking ways to make it better. And this is precisely what keeps launching Pladra to the top of my list.

Company Backstory

In the world of flannel, Pladra is a relatively new player. But the founders, Jeff Ladra (P-Ladra — get it?) and Scott Ellis, earned their stripes. Both have worked in the textile market at Jansport and The North Face, where they shared an office and a vision: to make a flannel for the modern guy, updating the traditional, boxy flannel shirt with a modern styling and a tailored fit.

Known for its fun, woodland print liners, Pladra started with two shirts: a mid-weight, single-pocket shirt and a heavier two-pocket flannel.

The lineup has expanded since, adding more fabric weights and improving durability and quality, but the mission hasn’t changed. The Workhorse is an evolution of the original, two-pocket work shirt that adheres to the pursuit of quality and value.

Over my tenure overseeing flannels at GearJunkie, I’ve probably shouldered some 200+ flannels. Many follow the same “plaid” loft with nothing particularly noteworthy. Since I’ve tried on Pladra, I’ve ranked its shirts at or near the top of our list. They are just that good.

The brand’s north star is brushed twill, focusing on high-quality flannel. While the Workhorse Wool is its first foray into wool, it’s a testament to the continued pursuit of quality craftsmanship and my favorite shirt from Pladra yet.

How I Tested the Workhorse Wool Flannel

At GearJunkie, I primarily test travel pants and flannels. As our de facto fashion blogger, I wear them daily to work and put them to task on weekends, repairing my old Land Rover and taming yard debris. I pack them when I travel, tote them backpacking, and wear them occasionally when I work out.

Beyond testing, I study fabrics and thread counts and collect charts comparing grams/meter squared. Corner me at a bar, and I can be coerced into chatting up the qualities of brushed twill and what truly elevates a flannel to something worth buying.

Why Wool?

While the first flannels were originally made from wool, prized by shepherds for deflecting wind and rain in the rolling Welsh hills, Pladra took its time before releasing a wool flannel.

Unlike cotton, fabricating flannel out of wool is tricky. Factories need to closely monitor temperature and humidity (keeping it at 50-60% humidity). Not every factory can do it, or do it well.

So when Pladra considered wool, it took its time to find a good partner. And because Pladra is known for its buttery-soft cotton, it wanted to release a wool shirt that is equally approachable to its audience.

The sourced wool fibers are carded and combed, with the short staple fibers being machine-trimmed to leave the more stable, long staple fibers. Overlapping scales on the long wool fibers interlock, giving the fabric more durability.

Pladra then weaves viscose and polyester fibers with the wool. A wood-pulp-based fabric that mimics the qualities of silk, viscose adds softness, while polyester adds durability and quick-drying qualities.

The blend weighs in at a deceptively light 400 gsm. This threads a sweet spot preserving all that I love about wool (durability, antimicrobial, UV blocking, good moisture and temperature regulation), but feels significantly less scratchy, wears durably, and drapes exceptionally smooth. The result is a comfortable fabric that you can wear in the field as well as out to dinner.

And that’s just how I tested it on a recent trip to the French Alps, where I skied off the top of the Sainte Foy resort and out into a 10-mile day in the backcountry. The route covered some 6,000 feet of elevation before dumping me off at the resort.

Worn alone, it reminds me of merino but has the “oomph” of a midweight fleece. Under the bluebird sky on the sun-baked glacier, I comfortably shouldered the Workhorse Wool as both insulation and sun protection.

The route dropped down through the woods back to the chalet, where I marched up to the bar, stench- and wrinkle-free, toasting the day with génépi. Everything is arguably better in the French Alps. And I usually don’t ski in flannel. But the shirt worked flawlessly in the field, and I still wear the Workhorse Wool to work.

A Rugged Construction

Two things weigh into a great shirt. Fabric comes first. The second is how the fabric panels are sewn together. Pladra marries the two with mindful intent.

All seams on Pladra shirts are double stitched, with triple stitching between the panels across the yoke and top of the shoulders. The sides and arms are sewn to the Workhorse using fully flat-felled seams that roll the two abutting fabric panels over each other, and are then tacked down flat with a double stitch for extra reinforcement.

The best way to appreciate how cleanly a shirt is constructed is to turn it inside out. And we’d forgive you if you walked out the door wearing it so. Workhorse Wool is as clean as they come. From fabric to seams, the shirt is extremely well built.

Minding the Details

Pladra’s signature is the beautifully printed polyester backing found inside the cuff, under the collar, linking, and yoke over the shoulders. The brand partners with an artist who designs prints to match the four corners of the States: the desert Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, the North Country, and the Southeast.

The prints are always a conversation starter and add some collectability to the shirts from year to year. All Pladra shirts are cut and sewn to match the pattern on the sides and pockets. The ombré pattern on the Workhorse Wool transitions seamlessly across the shirt in a fluidly shifting gradient.

New last year, all Pladra shirts are released with buttons sewn with an X cross-stitch. These are then finished by wrapping the stem between the button and the fabric. This adds significant durability to your buttons, reducing the chances of them popping off. While I’ve never had a button pop off a Pladra shirt, now I don’t have to worry about it.

Downsides

While the Workhorse Wool is nearly perfect, it still has a few quibbles. The wool blend is durable, but it noticeably sheds. I reached out to Pladra, and they shared that this is normal for wool and should slow down over time. It gets better over time.

Although I worked out in my shirt, it still has a more formal vibe, emphasized by the wildlife liners. It dresses up more than most flannels, and depending on how “dive” your bar is, it could get some looks. But most appreciate the extra details more often than not.

Lastly, we can’t overlook the price. At $200, it’s a lot of coin for a shirt. Twice as much as most other flannels. But compared to other wool shirts on the market, we feel you get what you pay for. The thickness, comfort, and overall range of use exceed the competition.

Competition

Wool is nothing new to the world of flannel. Pendleton has a few great shirts, including its Board Shirt, which imbues cool surfer vibes, is more casually styled, and uses a much lighter wool. Pendleton’s Lodge is slightly more formal than the Board and uses the same 178 gsm fabric, but feels scratchier than the Workhorse Wool.

Anian’s Berlino is a hearty 500 gsm felted wool-nylon blend athletically fitted overshirt. It’s a bit much to wear against the skin and doesn’t drape as well as Pladra’s, but it’s a nice upgrade to any wardrobe.

But neither brings the quality, comfort, and ease of flexibility between work and leisure that Pladra offers with its Workhorse.

Pladra Workhorse Wool Flannel: Final Thoughts

Just under $200, the Workhorse Wool Flannel is creeping into real money. Pladra gets this and sells a cotton version of its Workhorse (180 gsm) for just over $100. A plusher “elite” version (268 gsm) is available for $140. All have the same work-light styling and Pladra’s attention to detail.

But if you are looking for a fantastic wool shirt that you can wear daily, even breaking a sweat, the Workhorse Wool sets the high bar for flannel.