Maelreg & Michel Rouen Golf Polo Shirts (on Amazon)

[HikingMike]

I was on the lookout for some new golf shirts and came across these brands. I've had a good experience with them so I wanted to share with the forum. I'll include more about how I found them at the bottom, and also why I included both together in the same review. But these are just shirts, so let me cut to the details on the shirts ASAP!

Who is the Target?

I would say if you are looking for golf shirts, and want to check the following boxes, then these would be a good fit for you.

• Good quality
• Synthetic materials (no cotton!)
• Big variety of styles including some fun prints and stripes
• You give basically zero cares about a brand name
• $20-30 USD price range is fine
• Amazon convenience and shipping is a plus

They certainly got me with those attributes. They cost much less than well known name brands. You can certainly find polos cheaper. But a quick search on Amazon doesn't give many options there. And I don't need my shirt to be a name brand. It's not like a driver or a wedge or something. It's a shirt... fabric on my upper torso, lol. 

I'll note that I'm focusing on the men's shirts, but they do have a lot of women's styles as well.

Online Presentation

First off, these brands are available on Amazon, and they definitely do a good job of presenting themselves in the Amazon listings and their brand store. Amazon makes things super convenient for the consumer of course, and they leverage it well. They have a handful of photos for each style shirt - whereas often Amazon listings are scant on those details. They include a few images that focus closely on shirt details, and some with size reference and other features. And they do have actual photos with humans modeling them holding golf clubs. These aren't like magazine shots or anything, but they get the job done. It's a big help and much better than clothing listings with nothing. They even have some videos. These line up well with the actual shirts you get, colors and everything, so you know what you're getting.

The listings also include a good amount of information in the text.

The one thing they could improve here is the naming of their listings. They need to name their styles somehow so people can differentiate and communicate about them. They all have the same or very similar terms in the listing titles, so how do I point someone to a particular style? A link is the best way I guess.

Styles

One of the great things about them is the tremendous number of styles they have, both prints and stripes, etc. For their core listings, they have one listing for prints, stripes, jacquard, etc., and then you switch the type of print or colors of stripes by changing the dropdown choice. They also may have a toggle for prints/stripes as well. In the listing for prints that I've gone to the most, they have 75 prints in the dropdown there. The same listing has 26 narrow stripe options, for literally 101 choices in the dropdown . They have even added more styles since I've been there last. There is now one that has solid colors and a single stripe down from the shoulder down to the end of the sleeve, with contrasting colors making it look kind of a more "athletic" style or something. They even have a photo of a model wearing it and carrying a Malbon bag - look at that, hah. There is another new one with a solid color and a band horizontally across the chest that has a print. 

Let me also mention that they do the collars well. On prints, they continue the print on the collar on most. And on striped shirts, the stripes go laterally on the collar, the button strip has diagonal stripes, and those both contrast nicely with the stripes on the main part of the shirts. 

Materials

These shirts are mostly 92% polyester and 8% spandex. I probably don't need the spandex, but that's what I was looking for - synthetic, so there isn't any cotton absorbing sweat and clinging or "wetting out". As someone who has known "cotton kills" for hiking and backpacking, it makes sense for golf on hot and humid Midwest days as well. You probably know this, but since polyester and spandex don't absorb, excess sweat has to go somewhere else and ends up evaporating (ideally) on the outside of the shirt, or just plain running off downhill. This way, sweat performs the cooling function you need. Nobody wants a soaking wet cotton shirt sticking to them, and making them even hotter.

If you know the materials, then you know pretty much what you're getting with the shirt fabric. The fit is on the "drapey" side, since the fabric is very flexible. They list 4-way stretch in the details. It's certainly not going to restrict your swing at all!

They list UPF 30+ for the sun protection. I've never been sunburned through a shirt, but there you go. 

The shirts include a narrow strip of different color fabric on the inside at the back of the collar, and around the split hem/side vents. Likely nobody sees it when you're wearing the shirt, but it's kind of a nice touch. And their logo appears on the left sleeve in a subtle reflective silver patch - works for me.

(why are these two upside down here and nowhere else? dunno)

Size

I wear a medium normally, and these medium shirts fit me well also. They include in the details - "Our polyester men polo shirts The model is 5'11"height, 172lbs wearing a size Medium for reference." Yeah, that's pretty close to me, slightly under, so maybe I would give a small a try next time for a tighter fit. Medium and small are pretty close at just 1 inch width difference. Their listings include an image with some shirt measurements and a diagram, which you can use to compare to a shirt you already have. Most useful is probably the A measurement going horizontally from left to right just under the sleeves. I definitely recommend spending the minute to do that to get the right fit.

The A measurement on my medium shirts is 21.5" by my measurement, so that does match their listing.

The shirts are plenty long so they can be tucked in without coming out too easily. However mine do still work their way untucked after swinging a bunch or maybe sitting down in the golf cart. Though my other shirts do the same.

Quality/Durability

I've had no quality issues at all. My 3 shirts appear well made.

I've worn these on around 20 rounds this year, and washed the same amount of times, and they are holding up perfectly fine so far.

Two Brands, One Company

These brands appear to be the same company. The shirts are made the same, they have the same models in photos, and some are the exact same shirt (green stripe for example). I suppose it's market segmentation, so they can cater to both people who want a European/Western-sounding designer name with a logo that's maybe a running elk with big antlers, and other people who like whatever the hell "Maelreg" sounds like and a geometric triangle MG logo. The elk is cool, though I'm sure there isn't any famous designer named Michel Rouen  

How did I come across these brands?

I was hoping to get a few new golf shirts, and some with some color, patterns, and/or prints. The golf shirts I had been using were mostly solid basic colors like gray, black, white, navy blue. And half of them had just been conveniently there, not something I bought specifically for golf. So I wanted something a little more fun.

I thought of this when I got asked for Christmas gift ideas last year. I always have a hard time coming up with gift ideas for myself. So this was a good one.

I remembered I had come across a post recently on Reddit asking what people did for new golf shirts and a bunch of people listed out what seemed like good options. A bunch of the expected name brands were mentioned, like Peter Millar and Travis Matthew, and good times to find them on sales at stores. But that didn’t help me with a gift idea. 

So what did I do? Well there were some brands listed that people said were “an Amazon brand” or specifically found on Amazon. I wasn’t a brand snob at all, so I went poking around for shirts on Amazon! If I found something I liked, I could put one on my Amazon wishlist. Then if it turned out to be something I was happy with, and the price was in a good range, I could go back and find more there to buy!

Well I traveled down a rabbit hole checking out tons of colors/styles and reading Amazon reviews. I ended up finding these two brands which sounded like what I was going for - Maelreg and Michel Rouen. People on Reddit said they were Chinese brands and they were basically the same company. I have no idea on the etymology of Maelreg, that’s a weird one, but it’s funny Michel Rouen is a prototypical French name so it sounds like a French clothing designer. People liked the quality, and they were the right materials I was looking for. And they cost around $25-30... excellent.

I added a few to my Amazon wishlist. Then come Christmas, I received two of them as gifts from different sides of the family. Great

I've added another stripe one. So now I have "Patriotic Ice Cream" print (perfect for the 4th of July coming up), Green Stripe, and Green Ash Stripe. I definitely plan to get the dinosaur print one soon also!  

 

I'll put some links here. First here are the "store pages" for both brands-

Maelreg store page URL: https://www.amazon.com/stores/MAELREG/page/7778856E-D6DE-445E-913B-2EC5B1548B5D

Michel Rouen store page URL: https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/9F857C64-A12D-41FC-962F-27570756122F

And a couple specific links for various styles. I think if you want striped, try Michel Rouen first. If you want prints, try Maelreg.

Prints (Maelreg): https://www.amazon.com/Shirts-Sleeve-Performance-Moisture-Wicking/dp/B0C4DYVHHB

Stripes (Maelreg): https://www.amazon.com/Shirts-Moisture-Wicking-Sleeve-Performance/dp/B09PB2FBFB

Stripes (Michel Rouen): https://www.amazon.com/Shirts-Moisture-Wicking-Casual-Sleeve/dp/B0BPC1LWT3

[RyanGi]

I have a Maelreg shirt. It’s nice, good feel, does well in the heat. I don’t think they’re any different from any of the other Chinese shirt mfgs available on Amazon (they’re probably all made in the same factory anyway), but I do like the shirt. And their variety is great. Also, fast delivery times. All of these are good enough reasons to keep buying from them, IMO. Thanks for the review!

[HikingMike]

5 hours ago, RyanGi said:

I have a Maelreg shirt. It’s nice, good feel, does well in the heat. I don’t think they’re any different from any of the other Chinese shirt mfgs available on Amazon (they’re probably all made in the same factory anyway), but I do like the shirt. And their variety is great. Also, fast delivery times. All of these are good enough reasons to keep buying from them, IMO. Thanks for the review!

Hey, cool to hear. I agree, and you're probably right about the same factory  The variety of prints and stripes and styles is a huge plus, and of course Amazon convenience. I wouldn't have been positive about them though if they didn't perform. They've done just fine in the 90s with high humidity for me. They aren't an amazing "best shirt ever" or something, but they are exactly what I expected. 

[HikingMike]

9 hours ago, RyanGi said:

I have a Maelreg shirt. It’s nice, good feel, does well in the heat. I don’t think they’re any different from any of the other Chinese shirt mfgs available on Amazon (they’re probably all made in the same factory anyway), but I do like the shirt. And their variety is great. Also, fast delivery times. All of these are good enough reasons to keep buying from them, IMO. Thanks for the review!

Oh, hey, welcome to the MGS forum too by the way!

[RyanGi]

Thanks! Looks like a good place to learn a few things, hopefully.

[HikingMike]

1 hour ago, RyanGi said:

Thanks! Looks like a good place to learn a few things, hopefully.

Absolutely. I've been here less than a year and learned plenty.

[Rob Person]

Nice write up Mike!  Great details and information!

80% or better of the fun print $$$ brand polos are all made and distributed from the same or similar manufacturers overseas. Deolax, brogade, sundayswagger, etc . I keep getting message offers on IG from some of the suppliers for these companies.  (Don't know why they think I'm an outfitter?)

Similar design and prints across many brands, just different logos sewn on. I have several brands that have the same manufacturer code on the tags too.

It's nice to see that the one you posted are leaving them semi affordable. Fyi, if you look hard enough you can find the exact same shirt prints on temu and similar overseas sites.  Most of them add a markup price if sold on Amazon too.

 

[Erin B]

@HikingMike thanks for the information! I’m always looking for good shirts. Great write up too.

[HikingMike]

15 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Nice write up Mike!  Great details and information!

80% or better of the fun print $$$ brand polos are all made and distributed from the same or similar manufacturers overseas. Deolax, brogade, sundayswagger, etc . I keep getting message offers on IG from some of the suppliers for these companies.  (Don't know why they think I'm an outfitter?)

Similar design and prints across many brands, just different logos sewn on. I have several brands that have the same manufacturer code on the tags too.

It's nice to see that the one you posted are leaving them semi affordable. Fyi, if you look hard enough you can find the exact same shirt prints on temu and similar overseas sites.  Most of them add a markup price if sold on Amazon too.

 

Hey thanks. And thanks for the good additional info there. Yes, I’ve come across Deolax on Amazon as well. I actually have a shirt of theirs in my “save for later” . 

By the way, does anybody know what the hell is behind the name “Maelreg”?? Where did that come from? It vaguely sounds like a real name, unlike “Deolax”. We may never know. 

Also by the way, I wore my “patriotic ice cream” shirt today. Happy 4th of July!

[Joselo]

thank you for sharing this review

im looking at buying 16 polos for a golf trip with some friends and came across this review, thinking on pulling the trigger for an order

any negatives on the shirts let me know!

[HikingMike]

1 hour ago, Joselo said:

thank you for sharing this review

im looking at buying 16 polos for a golf trip with some friends and came across this review, thinking on pulling the trigger for an order

any negatives on the shirts let me know!

I'm still wearing them and they are still excellent for me. I've washed them a bunch and no issues. No negatives.

I think I will get another in small size this time. I did a comparison with my smallest golf shirt which I like, and I went by Maelreg's chest measurement (A). It's only 1 inch difference. The small Maelreg would be about halfway between my medium Maelreg shirts and the other smallest shirt I have, so it should fit great. No complaints about the mediums, but I could go slightly smaller. (Maelreg and Michel Rouen are interchangeable here). 

Have a fun golf trip!