This Fouganza 500 polo shirt from Decathlon is a good summer top, made from an 80% cotton, lightweight breathable fabric. It is available in asphalt blue and green (pictured, and I would say it is more of a turquoise colour). It has a lovely mandarin style collar with a contrasting panel and buttons – it is flattering on the neck and not bulky under a jumper. The sleeves have a contrasting colour binding and feature a small ‘Fouganza’ logo on the left arm. The shirt has small splits on either side to enable the longer, curved back to sit nicely. This longer back is really flattering, ensures you’re cover and is a lovely feature to the overall shape of the top.
Contrasting button panel and mandarin collar
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
I wore a medium and it fitted perfectly. The shirt washed well at 40°C and retained its shape well. The fabric feels a bit cheap after a few wears, and isn’t as breathable as I expected. But it is priced at £14.99, which I feel is very reasonable for the product.
Verdict
Initial thoughts – This product is a great, low budget everyday top which looks smart when riding or around the yard.
Sophie Cheeseman is Horse & Hound’s deputy art editor. She has a four-year-old Connemara mare with Glencarrig and Coosheen lines, imported from Ireland, who she bought to produce for dressage. Together they also hunt regularly with The South Downs Bloodhounds alongside doing low level dressage. Sophie also rides for other people, producing young horses and gaining further experience on a variety of rides.
These are our first impressions of a piece of kit or clothing based on spending some time with it. We will have had our hands on it and given it a really thorough going over before trying it on ourselves or our horses and using it. The information we can give you after this first look will give you some sense of what it’s like to use, even if it’s only an initial view. As soon as we’ve given it a more thorough test, we will update the review with a full scoring and additional thoughts.
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