Tilley Women’s Quadra Top Review: One Shirt, Many Uses

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

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Price and Where to Buy: Tilley’s Women’s Quadra Top is $100 on Tilley.com

How the Quadra Top Rates:

Usefulness: 9/10. Designed for hiking, urban biking, and travel, this cap-sleeve, button-up short sleeve shirt moves easily between athletic activities and sophisticated urban adventures. It’s particularly useful for travelers who want to pack lightly since it looks just as at home on the trail or in a museum, and has a built-in secret pocket (so well-hidden, in fact, that it took me a while to find it the first time). Add a skirt and this shirt is nice enough for evenings out as well. Note that sizes seem to run slightly large.
Value: 8/10. At $100, the Quadra Top needs to offer more than the typical button-up shirt—and it does. As a multi-purpose top, it could be one of just a handful of shirts to get you through a trip that includes both city visits and outdoor activities.
Durability: 9/10. The mostly cotton fabric has just enough stretch to be comfortable for all-day wear. While you can’t toss it in the dryer (machine wash on delicate or by hand and then dry flat), it dries quickly—a real bonus for hotel-room laundry.
Cool Factor: 8/10. Wearing this garnered compliments on the flattering fit and subtle print. And it’s got a hidden pocket.

Final Verdict: The Tilley Quadra Top can be an essential item for light-packing travelers in search of a shirt that adapts well to all sorts of travel circumstances.

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Editor’s Note: Reviews are based on usefulness, portability, durability, value, and “cool factor.” Some review products are sent to us free of charge and with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions, positive and negative, and will never accept compensation to review a product. If you have any questions or comments concerning our reviews or would like to suggest a product for review, please email us at editor@smartertravel.com.

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.