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outdoorsie
Mar 30, 2005, 9:26 PM
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Ok, I should be studying... but instead I'm shopping.
Does it ever seem to you girls that the outdoor/athletic clothing industry just doesn't have the selection or quality in their women's lines as they do for men??
I got a new Bike Nashbar catalog in the mail today. Thought to myself "Hmmm, I really do need new cold-weather riding tights." Started looking through the catalog. There was only 2 pages in the entire catalog for women's clothes! And non of them were long tights. Couple pairs of capris, but it's below freezing when I ride in the mornings! I thought, well, I'll check out REI. They did have a section for women's cycling tights, but when I clicked on the "size finder" I discovered I was shopping men's tights! I don't know what my inseam size is...
The new Sahalie catalog has "rugged cotton" cargo pants for guys that are "great for a day on the rocks and a night of pub crawling" and the women's section has a total of maybe 3 pairs of long pants... none of which even have pockets. Who decided that women should only wear capri's for 9 months of the year?? I hike through dense woods, I climb chimney's and ow, I don't want my ankles hanging out the bottom of my pants!! And what's with this new "workout skirt" thing. What idiotic man decided that women would prefer to be working out/riding their bikes/hiking in a skirt?? (yeah with built in shorts, still stupid) And why can't I get a pair of cargo pants with serious pockets in them??
It drives me crazy that my husband can walk into an outdoor store, find a cheep technical longsleeve shirt and a good pair of durable long pants for hiking and climbing with pockets all over them, but I have to search through racks of weird dresses and sweaters and tank tops to find simple polyester longsleeve shirts and heaven help me if I want long pants that aren't kahki's, yoga pants, or the occasional zip-offs (which still don't have as many pockets in the women's versions as the mens).
>inhale!<
Oh well. The good clothes exist out there, just have to keep looking, I guess. Thanks for listening, girls. :-)
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kimmyt
Mar 30, 2005, 9:36 PM
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http://www.athleta.com/
I've never shopped there, but a friend of mine swears by it.
K.
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maculated
Mar 30, 2005, 9:43 PM
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Athleta is deathly expensive, but I love it, too. And Title 9.
Women get short shrift, it's true. We are just not a big market.
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caughtinside
Mar 30, 2005, 9:50 PM
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Funny thread!
:lol:
I always thought the opposite, there's tons more stuff for girls out there, because they shop more and own more clothes. More types of clothes, too.
Guys, pants and shirts. Girls, 8 different kinds of pants and shirts.
Last time I opened the REI catalogue it was 4 pages of mens clothes and 12 pages of womens clothes.
But it is true that I've never had a problem finding clothes for any sport...
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erisspirit
Mar 30, 2005, 10:09 PM
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I think thats a problem with all typically male dominated sports. I also ride motorcycles and it is the same thing. You have 3 choices in jackets, 2 in gloves etc. Generally I just buy and wear anything that is comfortable for climbing so I dont have too many problems.
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superflea
Mar 30, 2005, 10:33 PM
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not just athletic apparel...whatever happened to womens' Carrharts? My husband can get super rugged canvas duck pants at any hunting/fishing/work clothes store and everything for women is much less tough. I ended up buying a smallish men's pair for myself, but of course they fit a little wierd since I have hips n' all.
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crackrn
Mar 30, 2005, 11:50 PM
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I'm definitely annoyed by the lack of functionality I find in most of the clothes I see. Can I get a real pocket? One that might fit more than my chapstick? I'm all about looking cute but it's gotta work, too! Sorry. Didn't mean to push you off your soapbox...:)
I'll have to check out Athleta...
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maculated
Mar 31, 2005, 12:19 AM
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Functionality is key. I'm publicly upset with Prana marketing yoga wear for climbers - white pants? WHITE PANTS? :)
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justhavefun
Mar 31, 2005, 1:06 AM
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Maculated -- I have a kickass pair of off-white nylon prana capris that are the perfect colour to hide the dust from the scree in Bishop/Owens River gorge... just climb in places with light grey dirt!
To the OP -- I like CloudVeil -- check them out.
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outdoorsie
Mar 31, 2005, 1:52 AM
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In reply to: I'm definitely annoyed by the lack of functionality I find in most of the clothes I see. Can I get a real pocket?
Oh, I'm glad it's not just me. The athleta site was nice, but I dunno about the $90 pants... There was one pair that fit my requirements of more than 2 pockets and arn't capris, but I'll have to convince my hubby they're worth $60. I think that's reasonable.
I agree with the "white pants are insane" comment too. Those arn't gonna last long in my closet. There may be more "options" for women, but definately less functionality. And too many capris.
Ok, I think I may be done now. :-)
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macherry
Mar 31, 2005, 6:19 AM
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i am very fortunate to have a "boyish figure" :lol: , women's clothing rarely fits comfortably. I can go through the discount racks at old navy and buy men's painter/work/cargo pants at cheap prices!!!!!
I did however splurge on some mtn. hardware climbing capris. They're bomber, and haven't shown any wear.
I find that any of the supposed "women's outdoor/climbing clothing" doesn't last.......especially house brands like REI and the supposed climbing clothing from prana.
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granite_grrl
Mar 31, 2005, 12:15 PM
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In reply to: Functionality is key. I'm publicly upset with Prana marketing yoga wear for climbers - white pants? WHITE PANTS? :)
I actually won a pair of white Prana pants in a bouldering comp once.
They are a thicker material than my other prana pants, and really comfy, but white??? WTF? Trust me, its as impracticle as it sounds.
I hate that it seems that my main option for pants is a capri style, it sucks. I like wearing pants that I can roll up if I get too hot.
Oh, and for biking clothes: http://www.teamestrogen.com. I've never ordered anything from them (due to shipping costs to Canada), but I drool over the variety of biking clothes there.
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kimmyt
Mar 31, 2005, 12:29 PM
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In reply to: And too many capris. Ok, I think I may be done now. :-)
:) Speak for yourself. Capris (at least the longer length capris, not the just-below-the-knee ones) are perfect for people my miniscule height. See, whereas most women have problems finding women's clothing I have problems finding a) women's clothing and b) women's clothing made for a short, curvy little woman with the hips of someone at least six inches taller. I find the clothes, but then I have to find a pair, a single pair, that fits correctly. *sigh*
But, as Marge mentioned, ON is the place to go for cheap throwaway clothes. I can't see spending 60-80 bucks on a pair of pants that won't last me more than two seasons. So I just buy cheap non-climbing clothes and then make them work for climbing. For example, one of my favorite pairs of climbing pants is a pair of khaki capris (!) that I bought at a fashion boutique, wore for about a year and a half until they finally got too dingy-dirty to pass off as a nice pair of pants anymore, and then moved them to my climbing drawer.
Unfortunately for doing this too much, my climbing clothing drawer is overflowing and all my other drawers are severely suffering. But that makes me very stylish when I climb. :roll:
K.
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taino
Mar 31, 2005, 2:47 PM
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My GF is 5'7", and not only has long legs and arms and a longer than usual (for females, proportionately) torso, but also a muscular climber's back; it makes finding technical clothing very difficult for her. If the sleeves fit, it's much too long. If the back fits, she's swimming in it. If it fits over her hips, it's still probably too short for her legs. Shopping with her one will frequently hear her rant about how clothing designers must think that every woman on earth is 5'4", and 98 lbs.
She swears by Athleta, and haunts Patagucci looking for sales.
Hope this helps.
T
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macherry
Mar 31, 2005, 4:28 PM
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In reply to: Unfortunately for doing this too much, my climbing clothing drawer is overflowing and all my other drawers are severely suffering. But that makes me very stylish when I climb. :roll: K.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
So true, my climbing/biking/skiing clothing drawers out number any kind of regular clothing. Well, i do have a couple pairs of jeans, if that counts, and two shirts that could be construed as work/going out clothing.
i'm lucky that i pretty much live in my climbing/skiing/biking clothing.
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winter
Mar 31, 2005, 4:52 PM
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I don't get it Tai, as a recent graduate to 5'3" from 5'2" (yoga) I cannnot find anything that is short enough. Most pants cover my feet. Most Capris are the uncool ankle biter length. Grr, it's frustrating.
I also use non-climbing stuff and unfortunately have some lulu lemon. Costs WAY too much, is a total fashion trend place, but they do make the best tank tops I have. Also, they make a ton of plain long sleeved tops and running jackets ect. Their women's selection is ten times the mens. Their pants are good too, all flat seemed, but again TOO expensive. I think they are much better for tops.
MEC's selection of women's wear isn't bad, for biking it's ok, you might want to check them out.
www.mec.ca
Oh, and by the way, I LOVE skirts. Anytime I bike I wear a skirt (over bike shorts) and I wear them to the crag all the time and put on pants when I get there. I always wear a skirt hiking, sometimes with gaiters, not with shorts underneath. I don't care if people see my underwear. They are just IMHO way comfier than shorts when you have thighs that make the shorts bunch up when you walk.
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troutboy
Mar 31, 2005, 5:43 PM
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In reply to: Functionality is key. I'm publicly upset with Prana marketing yoga wear for climbers - white pants? WHITE PANTS? :)
Hey now, I spent many a day climbing in my white painters pants (in the 70s :lol: ) Sure made the blood stains show up better.
TS
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ecocliffchick
Mar 31, 2005, 6:04 PM
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I have a rant of my own. In my opinion - we expect too much.
We want the clothes to fit well, but we want them to fit all of us - and girls have tremendous variation in shape - especially athletic girls who may vary from tiny 5' tall 80 lb women, to shapelier versions, to uber-ripped amazons and everything in between. If we only expected our clothes to fit like mens - hang off our shoulders and hang from our waist, with no additional contouring - this might be possible. However, we want a snug, lean fit that follows our contours while still allowing for movement. This is probably impossible (even with all the lovely new designer materials that stretch).
We also want the clothes to be functional (i.e. have pockets large enough to stash a guidebook) - but we don't want our thighs to look fat and bulky so we want a slim profile - again - this may not be possible.
Perhaps we should start a new movement. The 'it's okay for girls clothes to fit like guys clothes' movement. Just think - there would be no more worrying about panty lines showing through our thin pants with tight bottoms. There would be no more trying to hide our midsections with sweaters tied around our waist, because our shirts would hang full and straight from our shoulders. There would be no more buying multiple bras with different strap configurations to hide beneath the halter, cross back, tank and camisole styles of shirts - because we would all be wearing t-shirts. Of course the guys might all object because they wouldn't get all the eye candy - but hey we'd be comfortable and save a hell of a lot of money.
Just imagine - we would have baggy pants, baggy jeans, baggy t-shirts, and big hoodies...
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taino
Mar 31, 2005, 6:29 PM
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In reply to: I don't get it Tai, as a recent graduate to 5'3" from 5'2" (yoga) I cannnot find anything that is short enough. Most pants cover my feet. Most Capris are the uncool ankle biter length. Grr, it's frustrating.
Damfino, Winter. I know that I have a hell of a time finding pants that fit me, even as a guy - 5'5.5", 28" inseam, 34" waist, 28" thighs. Everything non-technical that I buy has to be baggy, or it's too tight. I always - ALWAYS - have to roll up my pants legs, or they drag on the ground. *shrug* Perhaps we're just on the other end of the spectrum.
T
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iamthewallress
Mar 31, 2005, 7:36 PM
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I've said it before, but since spring is here and I'm faced with the same stupid problem, I'll say it again...
Low rider pants, cropped tees, and hanging belays don't mix!
Give me some functional pants that end at my sports bra like Ed Grimly and bring back a decent close-fitting synthetic shirt that's long enough to tuck in!
Pategonia is doing a good job with attractive functional sports tops, IMO. Sizes for the more endowed too.
My latest Title 9 catalogue, unfortunately, seems to be going the way of 'travelwear' much more than sportswear.
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tavs
Mar 31, 2005, 9:19 PM
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Ecocliff--good post, interesting take on the subject. I think there are some things about women's clothing that should be no-brainers and don't seem that hard to accomplish (like making our pants in measurement sizes, instead of these foolish arbitrary numbers "2" "4" "6" etc), but you're certainly onto something with some other areas (pockets but slimming, close fit but not too close, etc). Unfortunately, the real problem is that those of us who would be fine with uncomplicated, simply functional clothing are in the minority. My absolute favorite pair of climbing pants are a pair of men's S7 pants that I cut down to fit my legs--they sit perfectly on my hip bone (and can be adjusted smaller to wear on my waist without too much bunching), loose and baggy through thights, articulated knee, wide leg opening, light and quick drying but seemingly indestructible, big pockets. I wear them all the time for bouldering, but unfortunately, since the rise is WAY too long for me, they fit like crap under a harness. I've searched high and low for some women's pants that would fit like they do but no luck. Grrrr....
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angelaa
Mar 31, 2005, 9:40 PM
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In reply to: Functionality is key. I'm publicly upset with Prana marketing yoga wear for climbers - white pants? WHITE PANTS? :)
I'll agree completely . . White pants are anything but flattering to almost every figure, and they stain. . . . :shock:
I love to climb off width and if I wore white pants to climb Mother#1 @ Vedauwoo they'd be covered in Aluminum Oxide, dirt and blood!
** I have also noticed that I can now wear Patagonia Large womens tops - they finally are cut so that they ALMOST fit my big'ol broad shoulders - close enough for me anyway !
Regarding outdoor pants. . the crap that fits is too expensive and by the time it goes on sale all my size are GONE! [althought i have recently started buying them when they are NOT on sale . . . {gasp :shock: }]
So either they don't make many in my size, all the girls my size are rich, or . . . . . I am just not meant to be outdoors. . . . :cry: (he he)
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outdoorsie
Apr 1, 2005, 3:58 AM
Post #23 of 32
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In reply to: Perhaps we should start a new movement. The 'it's okay for girls clothes to fit like guys clothes' movement. Just think - there would be no more worrying about panty lines showing through our thin pants with tight bottoms. There would be no more trying to hide our midsections with sweaters tied around our waist, because our shirts would hang full and straight from our shoulders. There would be no more buying multiple bras with different strap configurations to hide beneath the halter, cross back, tank and camisole styles of shirts - because we would all be wearing t-shirts. Of course the guys might all object because they wouldn't get all the eye candy - but hey we'd be comfortable and save a hell of a lot of money. Just imagine - we would have baggy pants, baggy jeans, baggy t-shirts, and big hoodies...
Oooh yeah. This is exactly what I'd like. I'm married, I don't have to give anybody eye candy!! I would happily give up flair for function. :-) Where do I sign up?
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ladylayback
Apr 1, 2005, 4:09 PM
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I have given up on looking cute in clothes. Just like Taino's girlfriend, I can't find clothes that fit me. As I was growing up I was a competitive swimmer so I have broad shoulders. I also have a positive ape index and long legs. Shirts rarely fit me well. I never thought of myself as perticularly tall at 5'7" but alot of pants fit like capris. Why, oh why, do women purposely wear those things. What's the point? You still have to shave a portion of you legs. If you gonna shave half, why not the whole leg? As many of you ladies have mentioned functionality doesn't exsist in women's clothing. My boyfriend says that it's gay men (designers) getting back at women. What did we do?
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kimmyt
Apr 1, 2005, 4:28 PM
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In reply to: You still have to shave a portion of you legs.
Who told you that myth??
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