I’ve lost two pairs of jeans to nearly a year of daily riding and I am fed the fuck up with the lack of technical-but-stylish cycling-focused gear for women. Outlier has been out of stock of their women’s daily riding pant in the size I need for almost as long as I’ve had my Jamis, and Levi’s does not appear to be extending their commuter styles to women’s cuts anytime soon.
Women on bikes are a pathetically underserved market. Our choices are spandex (and I refuse to wear spandex, because my cycling is transportation, not sport), or wiping chain grease on our probably-pretty-nice jeans that most certainly aren’t designed for ambling around on a bike.
I’ve thought seriously about starting a women’s cycling fashion product blog—not a cycle chic blog but, rather, a place where I find and review technical-but-normal-looking clothing and gear—but I’m just so disheartened by the true lack of options.
Sure, a lack of cycling-specific clothing for women is just some dumb fashion blogger bullshit whine, right? Except it’s not at all. Studies have shown that office dress codes can disincentivize biking to work for women, and I’m willing to bet that the repeated destruction of everyday clothing—which is not designed for riding—taps into a similar mindset. I just think it’s so, so stupid there are literally zero options for someone like me: a daily rider not subject to a dress code who’s fucking fed up with ripping out the crotches of her jeans. I’d pay good fucking money for appropriate clothing, but it doesn’t exist.
TL;DR female citizen cyclists are not taken as seriously as their male counterparts and if I started this blog would anyone read it?
yea i just buy super cheap jeans
Roll up your pant legs? Tuck your pants into socks? Buy some of those goofy pant-leg-fasteners that keep them in place? There’s a lot of options here you aren’t looking at…
i think its mostly about the crotch blowout. but when i was bike commuting heavily i wore spandex and jerseys because i didnt like going to school gross, now that its cooler i can see the point
Crotch blowout, pants that have zero flex in the hips because they’re not designed to, etc. I avoid chewed-up pants legs by wearing skinny jeans; most women I know are the same way.
I don’t do spandex. I just don’t. Maybe it’s dumb and overly political to say, but it’s a statement to be on a bike, be a woman on a bike, and be a woman in a bike dressed like a human being and not a cyclocross racing robot. I wrote a thing about this—”this” being the politics and symbolism of being a body on a bike in a city that’s trying to expand its cycling infrastructure—and I believe it matters. (Plus, I’m lucky enough to work somewhere without a dress code, so it doesn’t really matter what I look like when I get there. I could wear spandex, or I could wear my own clothes and no one will care if I’m slightly sweaty.)
The point is that men are acknowledged as consumers of citizen cycling clothing. That’s awesome! But there’s nothing for the ladies, which is less awesome and also stupid. Given the number of likes and messages I got in response to my original post, I’m not alone in my frustration.
I go through 2-3 pairs of jeans a year due to biking, and I would very much support better designed and more readily available women’s cycling gear.
I get paid on Thursday and I have to buy another pair of jeans to succeed the not one, not two, but THREE pairs of jeans with crotch blowout that I’ve dealt with in this single year. Women’s clothing in general is just the fucking worst. I hate jeans shopping and would gladly pay more money if I knew I could find something that would fit properly and be durable, but I won’t because those jeans don’t exist.
(Source: socialsurvival)
- November 8 2011 | 64 Notes - Read More →
