Women specific cycle clothing

I still want to try the Ibex bras... but not really prepared to guess the size/fit and ship from the US. bah.

yeah, it's odd they don't seem to have a UK distributor.

I've bought a few full zip tops from them and been really impressed. I do flinch a bit at the price but I haven't been able to find anything similar in the UK, and my last Ibex top I probably wore more than any other top - for the bike, for snowboarding and just as a casual cardie so I got my money's worth.

Bras is a different thing though - much harder to get a good fit without trying it on.

alwaysriding.co.uk stock some bits, they reduced the range they carry though.

Ladies, I'm selling my Rapha Gilet. I bought it on a whim at Condor because it was on sale. It's a XXS, which is probably a touch too small for me. I've worn it only once, so it's still in perfect condition.

I bought it for £60, so I'm asking for £45. Please PM me if you are interested.

Thanks,
Shelby

Oh and it's black, of course.

I took some pictures, sorry for crap phone quality.

bargainous...It's a good piece, I do really love my gilet!

dibs. pm'd.

My mate Clare has started making technical cycling clothing for women. As she's gone public with it now I thought I'd share here. Only a jacket so far I think, but she has more in the pipeline. I've seen it up close and it's really nice, knowing what she's done before the quality will be top and she's extremely passionate and knowledgeable about green and ethical issues at every stage of the manufacturing process.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Such-Thing/714045958635958

http://clarejfarrell.wordpress.com/

Disclaimer: I'm not on commission or anything like that! Just gutted that she's apparently not making gents' jackets yet.

What is this and where can i buy one?

My caps have been automatically formatted out. Curse this forum. How is everyone supposed to know how excitable I was about this?!

Nice looking jacket, be interesting to see what other items she comes up with.

What is this and where can i buy one?

My caps have been automatically formatted out. Curse this forum. How is everyone supposed to know how excitable I was about this?!

I'm pretty sure she's just ironing out the details still on that jacket, but should be in production soon. Do you have facebook? Send her a message on that page and she can tell you the rest.

Forgot a link to her website. As I say, early days, but keep an eye on it.

http://www.strikingly.com/nosuchthing

Edit: just realised she's taking preorders as a kickstarter. Details are on that site.

Ooh! Nice looking jacket! Waterproof? Breathable? Well shaped for the ladeez - especially like the longer back and ever-so slight flaring at hip level.

From an initial glance - good work! So much nicer than the standard waterproof I wear in the rain and that sort of rides up because of the straight up and down ill-fitting of it-ness.

Waterproof? Breathable?

I haven't use it myself, but she reckoned so. She cycles everywhere so it's getting a good field testing. Drop her a message if you want more technical details, I'm sure she'd let you know all you need to.

Rapha have some wimmin's items on sale.

http://www.rapha.cc/gb/en/shop/women%27s/category/womens

sigh,salez - never on anything i want...

racer-back tanks - gag!

I have the trousers and they don't fit well even though I'm quite slim, so I agree with you Poots.

The jacket and hoody I bought a short while back would never win any style awards but they are good for casual winter urban riding.

My hoody and jacket have now both arrived after parcelforce shennanigans. I think they're both alright. The hoody seems pretty windproof and the jacket (I got the packable one) comes up a bit short, but otherwise seems ok. Am sure they will both be complete sweat buckets, but for about £20 I can live with that.

read this through a friend on facebook and wondered what the other women that I know who ride bikes thought, its an interesting read

http://collynahart.tumblr.com/post/79257863995/womens-cycling-culture-the-cult-of-the-beginner

I think a fair few of us have said similar things on here in the past.

As a fan of black kit and A roads I struggle to identify with marketing campaigns that think I'll buy more stuff if it's got flowers on it and is designed for use on a segregated cycle lane.

Although that said I love my new Grinch jersey and wear it at every available opportunity.

It's basically the reason I stopped bothering to read Total Women's Cycling after initially being pleased about its launch. For every interesting article they wrote, there were another 10 about How To Do Your First XYZ, all aimed squarely at the complete beginner.

I'm not saying here that there shouldn't be stuff aimed at complete beginners, of course there should. But when you're writing for women and you have an implicit assumption in your writing that 90% of your audience is going to comprise complete beginners for no discernible reason other than that they're women, then - well, that's a problem.

Edit: tho that said I've got quite a lot of Ana Nichoola gear, specifically because I've found it's well-designed and fits better. None of it is pink or with flowers.

Rapha have some wimmin's items on sale.

http://www.rapha.cc/gb/en/shop/women%27s/category/womens

Genuinely intrigued what is so good about the gilet to justify £125. £125!! You could buy a bike for that! I could just about see my way to buying a decent technical jacket for £125 but not a body warmer : /

I got a lovely new gilet from Decathlon a few weeks about for less than £20. It's reversable, wind proof, water proof, packs down etc...seriously. Sell me the Rapha one for more than a hundred quid more...

I broadly agree with the article - I hate being forced to feel gendered, as if it is so important to make a distinction. I don't even feel particularly gendered most of the time. I hate that the culture of selling things to women is all too often partonising and demeaning.

However, I think that women specific clothing, and women specific bicycles are a good and necessary thing. My shape/size means that in general life I can get by quite alright with things designed for men. Shoes, clothes, bikes etc. My only really necessary female-specific items are underwear (including stuff to cycle in), and bike saddles. But many women are not shaped/sized to approximate the average man, and even I sometimes prefer stuff cut for women (trousers without excessive space around the crotch, hello). When cycling brands both big and small either do no womens cut stuff at all, or a relatively small selection, it's obvious that space/demand will be taken up by women-specific brands.

It is starting to change in two directions - rapha, dhb, vulpine etc doing more (non-patronising) womens stuff. And also the "cult of the beginner" becoming ever bigger, aimed disproportionately but not solely at women.

I'd cut Velocio some slack, they are super new.
I have moaned about Ana Nichoola in the past - I cannot stand their branding. It's the sort of nausea-inducing crap that implies the only reason to wear something is because you just love getting compliments on how great you look, you know, while you're riding a bike like a super-awesome-female. Having said that, I do own 1 item of AN clothing. It makes me uneasy, owning this thing, but this unease is over-ruled by my weakness for purple and stars. Nobody's perfect.

I never thought AN and Velocio pandered to the beginner. Just didn't view it that way but as I think about it, perhaps? I just don't like their (current) stuff.
It's clothing, and therefore fashion, for an even more specific subset of customers.

Much like I don't like Zara's leopard print jeans, I don't dig the bows on AN gloves or the white zips on Velocios jerseys. It's fashion and I am fickle.
Won't stop me from looking at their new ranges next year and the year after, Zara included.

mands - with AN for me it's not so much the clothes themselves as the way they're marketed. they have a reasonable range split between casual and serious, I am not a fan of some of the stylings but as you say that's just fashion. to me bows may signify irritating an unnecessary girlifying add-on, but I'm more likely to buy leggings with stars on than without, so objectively it's just taste. and I do think it is important also that it doesn't become about putting down anyone who wants to wear pink/flowery rather than srsbzns/black.