Finally - body hugging fashions!

This is Article 4 of 4 on the history of Running Fashion
Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4

I was engaged in an interesting conversation with two gals at the Club last night about what we wore - or had to wear for fitness pursuits while growing up. Well guess what? Both women recalled having to wear rompers (or bloomers) in high school. One dated herself in this blasé outfit to the sixties, the other - the seventies.

I'm sure the picture on the right doesn't even do justice to the elasticized, heavy cotton uniforms us gals wore in the archaic years of long ago.

And it is only in the privilege of being able to look backwards that we can thank our lucky soles that certain trends, like the bloomers eventually died. Keep in mind that for the most part, young girls made to wear rompers/bloomers certainly did not have a choice in gym wear. By the eighties, adults did but fared no better in their activewear choices, at least in a look back at this era. I say this in reference to the nylon track suit craze that swept North America.

Oh yes - the fitness boom was on and demand grew for easy care fabrics, like that of synthetic nylon. The comfort of this roomy, brightly coloured suit made its way into everyday wear too. You see, the "boom" meant nylon clad folks working out only one day a week were also wearing their suits on the other days of the week. I'm sure even hard core fitness fiends could be spotted in the suit outside of workouts as, after all, it was a trend and anyone and everyone can buy into trends. Thank goodness the trend died with over-production and cheap knock-offs saturating the market.

Well bye bye eighties and hello nineties! This was the era of body-hugging lycra/spandex. Look at the two running photos below from the Olympics and notice the change from the loosely fitting synthetic material of the eighties (left photo) to the tight fitting synthetic of the nineties (right):


















There is quite a change happening here and I for one quite like it. It's not only in the fit but the fact that the outfit on the right also incorporates design into the mix. I think it's quite powerful.

Even more powerful is the marketing of the nineties that had athletes promoting clothing lines (think Nike, Reebok, Adidas) and the link between athletic performance and streamlined athletic wear.

It is true that research and development in synthetic fibres, including elasticized ones like spandex has and continues to evolve. Today we can choose clothing for sport that claims to aid in recovery (compression socks, shorts etc.), take away bacteria when we sweat, protect us from the sun and pull out excessively charged positive toxins from the body.

WOW! Now don't all rush out and source this gear thinking it's all you need to push yourself that one extra mile to make it to the podium. Perhaps I'm just too much of a skeptic, too relaxed as I hit middle age (ew - I've never quite thought of myself as a "middle ager") or perhaps I'm more someone that buys into the whole relaxed pace of life thingy and live it up to the end. I certainly am more interested in celebrating my running and dressing in a way that says "I'm rockin' this run" than "move outta my way, I'm heading for the podium." But does it have to be one or the other? Do we have to choose between an aerodynamic piece of clothing that will help us shave seconds off our time or a piece that could be featured in a near-Vogue like magazine?

Probably not. Here's my point - synthetic fibres have come so far today that we actually have choices. There are pieces that are marketed solely from the standpoint of performance enhancement. There are also pieces that are marketed solely from the standpoint of fashion. Synthetic fibres are not exclusive to the activewear industry. In fact, activewear fashion has almost always been adopted into everyday wear, the fitness boom of the eighties and the nylon track suit phenomenon is a prime example of this merger.

Will history witness a further merger of fashion and activewear?
As far as running clothing goes, I say "yes" for several reasons:

1. The 25 to 34 year age group is the fastest growing segment of runners at road races and this segment of the population is more concerned -and demanding- when it comes to style and trends. Given the number of choices in activewear today, they are going to be the first to demand more stylish options when it comes to any sporting wear, especially given the fact that they can choose between some of the major players in the game who already produce stylish activewear pieces; Nike, Adidas, ACIS etc.

2. Although growth has slowed in the number of women competing in road races, it has grown from a mere 23% in 1989 to 53% in 2009. Couple this stat with the fact that 40% of racers prefer a 5k to any other distance, this means that the average women involved in running is not spending hours upon hours every week in high performing technical gear.

What will this look like - "running fashion?"
Not completely sure but considering Nike leads the way as far as the preferred brand for running clothing (64%), they would be the company to watch as far as trends. It is also worthwhile to watch what all the small women-owned apparel companies are producing as I do believe they are akin to the "street style" of mainstream fashion. That is, they represent the micro needs of women that run. And guess what? Most of the small women owned running apparel businesses use style and fashion as their competitive advantage.

That wasn't so bad - now back to sourcing out all the amazing styles of modern running fashion!

Polyester is polyester is polyester - Or is it?

This is Article 3 of 4 on the history of Running Fashion
Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4

Dabbling in the technical apparel industry has given me a unique perspective on the activewear scene. I do love to learn and it surprises me sometimes what power marketing holds. For example, I found myself snickering one lovely summer day when a rather arrogant runner tugged on the sleeve of a techie top, turned her head and walked away from it rather snobishly. I inquired into her strange behavior and was told that what I thought was an "uber-ly cool" tech top was rejected as inferior because it was "made of polyester." If this gal only knew that our running gear is primarily made of either a nylon/elastine or polyester/elastine blend she would have seen more value in the top.

Of course, trademarking and marketing assign "uber-ly cool" terms to nylon or polyester that we are sometimes tricked into believing one material is superior to another. This is not to say that some technical fabrics are not superior to others. Techie materials are a HUGE business and span the range of applications from fire fighting to military to white water paddling to running and everything in between.

And let's not forget that the development of spandex by Dupont and its subsequent mass production in the seventies and beyond was also picked up by mainstream fashion. Here are two examples I absolutely love of the "inter-mingling" of fashion and the "techie" textile industry (i.e. if we claim spandex and other synthetic fibres as best suited for functional applications):

1) Following on the heels of the matching top with bottom tracksuit trend of the sixties (nylon being the fabric of choice for this trend), stretch velour became all the rage in the seventies under the guise of "exceptionally sexy party gear"

2) Princess Diana reportedly used expedition underwear made of chlorofibres as a base layer in cold weather so that she could wear much lighter, fashionable garments on top

Back to synthetic fibres and their functional application, the inventions of nylon and spandex also infiltrated the running industry. At least this was the case for top performing athletes in the seventies and eighties when synthetic fibres were first being mass produced:



The photo on the left is dated 1984 and the photo on the right, 1979. Both items of clothing appear to be constructed of nylon fibres.

Compare these outfits with those of the twenties and thirties in these photos here that are most likely derived from cotton.

In my next post I'll look at runners' wear in the nineties and beyond and how marketing influenced and changed what we wear.

Dupont I love you!

This is Article 2 of 4 on the history of Running Fashion
Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4

Geez! Gosh! Darn! It is interesting researching the history of women's activewear but it certainly doesn't capture my attention like stumbling upon a daring new design or colour of technical fabric! Double that with the challenge of finding information particular to running clothing and I think my lovely audience would be much better off to read this wonderful piece on the history of sporting wear for women by Pauline Weston Thomas.

Needless to say, it is not only voting that women weren't allowed to do last century. Perhaps it was thought of as very unfeminine for women to engage in rowdy behavior with odd physical maneuvers. Gosh knows that I've pulled some horrid-looking, very unfeminine soccer moves on the field in my lifetime. To top it off, the thinking "back then" was that competitiveness was certainly the domain of the male, not us females (good thing I have no recollection of being alive in that era as I don't think I have an uncompetitive bone in my body).

As I mentioned, there is scant research dedicated to running clothing. Perhaps it was a rather insignificant sport at the turn of the century, at least compared to golf or tennis. Of course, womens involvement in running was just heating up in the twenties so it's no wonder the Google and Yahoo databases lack resources on archaic running fashions.

What is quasi-certain is that despite the conservative - but evolving - battles being fought by women on the tennis court in terms of what was acceptable to wear, shorts and t-shirts were already liberated on the running scene. Check out these dated photographs from outside of North America:

The image on the far left is from the Olympics in 1928 and the photo to its right is dated 1932. This next one of young girls is dated to the 1930s:

Here's where things start to heat up for us runners - the 1950s and sixties! Hello spandex and nylon! And the inter-mingling of sports and everyday wear (errr...more later on this).

Spandex liberated every sporty women's slide into home base, game-saving slide on the soccer field, climb up a jagged limestone peak or smear up a slippery rock or heck, dive into the bushes in the midst of an adventure race! Now we're talking! Spandex was our liberator and nylon paved the way to be loud and colourful and full of pretty (or neat-o) patterns in the midst of a once male-only adventure!!!

More on my next post about female liberation thanks to the development of nylon and spandex. Dupont I love you!

(Dupont was the first to hit the market with the lovely stretchy chemical invention)