outdoor girl  

The Outdoor Girls on Skirt Sports
A review of the Tough Girl line from Skirt Sports
©Outdoor Adventure Canada

I was sitting at my desk one day while chatting with my colleague, Samantha. Somehow we ended up talking about some cute clothing from a company called Skirt Sports and coincidentally I received an email asking if we'd be interested in trying some of their gear. We decided to test the Tough Girl outfits, which consisted of the Tough Girl Skirt with built-in, boot cut pants, as well as the top, vest and the Sweetest Tee.

We also keep active in different ways; she runs, I do yoga, and we both hike. This gave two different perspectives on the performance of the clothing.

Let's start with when the package arrived at the office. I was surprised at the weight or should I say lack of weight to the parcel. When I opened the box I noticed how small the Sweetest Tee packed up and thought immediately at how great that would be for backpacking. I carefully examined each garment and, with a very strong background in sewing, I am probably more critical than your average gear tester. I was impressed with the quality of the stitching along with the attention to detail.

I have to admit, being the plus-sized outdoor girl; I was a little hesitant about the fit. I'm tall at just under six feet, I have a fairly slender leg, a flat butt and I am also chesty. I had also just lost a substantial amount of weight and because of that, tend to wear things a little baggy because I am a little self-conscious about fitted clothing. So I put the Tough Girl ensemble on and the fit was beautiful. There was ample length for my long legs, the skirt hid the fact that I don't have a curvy behind, although there was plenty of room if I did. The Tough Girl top was ever-so-slimming and I looked like I lost another ten pounds. It looked cute on me and, like most other women; I am my own worst critic.

Now to test it out. I started with Pilates and yoga. The garments moved nicely as I worked through the exercises and poses. I loved the long sleeves with the thumb-holes because they didn't creep up while I was exercising. One of my biggest complaints with clothing is when it wedgies me-the skirt never rode up. I've worn this on hikes and on warmer winter days above freezing. It performed very well and I found that the layering provided by the combination was just what I needed. The coldest I have worn it in was -4°C.

I asked Samantha to tell me what she thought about the outfit she tested. She is an average build and five foot seven. Her Tough Girl ensemble is primarily for running as she is training for a marathon. She wore the Tough Girl at temperatures as cool as -6°C. In the cold, she had the hood of the vest kept up.

Samantha found that she never had to adjust the clothing when she was running because the outfit did not shift and the skirt never rode up. Samantha also mentioned that the seams do not dig in at all. She loved the pockets in the pants for electronic devices and the pre-made holes for her earphones. Her BlackBerry Bold, which she uses for her music, fit well.
The garments washed up well. Both of us used the "handwash" cycle on our washing machines and then hung the clothing to dry. The fabric also dried very quickly. Mine is all black except for the skirt and vest, which have the "black covergirl" pattern. There has not been any visible fading.

We both adore the Tough Girl clothing from Skirt Sports and we've received many compliments. It is cute enough to wear to the grocery store. In fact, the only downfall either of us could see is that the pants would definitely need hemmed if you were not long in the leg. The only other little thing we both noticed was that the thumb-holes are a tiny bit snug at first but they loosened up after a few wears.

The Tough Girl line is quite versatile as it works well for yoga, trail walking or running and it comes with a high recommendation from OAC's Outdoor "Tough" Girls.

For more information please visit www.skirtsports.com.

Written by Outdoor Girl Laurie March
Clothing modelled by Samantha Rogers
Photos by Bill Olmsted and Michael Rogers