Who designs women's sportswear? Is it sadists?

[Shhthebabyisasleep]

I do not want to wear itsy bitsy short shorts. Believe me, no one wants me to wear itsy bitsy short shorts. I don't want cut aways in the back of my vest. I don't want lots of drapey fabric. I don't want hareem style three quarter length training trousers. I don't want to look sexy when I play sports. I want to be comfortable.

What I want is a pair of shorts that finish within nodding distance of my knees, in a colour that won't show sweat, in a sensible, cool, stretchy fabric. And a tshirt that reliably hides my monstrous sports bra, again in a colour and fabric that is aware that its purpose is to get hot and sweaty. And that isn't fuschia pink.

So after spending a bewildering 30 minutes in the women's section of a sports clothing shop I wander over to the men's section and WHAT DO I FIND?? Can you guess?? It was rail upon rail of wicking fabric shorts with elasticated waists all sold in waist measurement size (oh yes, men get to measure their waist and buy clothes accordingly. They do not, it seems, have to guess if this particular brand has assigned them medium, large, x- large or elephant, or spend soul crushing minutes in the dressing rooms trying to wriggle out of a fuschia pink 'medium' tshirt that would be a bit tight on a 2yr old). And endless tshirts in all sorts of colours except fuschia pink, in that lovely cool sporty fabric.

I would buy from the men's section gladly, but I'm not man shaped.

I ended up buying some men's shorts but of course they have a nadger net in them. Perhaps I'll keep my half time oranges in it.

Also want longline vest tops not t shirts that cover my jelly belly and dont move when i lift my arms.

I wear mens trackie bottoms to the gym (I'm 5'11, and dont want to wear stupid knee length lycra leggings), with a sports bra and long vest top from Topshop over the top.

Womens sportswer is ridiculous.

Best t shirts IMO are dare2b. They do a few that are semi fitted, short sleeve, slight scoop neck and loads of colours. In wicking fabric if that's what you want. Go outdoors have run and cycle stuff as well as walking.

I get thick sports leggings from tk Maxx .. You must try on 3 million pairs and do the bending over test . Tops from matalan.

I got some Boden clearance gear, mainly in navy and charcoal. Comfy and long enough.

I know this is a zombie - but if possible never buy anything designed for women. The sellers know that many women will buy useless crap (shoes that hurt and cannot be walked in, silly pink things that fall apart) and so that's what is on sale. Buy bloke gear whenever you can.

t-shirts and shorts are not gender specific.

aaaargh, questionnaire person revived it

Leggings under shorts are probably because the lady is worried how her bum looks in leggings or there's a risk of 'leakage', but equally she's not comfy with displaying her legs. X

Next do some fairly reasonable stuff

I tried to buy some trousers for exercise classes. I thought since it's getting warmer it'd be nice to have some comfy but kneelength/ish shorts or trousers. LOADS of those. All of them are skin tight, show every pore on my arse, and fall down if I bend at all.

Why isn't there anything sort of halfway between loose and tight? So they stay on but you don't feel like someone could do a life drawing of you without you even having to get undressed?

The high street doesn't sell clothes for actual sports. Those are fashion items.

Sportspursuit is a good site for cycling/hiking/mountain-biking/climbing/skiiing sort of stuff, and it also gives you a good idea of the brands you might like and can then look out for on other sites. I like Sugoi and Morvelo cyclewear but I know I'll never see it in a real shop - I google for it and find it on numerous sites that way (such as Minx Girl). Wiggle is also good. Also just typing in your 'sport' and 'clothes' will bring up far better results than mooching around Sports Direct.

I was going to post just this very thing the other day!

Why, do t-shirts have to be skin-tight? I have a couple of unsightly bulges that I'm trying very hard to get rid of - but I don't want to be showing them off in the gym!

And I really don't want to have a t-shirt that's cut so low that it's showing off my sports bra or my creepy cleavage

Another vote for Decathalon although a lot of it doesn't last very well and I while it's cheap I think it's a bit wasteful.

Other than that, online is the way to go. I went into "Lillywhites" (aka Sports Direct) recently and left promptly. Furious.

Pastel colours and pink.

Urgh.

There is a market for NORMAL COLOURS if any designers are out there.

Ha ha ha - autocorrect thinks my cleavage is creepy. I did, of course, mean crepey

Buy men's sportswear or go to a an independent retailer. I buy sport stuff for my DSs who do a really niche sport so spend a fair bit of time in properly independent high end sport shops.

The independent sport shop or niche online retailer is the place to go. Not a high street cheap as chips, pile em high, 50% off one.

If you do use a high street retailer then buy men's stuff, Its far cheaper and better quality and its never in pink..

By the way, what's wrong with nets in your shorts. I always like a place to put my hankie.

Cheeky using us to do their market research for them.

Under armour has different lengths in shorts- I know because I can't bear short shorts either.
V. Comfortable.
As for workout wear, for me it's always Nike!

The idea behind the skintight items is to wick sweat away from the skin. If you don't want that, there's still looser breathable stuff to choose, but the skintight stuff isn't all about flaunting :)

Mountain warehouse - their base layer leggings and yoga stuff is pretty good. I have some 3/4 leggings from there. Very comfy, super stretchy, flat seams so no rubbing and sweat has not been visible or a problem. I use the 3/4 leggings running, cycling and post swim. I don't over heat in them or feel cold after a swim.

www.mountainwarehouse.com/womens/yoga/

Has anyone tried the fabletics stuff that Kate Hudson advertises? Some of it looks quite cool, although there are the seemingly obligatory teensy shorts and tight vests, its not all baby pink at least....?

OP I thought it was just me. I mostly use m and s

Ignore my last comment, just had a more in depth look at the website and it is chock full of 3 quarter length leggings, weird drapey tops which don't cover your sports bra (mine is not a sexy one - at 34G its more like scaffolding) and crop tops. Seriously - has anyone here ever worn a fucking crop top to exercise maybe in L.A.?
Please can some appropriately skilled mumsnetter's get together and set up an exercise clothing label - i beg you.

I'd love to wear all that stuff when I get to my goal! Just need someone to recognise that we're not all like Jessica Ennis-Hill

I used to design bits for Umbro and Rebok.

I was young and giddy in those days, and never went running or did any form of exercise. We just used to use the sportswear prediction books and see what the trend predictions were for the next season, and then design stuff based around that. I'm not actually sure the activity or end use was ever really seriously considered 😧. Although we did think about the fabrics. But function was bottom of the list. Colour and silhouette were more important in terms of sales..but not necessarily functional silhouettes, more of a fashion silhouette. Sportswear is often made in bright colours as its meant to make you more lively and motivated. But it is ultimately driven by fashion and sales figures.

< disclaimer> l did say we were young and giddy and didn't have a clue