It’s been a review-heavy couple of weeks around here (and this isn’t even the last one I have in the queue!), and next up is Outdoor Voices warmup leggings in deep sea.
I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Outdoor Voices around social media and even from commenters on this blog. They’re a very much up-and-coming brand within the activewear world and I’d been wanting to try them out for a while. OV offers free shipping and free returns, so I had nothing to lose by trying.
Outdoor Voices strives for a minimal yet chic aesthetic. One thing that differentiates them from the activewear crowd is that they’re not marketing toward hardcore athletes. In their words, their wares are for the “casual jogger babe”. Their tagline is “apparel for recreation”, which has a way more chill vibe than the more aggressively athletic emphasis you hear from other brands. One more interesting nugget: their founder and CEO, Tyler Haney, is a 26-year-old woman. I admit I’m partial to woman-owned activewear brands, plus I find it really impressive that she’s built the brand into what it is at such a young age. If you’re curious, you can read more about her and the really interesting strategy behind the OV brand in this article from Racked.
Anyway, back to the review business: I went with the warmup leggings in deep sea. I was drawn to the beautiful blue tone, and the full length would be useful moving into the colder months.
The first thing I noticed when I took these out of the package was that the color was a bit darker versus how it appeared online. (That said, most of my photos did turn out a tad darker than how things looked in real life.)
I like the seaming details on the leggings. They don’t get in the way or hit any uncomfortable spots, but I like the styling that they add. Not quite sure how I feel about the seam across the bum, but the rest I love.
I definitely had quite a bit of extra length on these. You can see in all of the photos in this post that there’s quite a bit of bunching at the ankles. In addition, I noticed that the knee seemed to hit at the wrong spot on me, like my knee was supposed to land a bit lower because of how they’re cut. You can see what results in this pic: some weird wrinkling below the knee. These are pretty clearly made for someone taller. :)
By the way: this photo is probably the most accurate representation of the true color.
I bought my leggings in an XS. The fit felt mostly true to size, maybe slightly to the smaller side of XS. The waist, however, definitely runs small and felt more like an XXS. If you’re thicker through the waist, proceed with caution, as you may find this uncomfortable. The hips and thighs felt pretty true to size, and the rise was pretty much your standard mid-rise, about the same situation you’ll find on most activewear bottoms.
I had been a bit wary of OV’s bottoms because they use a polyester blend fabric. Poly is often an unreliable fabric, and can feel unpleasant to the touch and/or have sheerness issues. Since I’d heard good things about OV, I wanted to give it a try anyway, especially since all their fabrics are space dye, which I thought might mean it would turn out better than your usual poly blend.
The fabric ended up being softer than most polyester. It still has a fairly smooth face, but not quite slick. The finish is pretty matte. As far as opacity, I’d call it around 85% opaque in a deep squat/bend. If you wear dark underwear, or if you purchase a lighter color of the leggings, you may be able to see some show-through, but it’s subtle and generally pretty workable.
Ultimately though, I opted to return these. Although I don’t think the leggings themselves are bad, the fit was just off for me, both in terms of how they felt and how they looked. Lots of kudos to OV for their seriously painless return process, though. As I mentioned above, both shipping and returns are free, and a prepaid return label is even included in your package. On top of that, there’s no time limit on the return window (so long as tags are attached and all that jazz). I was really pleased with how easy and painless the return process was (literally, I don’t think it could’ve been any easier). I’d love to see more brands follow suit here.
Even though these were a no for me, I’m not giving up on OV just yet. They have some other styles that look appealing, their prices are reasonable compared to their competition, and their purchase and return processes were very user-friendly, so it’s worth another try or two. Maybe next time I’ll find something that works a little better for me.
oh boy oh boy… give us a teaser of your upcoming reviews! i love these posts (the ones where you act as our personal shopper!) i love all your posts, but these are fun cause ill be like “meh” with everything online and then boom… something i don’t even know about! (so thanks!)
p.s. i like those “running woman sweats in heather grey”. maybe those should be the next thing you try :P or maybe a new fun blog activity could be for you to let us vote on which thing we want you to order and review (if you are undecided between several). i bet companies would totally send you free sh** to get their stuff in the running. LOL.
and then if their thing wins, they should give us all a discount code to buy our own winning item!
ok that’s all.
I like these ideas:)
Heh thanks, Carrie!! I’m posting a Lucas Hugh review (*omgggg*) in the next couple of days, plus I placed an order for Werkshop dragon today finally!! There are a couple other new-to-the-blog brands that should be heading my way soon, but those are a couple weeks out.
Also, your idea to vote on what I order/review could actually be really fun! I like it. :) I always have a few things in mind I might want to try (right now: Vimmia, Michi, Nike, Ultracor), so polling the crowd could be a fun way to narrow it down.
OH ALSO, did you see this little nugget on C38? http://www.carbon38.com/product/blanket-jacket-black.html?int_source=alala&int_block=grid-4&int_version=0 Alala is planning to send me one and I’m basically having heart palpitations over it.
lucas hugh?!?!?! oh goodness. i kind of hope your review is not glowing cause i can’t afford to want anything of theirs (unless they give you a 50% discount code… lol).
and yes, i DID see it! i love it, although i love the teal one too so no regrets. i also love that color way in the draped vest (which i do not need, but ya know, just keeping an eye on). what i mostly flipped over from the new alala stuff on c38 were the neoprene sweats and the grey fractal raglan tee. i asked alala when they would be available (i prefer buying from them since i get your discount AND no sales tax). they said oct.19th (which is their next big upload). woot woot!
i feel like getting these little free nuggets is such a great reward/acknowledgement from these companies for your blog getting their name out there. i would never have known about alala and they are by far my favorite now, thanks to you putting them on my radar. they owe you big time! haha… plus, now every time i think i like a lulu thing, i ask myself “would i rather have this or a new alala thing?” :)
oh and the dragon leggings are the ones that i have from werkshop. they are super duper! i just bought the butterfly full length ones during that sample sale last week and they are lovely too. the “brushed” fabric that they found inferior enough to sell at half price is uber comfy. i have no complaints about it!
I’ve heard multiple people say they loved the sample sale stuff, I’m kinda bummed I missed it!
Love that the founder is a 26-year old woman! Their stuff is so pretty, but I don’t need more lounge wear. I tend to pick up lounge pieces for a steal when Athleta marks theirs down.
True! I’m not convinced you’d like the fabric for longer runs. (Not to mention the limited functionality like the lack of pockets.)
I have a pair of the Running Woman ‘sweats’ in the oatmeal color, and I haven’t been too impressed with them. The material is t-shirt thin (jersey, so not like ‘sweats’ at all) and they are unfortunately have ended up being just a lounging piece for me. Maybe the material in the other colors would feel more substantial, but these feel like pajamas. I can’t imagine running in them because they’re so thin and have a
slight friction feeling that I dislike in my running clothes. I quite frankly wish I would’ve returned them, and I feel slightly irritated every time I put them on because they feel rather cheap (and they sure weren’t…). Overall, I did like the style, and if they had been thicker I probably would have liked them; maybe the other colors don’t feel and look so PJ. Also the drawstring is extremely (almost oddly) long. I’ve heard good buzz about the brand so I’m slightly curious how the compressive pieces are, but I’ll be OV gunshy for awhile.
Thanks for sharing that info, Shannon! I will definitely keep that in mind if I get the urge to order a pair. I would likely use them for lounging or for layering over tights for lifting, so running comfort isn’t really an issue for me, but it’s definitely sad to hear that they’re not very thick, since I generally want sweats to be warm!
Thanks for the review! Like you, I love what the company stands for and their clean-modern aesthetic, but bummed about the quality of the fabrication (which I sort of had a hunch about, but hoped wasn’t true). Can’t wait for your Lucas Hugh review – I don’t mind spending if it’s epic quality, compression and opacity.
Yeah, I wanted to love the OV tights more than I did. Overall, I’ve felt that the luxury activewear market has been neglecting fabric quality. Well, maybe neglecting is too strong of a word, but it doesn’t seem to be anyone’s absolute top priority. I’m still waiting to find a brand that really blows me away in that area.
Not a fan of the fit or customer service from the OV brand. Was super optimistic. But their return policy is also really thin. Back to my old favorites I go!
Aw, sorry to hear that! I didn’t have any issues with returns or customer service, so hopefully they haven’t gone downhill on that front. :( Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for the review. I appreciate good, honest reviews on workout gear.
You’re very welcome! That’s my goal. :)