Sports Basement

New yoga apparel to help you find your inner Zen

by Shireen Kiadeh, assistant buyer, men's and women's fitness and yoga apparel

You may have noticed our Crate yoga pant displays have been looking quite empty for the past few weeks. There’s no need to get your Champion boy shorts in a twist. Coming soon to a rack near you is the Venus yoga pant, the more modern version of our beloved Crate pant.

We received tons of feedback that the original Crate pant lengths were too long and the flare of the pants too wide. The current trend is towards pants with a slimmer leg, so we are making the “hem sweep” 18.5 inches instead of 22 inches. What in the world is a hem sweep? It’s the width of the pants at the bottom of the leg.

In addition to narrowing the leg, we’re also making the pants one inch shorter in each of the three lengths we sell. The pants will now measure 28″, 31″ and 33″. So when a customer comes in who is too tall or too short for our regular length yoga pants, she will be able to find the perfect fit with our short and long lengths. The pants will also be great because they’re only $50 and made with an amazing poly/spandex blend fabric that wicks moisture and feels super soft. Another fun factoid about the pants is that they are manufactured in San Francisco. Who doesn’t want to look great while supporting our local economy? I know I do! I’m your Venus. I’m your fire. If you desire a new yoga pant, the Venus is for you.

In other exciting yoga apparel news, we recently added a new vendor, Anue, to our mix. Anue is a brand we found while attending the San Francisco Yoga Journal Conference. I was drawn to their brand when I saw a group of yogis flocking to their booth, ooing and aahing while touching their clothes. Anue is New Balance’s answer to high-end yoga apparel. Lucky for everyone we were able to buy their closeout product, so we can pass on great deals to our customers. If you haven’t felt how soft their fabrics are then immediately drop whatever you’re doing and go touch them for yourself. Being comfortable while doing yoga is absolutely in for 2012 (and probably forever).

So let your relaxation flow like the Russian river as you slip into some of our new apparel and head off to yoga. Or just wear them all day to make yourself look like you plan on going to yoga later, which I totally never do.