Trying to swap some of the synthetic activewear in your wardrobe for natural fibres can be tricky, particularly if you still want your bike shorts to look like the ones you actually love wearing.
Australian bamboo intimates brand Jaymes may have just made that switch a little easier.
The brand has moved into activewear with its new
Move collection, launching a ribbed crop and bike short made predominantly from organically grown bamboo-derived Tanboocel® fibre, and there's one design detail that immediately caught our attention: the bike shorts have a scrunch bum which is a surprisingly hard combination to find.
While a growing number of activewear brands are giving us alternatives to predominantly polyester and nylon tights, the cuts tend to be fairly classic. For women who love the more sculpted look of a scrunch bum for Pilates, strength training or their morning walk, Jaymes is bringing a familiar activewear silhouette into the natural-fibre space.
The Move Bike Short is made from 95% organic bamboo ribbed fibre with 5% spandex to provide the stretch needed for movement. Along with the scrunch bum, there's a high-rise double-lined waistband, no front seam and adjustable ruching down each side, allowing you to play with the length of the shorts.
The coordinating Move Crop uses the same soft ribbed fabric, giving you the option of wearing the two as a set, with colours including Black, Crème, Chocolate, Petal and Denim.
But there's another detail worth knowing before you see “bamboo” and assume all bamboo activewear is created equal.
As we explored in our
guide to non-toxic activewear and the fabrics to look for, choosing natural fibres isn't always as straightforward as checking the name on the label. Bamboo is a particularly good example. Turning the plant into the incredibly soft fibre used in clothing requires processing, and how that processing is done can make a significant difference.
Much of the bamboo clothing on the market is made using the conventional viscose process, which chemically dissolves bamboo cellulose before regenerating it into fibre.
Jaymes instead uses Tanboocel®, which the brand says comes from organically grown bamboo and is manufactured using a closed-loop processing system. In a closed-loop system, the chemicals and water involved in creating the fibre are recovered and reused, reducing what is released as waste during production.
The Tanboocel® fibre also carries OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 certification, which means the textile has been tested for harmful substances against the certification's established limits. It's an important distinction for anyone choosing bamboo specifically because they're trying to be more considered about the fabrics they wear against their skin.
There are practical reasons bamboo-derived fabric makes sense for activewear, too. Jaymes describes its fabric as breathable, moisture-wicking and temperature regulating — qualities that become particularly appealing during sweaty workouts and heated Pilates classes.
And while the collection isn't completely free of synthetic fibre (that 5% spandex is there to give the pieces their stretch and help them perform as activewear) it offers an interesting middle ground for women wanting to substantially reduce the amount of synthetic material in their workout wardrobe without giving up the fit and design details they enjoy.
The Jaymes Move Crop is priced at $99, while the Move Bike Short is $109, with sizes extending from XXS to XXXL across the shorts and XS to XXXL across the crops.
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Image credit- Jaymes