New Brand: Sweaty Betty

I've heard a lot of great things about Sweaty Betty, a London-based activewear brand. It's know for quality and is really popular across the pond. Betty. Bloggers rave about it. I read about women in head to toe Sweaty Betty in books set in England ("Girl on the Train" for example.) I described it to a friend as the UK's Lululemon.

It's a brand I wanted to try. And then three things happened:

Navasana Reversible 3/4 Yoga Leggings

1) Sweaty Betty kept sending me emails for a GORGEOUS printed crop. That was reversible. I love printed crops but usually wear them once and never again. Because I prefer to wear black. This is the perfect solution. I needed these crops. The print was amazing and bumped it to the top of my want list.
2) Sweaty Betty has a 20% off sale.
3) It was my birthday so I used it as an excuse to buy more things for me.

I ordered these crops March 26th. They shipped March 29th from England. There was no tracking number. I got them April 8. So there's a timeline if you wonder how long they'll take to ship. (I think their website said expect 5-10 business days after you get the shipping email.)

I got these crops in the mail Friday. I opened the package. They sent me a Sweaty Betty shopper, which was nice. The crops were also in a nice grey bag (kind of like a shoe bag.) It was a nice touch.

I've already used the shopper. Since EVERYONE at the gym has adopted the Lulu shopper as their carryall (seriously it's so much more common than it used to be), I used my Sweaty Betty shopper for barre that Saturday.

First thoughts
1) The fabric on the crops was ridiculously luxe and soft. I loved it.
2) The colors were really pretty.

I went ahead and tried the crops on. They looked smaller than what I was expecting. But they stretched and fit perfectly. (I'm a 6 in lulu and a small in SB.)

Small in Sweaty Betty to a size 6 in Lululeemon Wunder Under.
The waist was about an inch smaller.

Overall a 6 in Lulu is about the same as a small in Sweaty Betty

The crops hit me at a nice length.

The pattern didn't line up in the back. But I didn't really care.

I showed them to a coworker, who made a face. I think she thought they were loud and not something she'd wear. But then she said she liked them for me. By the end of the day, she'd changed her mind and said they were amazing.

I liked them so much I wanted to wear them immediately. Only the teal top I had for spinning didn't match. I wore them to barre instead the next day. (I needed to wear them ASAP.) I wore them with a black Lululemon Cool Racer Back. I'd really wanted to match the crops, but I couldn't find a purple that was the right color. And Sweaty Betty didn't have a matching tank on their website.

HARD TO MATCH PRINT? I'm going to try to see what other than black matches these crops. I tried the new Lululemon Cool Racerback in deep zinfandel. It's not an exact match but it matches okay.

Sweaty Betty has eight stores in the U.S. right now, in the NY/NJ area and L.A. So nowhere near me. Though I do want to go to NY this summer.

Might be my favorite new brand. The crops are more comfortable than Werkshop.

And Sweaty Betty prices are about the same as Lululemon. Maybe slightly more. These crops were, with discount, $100. Shipping was free. No sales tax. I did get charged a $3 foreign transaction fee on my credit card. Lulu Wunder Unders are $88, and might be more if they're reversible. So similar in price.

HOW THEY HELD UP
I wore these to HIIT Barre. Which is a barre class on caffeine and steroids. It's those hard barre moves with LOTS of jumping. I sweat so much in this class. My hair looks like I've been swimming. I just drip sweat. So I usually wear black crops to  this class. I thought since these were lined in black they'd fare okay. They were great. Soft throughout. They didn't show crotch sweat. They weren't terribly sweaty like some crops might be. I'd say they wick sweat well.

I've worn them twice. I love them. They're just so soft. The fabric is great. The colors are beautiful.
And I can't wait until my next Sweaty Betty purchase. LOVE.

Review: Splits59

How I wore it: Black and white crops + neon

Splits59 is a brand I first heard about in barre class. It's one of the brands the teachers wear and the studio sells.

I've been drooling over these black and white crops in a numbers print since the summer. (1. Love black and white. 2. Love mesh cutouts.  3. Love numbers. I obsessively count things.) I didn't want to pay $116 for them so I waited for a sale. And waited, and waited. I think I waited four months for these crops.

Finally, I gave in and ordered them with 10% off and free shipping from Splits59. (Not a deal. I did find them 15% off with shipping elsewhere and I don't like to pay shipping so I went with the Splits59 retail store.) And the crops took 10 days to get here. My plan was to get them before the Black Friday sales so I would know what size to order when there were sales. Unfortunately for me, the crops arrived the Tuesday after cyber Monday. (Seriously, clothes I bought Saturday from California with free shipping got to me faster.)

When the crops finally got here—I didn't really want them any more because it took so long. And they were too small.

Splits59 Sizing

I'm 5'5, 130 pounds with an athletic build. I don't have a narrow waist. I'm kind of boy shaped—straight up and down, but have narrow hips for my build.

I'm pretty solidly a size small (Victoria's Secret, Under Armour, Fabletics.) I wear a 6 in Lululemon bottoms. (Have fit into a 4 before.)

I had no idea how Splits59 sizing ran. I went by their size guide that said 27" waist and 37" hips is a small. (My hips fall in the XS range.)

But overall, they run WAY SMALL. In fact, I wear a medium in Werkshop, but their website does explicitly state to order a size up. Splits doesn't do this. Their website even says true to size. I say their sizing is a full size small. (Lululemon size 6 = Splits59 medium.)

Size small shown over a Lululemon size 6.
The small is much smaller than a 6 through the whole leg. 

Small above, medium below. 

An inch smaller in the waist.

Splits59 medium has the exact same waist
as a 6 in Lululemon. 

I did email customer service about sizing and got a response 3 days later with a link to their sizing guide (that I'd already looked at.) By then, I'd already ordered. In this instant world, that's too long.

Pros
Splits59 does ship in a pretty box.

The print is cool and has a sexy mesh insert.

Cons
Their return policy is you have 7 days to make a return and you can't return sale items of 30% off or more. I ordered with 10% off so I could return.

And you have to email from an RMA, which didn’t take that long. It was relatively painless, but not as easy as an Athleta return.

Meh
Also, I do like the look of the crops, but they're very cottony. For that much money I was expecting super technical racing fabric, not something that felt slightly more like sweat pants than cotton Wunder Unders. Seriously, they look like they have a sheen online.

Verdict:
I do actually love these crops. The print is amazing. They're fun to wear :)

I ended up buying a Medium from ShopBop during their Black Friday sale for $30 cheaper than what I paid from Splits. And Shopbop has a better return policy.

I'm not sure I'm in love with this brand. I bought an overpriced Splits 59 tank this summer and wore it once and hated it. I didn't like how low it draped in the front. I know I would wear a sports bra under it, but the back was so narrow, it looks tacky to wear even a racer back. I think on sale the tank ended up being $64, which was too much money, but I think I just handed my card blindly over thinking the tank couldn't have been more than $40 on sale and didn't realize the price until I was out of state.

If I order a Splits59 product again, it will be from another online retailer. They're sold at ShopBop, Revolve, Bandier, Nordstrom, Carbon38 and more.

(Note: They clearanced this style on black Friday and I think it's sold out. Bandier still has a few pairs of the full length legging with just a numbers print at the bottom.)

Really loved this outfit. Black and white + neon. I thought white would have been too obvious a choice and my hot pink tank was dirty. Loved the neon green. I paired it with a pink Athleta half zip. I think any super saturated color would go with these crops. I can't wait to match them with something else.