We make our clothes in ten colors: Black, Bone, Slate, Olive, Rust, Navy, Heather Grey, Sand, Burgundy and Sage. That is a short list on purpose. Each color has to pass the same tests as a fabric before it gets a place, and most candidates do not.
Three tests for every color
It has to survive the wash. Every new color goes through our 50-cycle wash test on all three fabrics. Darker shades are the hardest. A black that turns charcoal or a navy that drifts toward purple is out, however good it looked on the first swatch.
It has to look right wet. Training clothes get sweaty. Some colors show sweat as dark patches that look worse than they are, others hide it almost completely. Mid tones like Heather Grey and Slate show the most. We still make them, because people ask for them, but we tell you on the product page. Black, Navy and Olive hide it best.
It has to work with the other nine. Before a new color is added, we lay it next to every existing color and check that at least six combinations look good together. A color that only works with Black is not worth adding.
Core colors and seasonal colors
Six of our colors are core: Black, Bone, Slate, Olive, Navy and Heather Grey. They stay in the line every season, in exactly the same shade. If you buy Black shorts this year, a Black tee next year will match.
The other four, Rust, Sand, Burgundy and Sage, rotate in and out. Not every one is offered in every style every season. When a color is only available for a season, the product page says “this season’s colors”, and we leave it at that.
Matching across fabrics
The hardest part is getting one color to look the same in three different fabrics. Polyester, nylon and cotton-modal all take dye differently. A Rust that looks right on AirKnit can come out too orange on CoreFlex and too brown on TerraFleece.
So we approve each color separately on each fabric, under the same window light we use for our photographs. If we cannot make all three match, the color is offered only on the fabrics where it does.
What this means for you
You can build a kit over time without worrying about matching. Pick a core color you like and every new piece will sit alongside the last one.
The colors in this season’s line are in our new arrivals.