I have a running joke on the shop floor about me and burgundy, which is that I own it in a swimsuit, a cover up, and now these joggers, and every single time someone asks if I just really like the color, I say no, I like that it photographs like I tried harder than I did. Nobody buys that excuse anymore. They just point at whatever burgundy thing I’m wearing that week and wait for me to explain myself.
The joggers were the splurge I talked myself out of for six weeks. Sixty eight dollars for sweatpants felt insane to me, a person who sells swimwear for a living and should know better than anyone that “just fabric” pricing is mostly vibes. I finally caved the week before a trip to visit my sister in Tampa, told myself it was a travel purchase, wore them on the plane, and then wore them approximately four days out of every seven for the two months after that.
Cost per wear math is a trap I usually see through immediately. This time it actually worked out in my favor, which annoyed me a little, like the joggers had won an argument I started.
Here’s where they earn the closet space though, they cross the line from lounge wear to a real outfit depending entirely on what’s happening above the waist.
You Might Also Like
Thrown on with the giant tee I sleep in, that’s a Sunday, that’s a “did not leave the apartment” situation and everyone who sees me knows it. Swap in a fitted black tank, a denim jacket, and the white sneakers I’ve resoled twice because I refuse to admit they’re done, and suddenly I’m dropping my sister off at the airport looking like I have my life together, which I do not, but the joggers are doing a lot of quiet work convincing people otherwise. Gold hoops help too, I’m not sure why, but burgundy and gold together does something my brain reads as “put together” even at seven in the morning.
The gamble part, and I’ll say it plainly, is the color itself on certain undertones. I’ve had one customer come in convinced burgundy would wash her out because a dress did once, years ago, wrong burgundy, wrong fabric, she’s not wrong to be cautious. These joggers run a touch more brown than wine, which flatters more people than the true jewel tone version does, but it’s still not a universal yes, some people put these on and look like they’re headed to a funeral reception, not the airport.
Three washes in, no fading, no pilling on the inner thigh where every other jogger I’ve owned has died first. That’s the whole review, honestly, everything else was just me explaining the running joke.
