Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Skort & Tank

New for 2013, Outdoor Research has introduced the Offline Collection, offering performance for a variety of outdoor and indoor activities.   These pieces are intended to be figure-flattering, with “contemporary design lines that ensure easy transition to post-workout relaxation”.  I’ve recently been testing out the Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Skort and Tank.

Here’s what I thought of how they fit and performed.

Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Skort

The Outdoor Research Offline Collection is made of a durable nylon-spandex fabric, that offers comfortable stretch and moisture management.  I found that although this fabric does retain some light wrinkles after being folded, it does NOT stretch out in the slightest when worn – which is impressive, and a great feature.

I’ve been a slow adopter of the “sports skort” craze.  They are currently a hot ticket item, and every active wear brand seems to offer at least one skort style.  At first, I just didn’t get it.   I don’t wear skirts in a casual setting.   So why would I want to exercise or play in one?  (Even a fake one?)

Ok, now I get it.  It’s because the underlying spandex shorts are so extremely comfortable.  But who in their right mind wants to run around wearing spandex shorts?!   (Apologies to you bikers out there… you are an exception, and it’s totally appropriate and expected garb for your activity.)

So with the Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Skort you get to wear your extremely comfortable, excellent range of motion spandex shorts for just about any activity (or non-activity!) but you LOOK like you’re wearing a cute, stylish, and much-more-flattering-than-spandex-shorts skirt.  Nice.

The only small complaint I have is that there isn’t really a pocket.  There’s a shallow rear pocket on one side, but you probably wouldn’t trust storing anything of value in it.   I believe it’s more for the sake of appearances.

I can honestly say that I really love the Offline Skort.  I find I wear it even more than I expected to, for everything from yard work to hiking.  It’s attractive, a great color combination, very comfortable and does appear to be quite durable – I’ve been wearing and washing it for two months now, with no fabric snags or issues.  I definitely recommend it.

Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Tank

Hubba hubba!  Right?

While extremely cute, I confess when I initially tried this tank on my first thought was, “I never dress this racy for taking a hike?!”   However, the Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Tank won me over with it’s coy ways, offering some great features and alluring details.

First, the top portion is double thickness in fabric – so it could probably serve as an inner bra, if you so chose.  I prefer to wear a sports bra underneath tops like this, which is how I discovered the clever and deliberate design of the Offline Tank straps.  They align and fit perfectly over the top of my (standard style) sports bra, so it doesn’t detract at all from the cute design of the Offline Tank.

My next favorite item is the hidden rear pocket for your iPod.  There’s a rouched 2-inch wide stripe center seam down the  Offline Tank back.  Towards the bottom is an opening to your secret pocket, where you can store either a key, MP3 player, or other small item.  I like this a lot, I think it’s much nicer than trying to stash and carry your iPod in a pocket on your skort/shorts/capris.

I love the contrasting shades of blue on the “pool” colored Offline Tank.  As you can see from my picture above wearing these two pieces together, it makes a very attractive set with the Offline skort in “charcoal/hydro”.

The fabric is lovely and soft and the fit of this tank in general is extremely comfortable, with zero chafing from any of the straps.   For that reason (and that cute blue!) I do love wearing it, as it truly moves with you and you forget what you are even wearing.  Which in my book, makes for the perfect technical piece of clothing.

One last item worth mentioning, is the cute little metal “Outdoor Research” tag.  This is stitched on both the Offline Tank (center back) and the Offline Skort (lower right leg).

I do have one small issue with the design of the Offline Tank.  Although the elastic gathering on the chest and cut of the shoulder straps both contribute to a flattering design, I don’t feel the snug fit and length of the tank was altogether flattering on me.   Bare in mind, I’m 5’10” – so this is a fairly long top.  I understand that it’s nice to have some extra length in an active wear top, for coverage purposes.  But personally, when a top is very fitted AND cut long over my hips… this combination is not my favorite, for my body type.  Ok, so it makes my hips look big.   There.  I said it.  **Reader scrolls back up, to check out blogger photo and verify large hips.  Yep, she’s right.**

Overall, I really enjoy the Offline Tank and feel it’s a great addition to my active wear wardrobe.  The fabric and fit make it perfect for hiking, but I do find myself wearing this top more to the gym.

 Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Collection

You can check out the entire  Outdoor Research Women’s Offline Collection here.  These pieces each have well thought out designs, and are quality made from a great technical fabric.  Prices range from $62-99.

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I received the two Outdoor Research Offline Collection pieces described at no cost, for the purposes of performing this review.  All opinions are my own.