OT: Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra Skirt Review

Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra Skirt in Alta Moda Print and Lululemon Energy SL Tank in Black

Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra Skirt in Pink Crush Play Print and Lululemon Swiftly SL Tank in Paris Pink

A couple of months ago I posted that I wanted to try running in a skirt and was thinking of getting a skirt from Skirt Sports. They contacted me and were kind enough to send me a Gym Girl Ultra skirt to try (the black one shown above). I also bought another one (the wild pink print) a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to try running in the skirts a few times before writing this review. To be honest, I didn't fully love running in a skirt the first couple of times. For one thing, I found the skirt kind of hot. The Skirt Sports undershorts are pretty substantial and adding another layer over that makes the skirt hot for runs in the 70+ temp region. I also had to get used to running in 5" shorts. My shortest run shorts are ~8" so it was a bit of an adjustment for me. I also had some irritation on the inside of my thighs which I thought might have been from my legs rubbing each other (even though I applied plenty of bodyglide beforehand) but it turns out it was the internal seam of the shorts.

Seam down inner thigh

The seams are flat locked but because it was hot (70+) when I ran they bothered me after a couple of miles. I also think I have sensitive skin because I had to look through a lot of reviews before I found any that mentioned being irritated by the seam. Of all the Skirt Sports reviews on the web (the great majority are very positive) I found two people who mentioned the seams bugging them so it's not a universal problem. I solved the issue by rubbing Body Glide all along the seams. The third time I wore a skirt I had no issues at all and the temp was in the upper 60s/low 70s for my five mile run.

I found the rise of the skirt lower than I was used to. I am definitely a mid rise kind of person. However, since lululemon tanks are long it's not like skin shows or anything. Now, on to the things I absolutely love about this skirt...


... the POCKETS on the undershorts. Oh. Em. Gee, how I love the holster pockets on this skirt:

There are two 4" x 3" pockets - one on each leg. The pocket fits my iPhone perfectly and I don't even notice it when I am running. I much prefer to slip my phone in a pocket rather than use my armband, which has become irritating on longer runs. I put some Energy Beans in the other pocket. The other great little feature is the headphone cord tunnel in the back of the skirt:

Headphone tunnel

I can run the cord out the back of the skirt, under my shirt and into my ears. No fiddling at all with re-tucking my cord into my bra. When I use my armband the cord sometimes pops out of my tank and starts flopping around on my chest so keeping it all under my shirt is awesome.

The shorts didn't ride up so that I noticed. They are definitely on the compressive side and I swear the shorts in the black skirt were smaller than the pink skirt. The website does have a note that some of the "black shorties" in the Gym Girl Ultra ran small so I think that is true for the Alta Moda print. I definitely found the pink skirt more comfortable right off the bat. The shorts are not as soft and stretchy as lulu's luxtreme shorts so I did have to get used to a different feel. The Gym Girl Ultra is 14.5" long in the front and 15.5" in the back. Both skirts I got were true to this measurement. The skirt lays flat as you run and doesn't bunch up or between the legs.

Things I would suggest to Skirt Sports to make this skirt even better:

• Add a zipper pocket to the Gym Girl Ultra skirt like you have on Marathon Girl Skirts. I prefer to keep my car key in a zipper pocket when I run. Nothing fell out of my leg pockets when I ran in this skirt but I still want my car keys zipped up. When I wore this skirt I made sure to wear my lulu hats with zipper pockets for my keys. I also have a shoe pouch I can use but it makes tying my shoes a pain.
• Move the inner leg seams so they are not down the middle of the leg.This would eliminate potential chafing issues.
• Make a summer weight skirt that has a lighter over skirt.

Things I would suggest lulu steal from Skirt Sports:

• Thigh pockets in the undershorts. Right now, I believe lulu only puts a pocket for tennis balls in their white skirt undershorts. Not useful for runners.
•  Headphone cord tunnel in the skirt.

 All in all, I like their skirts a lot and find wearing one a nice change of pace. I have worn the skirt on runs as long as five miles. Skirt Sports are pretty pricey but if you get on their mailing list they will send you deals of the week - I got the pink print skirt for 60% off. There are some 50% off deals on the website right now - you have to click on the color swatches to see the markdown amount. Shipping was $8.95 for UPS to me but you get a code for free shipping on your second order. Also, subscribe to their Facebook page. They had some good deals for Mother's Day that I totally missed out on because I wasn't watching their page. Other places that carry Skirt Sports are REI, Zappos, and Amazon. I also noticed they just started making skirts for little girls - sizes 4-8.