Racked: All Posts by Jen A. MillerThe National Shopping, Stores, and Retail Scene Bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52809/32x32.0..png2017-06-20T09:32:00-04:00https://www.racked.com/authors/jen-a-miller/rss2017-06-20T09:32:00-04:002017-06-20T09:32:00-04:00The Women’s Outdoor Market Is Just Starting to Catch Up
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<figcaption>Photo: REI</figcaption>
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>“Smaller and pink” isn’t the be-all, end-all of gear anymore.</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap" id="To1Yfc">“Just you? All by yourself?”</p>
<p id="gd41ja">I was paying for a camping spot in Indianapolis. The campground was mostly for RVs but had four tent sites. I was paying $10 for one of them. </p>
<p id="jAdiWH">The person asking me this was a woman, and she stood on the other side of the counter. </p>
<p id="UlQop2">“Yup, just me.” </p>
<p id="X6yP05">Her eyes popped wider. </p>
<p id="Nl9DWJ">“Whoa,” she said. “Really — wow.” </p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YIsiItC5NsczXejrZsaMnXmO4QE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8685173/Parker_012717_0114.jpg">
<cite>Photo: REI</cite>
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<p id="i9fvcx">Yup, just me, all by myself, driving around the country this summer and camping alone in my little green tent. I also ran the Indiana Sand Dunes alone and will be hiking the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm">White Sands in New Mexico</a> solo; checking out <a href="https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm">a volcano in Hawaii</a> with me, myself and I; camping in<a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm"> Yellowstone</a> as a party of one, and taking the three-hour boat ride to stay at one of the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/isro/index.htm">least-visited national parks</a> — you guessed it: by myself too. </p>
<p id="AIirJC">I’ve faced a battery of questions since before I started packing for this trip, most picking on the point that I’m a woman doing by herself. I doubt men are asked the same questions, because… I don’t know, their dicks swing magic that not only make them expert outdoorsmen but also protect them from brushes with poison ivy, falls down mountainsides, and rusty nails imparting tetanus? </p>
<p id="XuxR7h">This is annoying, but not surprising. For most of my life, women have been woefully underrepresented in the outdoors, in both gear and imagery. When I played paintball 10 years ago, I wore men’s army pants that fit my butt but not my waist, and I had to roll them up at the ankles so I wouldn’t trip. When I started running at about the same time, the free shirts given to participants in races were always available in men’s sizes only (and often still are). Unisex meant for one sex, really, and the other one — women — would just have to make do. </p>
<aside id="mdAfsT"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data="{"title":"Like what you're reading?","description":"Get the Racked newsletter for even more great stories, every day.","label":"SIGN UP","url":"http://newsletters.racked.com/h/d/C4595F1D5E0088D6?_ga=1.36581730.373041903.1487623315"}"></div></aside><p id="k142G3">Images of outdoorsiness are usually male too. How many men have you seen, usually bearded, sipping coffee on a mountainside? When women pop up, they’re either skinny, braided blondes in lotus pose wearing a sports bra and capri-length tights or skinny, braided blondes surfing in a speck of a bikini.</p>
<p id="CU0uVq">I’m 36 years old, and for the first time I feel like that tide is turning — and the change is coming largely from retail. Women make up 51 percent of outdoor consumers in the $887 billion US outdoor recreation industry, according to the <a href="https://outdoorindustry.org/">Outdoor Industry Association</a>. Our slice of the pie is still smaller than men’s — women spend $334 annually on outdoor apparel, footwear, equipment and electronics while men spend $599 — but that doesn’t mean we aren’t getting out there. OIA found that 48 percent of women value experiences over acquiring products, and that 84 percent feel that engaging with nature is an important part of outdoor recreation.</p>
<p id="l6Q2w5">REI did some similar research <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/REI_/2017-national-study-on-women-and-the-outdoors">for a study they released earlier this year</a> in advance of their <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fh%2Fforce-of-nature&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F20%2F15801070%2Fwomens-outdoor-market-rei-sporting" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ForceOfNature campaign</a>, which focuses on women already in the outdoor space and those who want to be. Almost 70 percent of respondents felt under more pressures than men to conform to social norms. The study also found that 74 percent of respondents said the outdoors are an escape from the stresses of everyday life, and more than 85 percent of respondents believe the outdoors positively affects mental health, physical health, happiness, and overall well-being. </p>
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<cite>Photo: REI</cite>
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<p id="nHfs7g">Retailers can play a role by pushing for equality within their companies — and also by simply listening to women. <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sitkagear.com%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F20%2F15801070%2Fwomens-outdoor-market-rei-sporting" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sitka</a> did just that over two years ago when they started development on a <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sitkagear.com%2Fshop-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F20%2F15801070%2Fwomens-outdoor-market-rei-sporting" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">women’s line</a> of high-end hunting gear, which they released in April. </p>
<p id="pbnwfU">They started with “a bunch of men sitting around a table start making a lot of assumptions that we shouldn’t have been making,” John Barklow, big-game product manager at Sitka, says. “We realized very quickly that we really needed to overlay a different process to create the women’s collection.” </p>
<p id="jJb2i7">They hired women consultants, designers, and fabric cutters to create clothes largely based on what accomplished female hunters wanted them to make. Jackets have different collars because women don’t have beards. Women’s kits are warmer, even if that means adding a few ounces to the gear. They have more protection on the shoulders, down the spine of the jacket, and down the back of the thighs of the pants because women hunters wanted more “comfort when they were sitting in a tree stand or leaning against a tree,” Barklow says. </p>
<p id="wTOmff">And none of it’s pink.</p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yZVVKa0JCCy8ff8Wb7gCymJZiqM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8685215/Parker_012717_2601.jpg">
<cite>Photo: REI</cite>
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<p id="Q89kCa">Women hunters are “a growing a demographic we don’t feel is serviced with great apparel,” says Barklow. “We saw an opportunity to not only make money but also provide something that really does not exist in the market.”</p>
<p id="D2eXxs">Of course, catering to outdoorsy women isn’t new — nothing really is when there’s money to be made. Juliette Gordon Lowe, founder of the Girl Scouts, started drawing designs for better calisthenic dresses as a teenager in the late 1800s. <a href="http://blog.rei.com/news/a-tribute-to-mary-anderson-reis-co-founder/">REI was co-founded in 1938 by a woman</a>. Moving Comfort (now owned by Brooks) started selling <a href="https://www.racked.com/2015/10/29/9631102/sports-bra-research">sports bras</a> and apparel for women in 1977. <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ryka.com%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F20%2F15801070%2Fwomens-outdoor-market-rei-sporting" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ryka</a>, which makes women’s athletic shoes, was founded in 1987. <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.titlenine.com%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F20%2F15801070%2Fwomens-outdoor-market-rei-sporting" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Title Nine</a> sprang up two years later. In 1990, Kelty backpacks <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/13/sports/on-your-own-hers-and-his-backpacks.html">made a splash</a> by creating packs designed to fit women’s bodies. </p>
<p id="mdCQFm">Now, women’s focused gear feels like it’s snowballing. <a href="https://www.coalitionsnow.com/">Coalition Snow</a>, which makes skis, snowboards, and apparel for women, launched in 2013 (<a href="https://www.coalitionsnow.com/blogs/news/coalition-snow-launches-men-s-line">its April Fool’s post about a women’s brand making men’s products is a scream too</a>. Spoiler alert: boobs). <a href="https://www.wyldergoods.com/">Wylder Goods</a>, which sells what it calls “women’s adventure goods” started as a Kickstarter campaign and opened online last fall. The <a href="https://www.outdoorproject.com/">Outdoor Project</a>, which is an adventure community, dubbed 2017 “<a href="https://www.outdoorproject.com/blog-news/2017-year-outdoor-woman">The Year of the Outdoor Woman</a>.” </p>
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<cite>Photo: REI</cite>
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<p id="eSBEgw">In 2015, REI issued a challenge to outdoor-retailer CEOs to accelerate women’s leadership in their companies, and pledged $1.5 million to <a href="https://camberoutdoors.org/">Camber Outdoors</a>, a coalition dedicated to achieving equal treatment of women in outdoor industries, to make it happen. The pledge started with 13 CEOs and now has 60. </p>
<p id="E4tMKt">A lot of what Camber does ensures that women and their ideas are represented within the industry. At REI, says Laura Swapp, the company’s director of public affairs and next-gen marketing, they want to go further and look outside their corporate structure. </p>
<p id="OngCAL">“You can’t just leave out a huge portion of your market,” says Swapp. “It doesn’t respect the spirit of the outdoors, which is a huge place where everybody is welcome, where lands belong to everyone and everyone should have the same equal opportunity.”</p>
<p id="ZRTXFd">That led to the #ForceOfNature campaign. For gear, REI has been developing more women-specific items, like the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F111162%2Frei-co-op-flash-45-pack-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F20%2F15801070%2Fwomens-outdoor-market-rei-sporting" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Flash 45 backpack</a>, which is designed to fit traditionally female bodies, including in the shoulder straps and hip belt. The company is also working with its brand partners to create more tall, petite, and plus-size clothes. Some of that will begin appearing in stores this fall; more will reach shelves next spring. REI also instated more women’s classes and <a href="https://www.outessa.com/explorelocations">all-women retreats</a>. </p>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_35BMidNWbEnE872b1nd8Hvs1hc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8685243/Parker_012517_4774.jpg">
<cite>Photo: REI</cite>
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<p id="g9jJbZ">REI is using women in all their branding imagery for the rest of the year too, because in its study, the company found that 63 percent of respondents couldn’t think of one female outdoor role model. About the same percentage thought men’s outdoor interests were taken more seriously than theirs. </p>
<p id="K3BPUM">The confidence gap is very real, says Haley Littleton, managing editor of the <a href="http://www.outdoorwomensalliance.com/">Outdoor Women’s Alliance</a> (and also a ski instructor). That OIA study found that 46 percent of women say they will never participate in outdoor activities at extreme levels. </p>
<p id="So72qr">“There is an entrance barrier, a fear you don’t know how to do something and you don’t feel comfortable just showing up on your own,” says Littleton. Their group, which is volunteer-run, works to connect women in the outdoors with each other, especially more experienced women with those who want to try or might not have before. “We’re creating a very inclusive environment that says ‘yeah, you can come and be bad at this,’” Littleton says. </p>
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<cite>Photo: REI</cite>
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<p id="yEw6GA">The Outdoor Women’s Alliance isn’t associated with any retailer or brand, though Littleton says that companies like Coalition Snow and Wylder are pushing back against the “shrink it and pink it” mentality that gives us the same items but in men’s small and extra-small, all in a color that shrieks “THIS ONE’S A WOMAN!”</p>
<p id="i8ds6h">Two weeks into my trip, I hiked a 7.4-mile loop in the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument in New Mexico wearing women’s hiking pants, a women’s sweat-wicking technical shirt I bought at <a href="https://www.runnersworldtulsa.com/">Runner’s World Tulsa</a>, women’s hiking boots, and a unisex Camelbak hydration pack. I don’t struggle to find this stuff anymore. Runner’s World Tulsa had so many women’s options that I enlisted a stranger to help me pick one. My hydration pack is unisex, but Camelbak makes women’s versions too. In this case, unisex just fit me better. </p>
<p id="ATihCG">The loop included a 1,000-foot descent to see where the Rio Grande and Red rivers meet, but that also meant I had to get back out, which I did via the La Junta Trail. It ascends 800 feet over 1.2 miles, a climb that includes 14 switchbacks on loose rock; the terrain was so steep at some points I was crouched so low I might as well have been crawling. </p>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-jvzobaQ2vOqgvpEChvsJmfcQNo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8685301/Parker_012617_4264.jpg">
<cite>Photo: REI</cite>
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<p id="zGnxKo">When I was almost to the top (and stopped crawling), I ran into the first people I saw that day: a group of women hikers being led by a female guide. Yes, she was blond and braided, but not in an “OMG look how cute I am and definitely don’t need to shade my face from the sun” way, but in a functional, one thick braid hanging down her back out of the back of her hat way. She wore a slim-cut button-down shirt and jeans, and the women behind her were in everything, including patterned tights, colorful shorts, and tank tops. They were coming down La Junta. I was relieved to see them, but I still had to pass them on a narrow trail with rock on one side and death (probably) on the other. </p>
<p id="fHrGGV">“Excuse me, ladies!” I said, and they moved over as far as they could. When I got to the end of the line of people, I saw one guy. “And you, sir,” I said.</p>
<p id="BgAGCQ">He laughed. I did too, then hiked out of the canyon. </p>
https://www.racked.com/2017/6/20/15801070/womens-outdoor-market-rei-sportingJen A. Miller2017-06-14T11:02:01-04:002017-06-14T11:02:01-04:00How to Survive Sandal Season With Only 6.5 Toenails
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<img alt="Runner lacing up shoes" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ykB9wg-j9AiogYo9TzEmxNosqjc=/119x0:2004x1414/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55138127/GettyImages_606353299.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo: JGI/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>It’s a common affliction among runners, dancers, and plenty of people who are always on their feet. </p> <p id="RcoIra">I run a lot and have a common runner's lament: bruised, broken, and missing toenails. I have about 6.5 of them on any given day, so sandal season is not my time to shine. Same for dancers, soccer players, and my friend who dropped a box on her big toenail, which is now deceased. </p>
<p id="acfawI">This has been embarrassing, especially when I started running trail races, which meant more stubbed toes, which meant more bruised toenails. I couldn't get by with dark nail polish to cover up what was there (and bruised) anymore because so much of the skin was damaged, or there to sort of fill in what I had lost. The return of the pump has made things easier, but for years, <em>everything</em> was open-toe: fancy shoes, casual shoes, even boots that were supposed to be for that transitional season between summer and fall. </p>
<p id="FodPP0">So I made a roster of what I called my cover-ups. My captain is a pair of shiny nude flats that look like patent leather but aren't (I mean, they're Mossimo from Target). I bought them in a panic when I had to go to a fancy outdoor party, but they’ve worked with just about anything: I've worn them to meetings, on dates, even with dresses I've worn as a wedding guest. </p>
<aside id="b4jp8K"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data='{"title":"Like what you’re reading?","description":"Subscribe to the Racked newsletter for more great stories, every day. ","label":"Sign up here!","url":"http://newsletters.racked.com/h/d/C4595F1D5E0088D6?_ga=1.36581730.373041903.1487623315"}'></div></aside><p id="3sasdx">That shoe's more casual backup option is a pair of blush pink Børn loafers. I'm not a fan of pink, but this one is just about a neutral. They can class up a pair of jeans, or make a light gray dress that I usually wear with tights in the winter summer-appropriate for the three times a year that I have to go into an office.</p>
<p id="EwSlsk">Speaking of clothes for all seasons, cap-toe shoes are my footwear equivalent. My main go-to is a caramel and black cap-toe ballet flat by AGL. If I wasn't about to <a href="http://jenamiller.com/notes-from-a-hired-pen/on-the-road-with-jen-party-in-the-usa/">set out on a cross-country road trip</a>, I'd be getting the <a href="https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=nOD%2FrLJHOac&mid=1237&u1=racked&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.nordstrom.com%2Fs%2Fagl-cap-toe-ballet-flat-women%2F3932425%3Forigin%3Dcategory-personalizedsort%26fashioncolor%3DNAVY%252F%2520WHITE%2520LEATHER" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">white and navy version</a> that Nordstrom is selling right now. On the rare occasions I wear a heel (see: runner), I opt for one of my best vintage buys: ivory and black cap-toe Chanel heels scored from <a href="https://decadesinc.com">Decades</a> in Los Angeles. </p>
<p id="7GhXXB">When I went to Italy in 2014, I brought one pair of shoes: a lemon-lime green pair of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mizuno-Wave-Musha-Running-Electric/dp/B008FHHHGA/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1497444924&sr=1-1&nodeID=7141123011&psd=1&keywords=mizuno+musha+women">Mizuno Mushas</a> that I used to wear when running. They worked just as well running through the streets of Rome as they did at a nightclub in Capri. (I may sound fancy, but it was a budget trip. My best tip for Capri: When the bouncers tell you the cover charge is 20 Euros, tell them to fuck off. They'll let you right in.)</p>
<p id="OPurrj">But my main ally is DNGAF. No, that's not a shoe, but an attitude. In April I met up with some friends in Cape May, New Jersey, in my beach shoes, which are black <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanuk.com%2Fslings%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F14%2F15676048%2Fmissing-toenails-runner-dancer-sandals-shoes" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sanuk yoga slings</a>. As I sat on the sand and looked at the water, my bruised and broken toes on full view, one of my friends said, "Those feet have carried you many miles and places, so who cares?"</p>
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<p id="HAmXC6"><em>Got any favorite closed-toe shoes of your own to carry yourself through sandal season and beyond? Let us know in the comments! And meanwhile, here are a few of our picks</em><em>:</em></p>
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<figcaption>Zara <a href="https://www.zara.com/us/en/woman/shoes/flats/slingback-espadrilles-c358017p4841083.html">Slingback Espadrilles</a>, $30</figcaption>
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<figcaption>J.Crew <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jcrew.com%2Fp%2Fwomens_category%2Fshoes%2Floafersoxfords%2Fcollins-wovenleather-loafers%2FG4661%3Fcolor_name%3Dnavy&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F14%2F15676048%2Fmissing-toenails-runner-dancer-sandals-shoes" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Collins Woven-Leather Loafers</a>, $168</figcaption>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hXGx6ywbNvjbZVhihY7JGZpmKTw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8684577/Everlane_Flat.jpg">
<figcaption>Everlane <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.everlane.com%2Fproducts%2Fwomens-pointed-slide-bone%3Fcollection%3Dwomens-shoes&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F14%2F15676048%2Fmissing-toenails-runner-dancer-sandals-shoes" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Pointed Slide</a>, $145</figcaption>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TrDA0ZrUFNVcL4kVsYXpd_6iS9A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8684579/Topshop.jpg">
<figcaption>Topshop <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fus.topshop.com%2Fwebapp%2Fwcs%2Fstores%2Fservlet%2FProductDisplay%3FsearchTermScope%3D3%26searchType%3DALL%26viewAllFlag%3Dfalse%26CE3_ENDECA_PRODUCT_ROLLUP_ENABLED%3DN%26catalogId%3D33060%26productOnlyCount%3D1%26sort_field%3DRelevance%26storeId%3D13052%26qubitRefinements%3DsiteId%253DTopShopUS%26langId%3D-1%26beginIndex%3D1%26productId%3D27823635%26pageSize%3D20%26defaultGridLayout%3D3%26searchTerm%3DTS42V03LNUD%26productIdentifierproduct%3Dproduct%26DM_PersistentCookieCreated%3Dtrue%26searchTermOperator%3DLIKE%26x%3D25%26geoip%3Dsearch%26y%3D11&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F6%2F14%2F15676048%2Fmissing-toenails-runner-dancer-sandals-shoes" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Softy Ballet Shoes</a>, $26</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
https://www.racked.com/2017/6/14/15676048/missing-toenails-runner-dancer-sandals-shoesJen A. Miller2017-05-19T11:20:04-04:002017-05-19T11:20:04-04:00What to Buy at REI's Huge Anniversary Sale
<figure>
<img alt="Two women hiking with backpacks on" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AwEmtrJilyx-oQWRIltXiNNQntk=/114x0:1934x1365/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54857917/rei_hiking_gear.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo: <a href="http://rei.com">REI</a></figcaption>
</figure>
<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>The best jackets, backpacks, and more, recommended by an outdoor enthusiast.</p> <p id="F8g0Cl">Today's the opening of the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fanniversary-sale&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">REI anniversary sale</a>, which means it’s time for the outdoor-gear store to take all my money. I'm a runner, hiker, camper, and <a href="http://jenamiller.com/notes-from-a-hired-pen/on-the-road-with-jen-party-in-the-usa/">soon-to-be cross-country driver</a>, and I use a <em>lot</em> of gear; this sale is like Christmas for me. </p>
<p id="RZUdCD">It’s also huge. Everything from camping gear to climbing sneakers to luggage (hell, even kayaks and <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fadventures%2Ftrips%2Fname%2Frocky-mountain-hiking-camping.html&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">trips to the Rocky Mountain National Park</a>) are marked down up to 30% off.</p>
<p id="wwkTJ3">If you're not the outdoorsy type, that’s okay! There’s a lot at REI that works for daily wear too, even if the hardest workout of your day is rushing to a meeting. Here are five of the best things to buy from now until the sale ends on May 29th.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="ZN4Wmj">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Patagonia Synchilla Snap-T Fleece Pullover in blue" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qKqKdPjh_UpzuJorL5h8OTZalME=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8545929/patagonia_fleece_rei.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="k0rdjL"><strong>Patagonia </strong><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F853372%2Fpatagonia-lightweight-synchilla-snap-t-fleece-pullover-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Synchilla Snap-T Fleece Pullover</strong></a><strong>, $68.99</strong></p>
<p id="ljWBU9">Do you like Hillary Clinton? Are you #stillwithher? I found <a href="http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a41337/hillary-clinton-patagonia-fleece/">her fleece</a> for you, or as close as you're going to get to it without a major thrift shop score. The functional details: It comes in lightweight and regular versions — I have the lightweight, which is great for cold, sunny days, but not so much against the wind. REI has standard colors, but also those wild patterns that were so popular in the ’90s, which is when Hillary started sporting hers. To match, try the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F844912%2Fpatagonia-lightweight-synchilla-snap-t-fleece-pullover-mens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">men's lightweight</a> in True Teal/Tribal Geo, or the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Frei-garage%2Fproduct%2F120079%2Fpatagonia-lightweight-synchilla-snap-t-fleece-pullover-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">women's lightweight</a> in Harvest Moon Blue/Blue Owl.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="ExOfficio Give-n-Go Sports Mesh Underwear in pink" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gUVNhvh5n0Fex7V2iBXlPW7YEWA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8545903/rei_ExOfficio_mesh_underwear.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="8GSvem"><strong>ExOfficio </strong><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F895783%2Fexofficio-give-n-go-sport-mesh-bikini-briefs-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Give-n-Go Sports Mesh Underwear</strong></a><strong>, $17.99</strong></p>
<p id="JLsBW4">I bought these after an unpleasant hike in cotton underwear, and now they're my full-time thing. They're light and breathable and, at least when worn with my skinny jeans, less likely to leave a panty line. I prefer the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F895784%2Fexofficio-give-n-go-sport-mesh-hipkini-briefs-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">hipkini briefs</a> style, but REI also has them in bikini and full-cut styles too (other retailers, <a href="https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=nOD%2FrLJHOac&mid=1237&u1=racked&murl=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.nordstrom.com%2Fs%2Fexofficio-sport-mesh-thong%2F4665252%3Fcm_mmc%3Dgoogle-_-productads-_-Women%253AUnderwear_Lingerie%253APanty_Brief-_-5240985_1%26rkg_id%3Dh-5ea730b87c257c59a125c642ab5d687c_t-1495192901%26adpos%3D1o4%26creative%3D145518911452%26device%3Dc%26network%3Dg%26gclid%3DCNfanM7r-9MCFYKKswodlIgJQQ" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">including Nordstrom</a>, sell a thong). </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Patagonia Houdini Jacket in pink" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YHqLR_6ww0sLGIfrWuXh8ZzjKAg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8546115/patagonia_houdini_jacket.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="hq8Owa"><strong>Patagonia </strong><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F894342%2Fpatagonia-houdini-jacket-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Houdini Jacket</strong></a><strong>, $68.99</strong></p>
<p id="koW0sJ">A conundrum: It's hot and raining. You don't want to get wet from the rain, and you don't want to get wet from sweat either. This jacket is the answer. It's the lightest rain shell I’ve ever worn (3.6 ounces!), and even though it's marketed toward runners, for me it's what I stash in the bottom of my bag and put on during a pop-up squall. </p>
<p id="wSCWQT">Since it is so thin, I bought a size up so I can layer under it during chilly days. One note: The pocket here is on your left chest, not by your sides. If you like to stuff your hands in your jacket pockets, this one's not for you. (Patagonia, can you make that revision on the next version?)</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Sanuk Yoga Sling Flip Flops" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5JlcOxLV6QZGoF5SzPG30LpVKkg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8545861/sanouk_yoga_flip_flops.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="32RQ9M"><strong>Sanuk </strong><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F849797%2Fsanuk-yoga-sling-flip-flops-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Yoga Sling Flip Flops</strong></a><strong>, $26.59</strong></p>
<p id="e9gWdt">Flip flops are terrrrrrible for your feet, so this is a solution: a flip flop with a back. When I bought my now well-worn pair, I could only find them in black, but now they also come in burgundy, charcoal, coral, gray, slate blue, and a nifty black-and-white pattern. These aren't for yoga (because... hard pass), but the bottom is made of yoga mat <em>material</em>. I wear them most often on the beach, and also with skirts, jeans, and shorts.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Columbia Seersucker shorts" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/f33kJRhKriBypUrcT5xCiIg_g7I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8545937/columbia_seersucker_shorts.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="9kh2qo"><strong>Columbia </strong><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F112347%2Fcolumbia-super-bonehead-ii-shorts-womens&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Super Bonehead II Shorts</strong></a><strong>, $19.93</strong></p>
<p id="XGxAi0">Skip the silly name; these are seersucker shorts made by a sportswear giant. That means you get all that Columbia fabric technology to combat sunny days (they're even made of a material called UPF Omni-Shade fabric, which blocks UVA and UVB rays) but also shorts that look like, well, seersucker. A six-inch inseam means they won't be up your butt, either. That inseam is also a blessing if you're like me (and, well, most people) and your thighs touch.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Patagonia Black Hole 25 Daypack in gray" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xH_39xcGC0BxR1dICrrqBarvGVE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8545855/patagonia_black_hole_backpack.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="Pwgg1r"><strong>Bonus for </strong><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fmembership%2Fbenefits&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Co-Op members</strong></a><strong>: Patagonia </strong><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rei.com%2Fproduct%2F884917%2Fpatagonia-black-hole-25-daypack&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F5%2F19%2F15663214%2Frei-sale-camping-gear" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Black Hole 25 Daypack</strong></a><strong>, $103.20</strong></p>
<p id="kA1IMC">Because fuck rolling bags. If you're physically able, stop dragging your stuff (and whacking me in the leg — I'm looking at you, Amtrak passengers) and opt for this backpack instead. You'll need to use your 20% coupon (which you get when you become a member for a one-time fee of 20 bucks) because, while Black Hole duffels are in the sale, this bag is not. </p>
<p id="tjjbaM">I did this last year and have taken the bag on every trip since, including two legs of a book tour (one of those also required me to bring everything I needed to run a marathon <em>and</em> hike the Grand Canyon). Another bonus if you're flying: I've never been forced to check this because of limited space in overhead bins. Flight attendants look more kindly on bags that can be pushed around versus rollers.</p>
<p id="sKQ1Ux"></p>
https://www.racked.com/2017/5/19/15663214/rei-sale-camping-gearJen A. Miller2017-04-17T11:17:01-04:002017-04-17T11:17:01-04:00Old Hollywood and the Myth of Blondeness
<figure>
<img alt="American film actress Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson or Norma Jean Baker, 1926 - 1962)." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j17PGNDExZ1wsm14Aj90Z3oxydg=/127x1334:4138x4342/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54244489/marilyn_monroe_red_dress.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Marilyn Monroe in 1954. | Photo: Baron/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>Podcast host Karina Longworth on what draws her to “Dead Blondes.”</p> <p id="4FrA6Y">When Katy Perry bleached her hair, the first person I thought of was Karina Longworth.</p>
<p id="KjZeN9">That might seem like a long leap — connecting a pop star and a podcast host — but when <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BSt17v6jXqz/">Perry went platinum</a>, I was deep into the “Dead Blondes” season of Longworth’s podcast, <a href="http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com"><em>You Must Remember This</em></a><em>. </em>For more than three years, the show has examined "the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood's first century,” to quote its tagline.</p>
<p id="2iTDT5">“Dead Blondes” focuses on, well, just that: 11 blonde actresses who died tragically, unexpectedly, or otherwise before their time. So far, Longworth has devoted episodes to Peg Entwistle, Thelma Todd, Jean Harlow, Veronica Lake, Carole Landis, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Barbara Payton, and Grace Kelly; two more will stream before season’s end. Longworth likes to keep subjects of future episodes under wraps, although fans can find hints on the show's <a href="https://twitter.com/RememberThisPod">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/youmustrememberthis/">Instagram</a> feeds; Longworth posted a photo of Monaco, for instance, before the Grace Kelly episode went live.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Full-length shot of Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967), US actress, wearing a leopard print swimsuit in a studio portrait, against a red background, circa 1955." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Zv59od9VHZUzbHY0vRburC0jntE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8334499/jayne_mansfield_1955.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Jayne Mansfield in 1955.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="aekcae">Unless you're a true Hollywood buff, you probably don't know all these names, but you may know their legends — like that of Peg Entwistle, who committed suicide in 1932 by jumping from the Hollywood sign, and Jayne Mansfield — who, despite popular myth, was not decapitated in the car crash that killed her.</p>
<p id="IhMoHT">"One of the things that blondes represent is this better-than-humanness — or, at the same time, in some cases, extreme sexuality," she says. In her episodes about these women, she looks at how that played out in their on- and off-screen lives, and how each blonde matched her era — or didn't, with often disastrous results.</p>
<p id="n74OO7">Over the course of the season, Longworth weaves these stars’ stories together, exploring how hair color played a role in the lives of — for example — “hot blonde” Marilyn Monroe and “cold blonde” Grace Kelly, the two most bankable female stars of 1955. Kelly would go on to marry a prince and leave Hollywood a year later; Monroe would die at age 36 in 1962.</p>
<p id="ojJNzV">The Jayne Mansfield episode has been the saddest, at least for me. From the start of her Hollywood career, Mansfield always recognized her own beauty (that famous photo of Sophia Loren throwing shade at a busty blonde? <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/11/story-behind-infamous-sophia-loren-jayne-mansfield-photo">That's Mansfield</a>) and how it could boost her career. But her Monroe-like look fell out of style as the 1950s gave way to the counterculture of the 1960s; at one point, Mansfield was even mocked by the Beatles.</p>
<p data-ad-placement-anchor="athena_features" id="oBMgcs">Longworth says that while studying these blondes’ lives, she’s thought a lot about “how unreal they are.” The host adds, “If you are 30 years old and you have white-blonde hair or something close to it, chances are you've done something artificial to get there, and so the idea that there's so many movie stars that are within this trajectory — there's something really interesting about that.”</p>
<div class="c-float-right"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="American actors Gregory Peck (1916 - 2003) and Barbara Payton (1927 - 1967) kiss in a publicity still for 'Only the Valiant', directed by Gordon Douglas, 1951." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Tg0C5VeH-vM8XOKVOT4bZkiNbKs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8334543/barbara_payton_gregory_peck.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Barbara Payton with her <em>Only the Valiant</em> costar Gregory Peck in 1951.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="gOpJVl">In the episode about Barbara Payton, who turned to prostitution near the end of her life, Longworth explains that both Payton and Carole Landis were “part of a trajectory” that had been built up since the beginning of Hollywood. “Hollywood had created in the public an appetite for beautiful blondes, and like addicts, the culture began demanding exponentially more, and each new blonde was given less time to grab a foothold,” she says in that episode. “And once your window of opportunity was over, no one was going to help you wedge another window open. Everyone had already moved on to another blonde.”</p>
<p id="nL1aXP">Longworth says she decided to devote a full season of her podcast to the lives of Hollywood blondes because, as she puts it, her listeners love “lurid stories about suicides and murder and people drinking themselves to death.” At the same time, delving into the lives of these women has allowed Longworth to explore “how Hollywood mythology gets constructed,” her primary interest.</p>
<p id="gUUopj">Asked to name a living star who inspires the same sort of “blonde obsession” as the women spotlighted in her podcast, Longworth demurs; she’s more interested in old Hollywood than new. (<em>You Must Remember This </em>has done episodes on Isabella Rossellini, Bruce and Brandon Lee, and Madonna's relationships with Warren Beatty and Sean Penn, but that’s the closest Longworth has come to covering modern stardom.)</p>
<div class="c-float-left"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="You Must Remember This host Karina Longworth." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wLSEoWtHsSEksNP_-aF2lnmFRK0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8336099/karina_longworth.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Courtesy of Karina Longworth</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>You Must Remember This</em> host Karina Longworth.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="mUD1QS">Longworth was kicking around as a freelance writer when she recorded the first episode of <em>You Must Remember This</em>. It was “a sample of what I really wanted to do — the kind of research and writing I would do if anything was possible," she says. “I thought that I would make this silly thing in my bedroom and then people would laugh at it, and people would think it was really silly.”</p>
<p id="2i829A"><em>You Must Remember This </em>has since landed on best-of lists from <em>The Atlantic</em>, <em>The Guardian</em>, <em>Esquire,</em> and <em>Paste</em>, and Longworth has authored books on Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, and George Lucas; she’s currently writing one about the loves of Howard Hughes. Prior to “Dead Blondes,” Longworth spent an entire season on the life and times of Joan Crawford. (It’s a must for fans of FX’s <em>Feud: Bette and Joan</em> — full of historical fact to counter Ryan Murphy's campiness).</p>
<p id="XPAXAy">And for the record: Longworth is a brunette, though she did once bleach her hair in high school — before dyeing it purple.</p>
https://www.racked.com/2017/4/17/15279044/old-hollywood-dead-blondes-podcastJen A. Miller2017-04-12T10:02:01-04:002017-04-12T10:02:01-04:00Paying to Run with — and for — Oiselle
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Nf4lbbxcLhL3YqX0YSGXWP9_CIo=/303x0:5143x3630/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54181183/Oiselle_Vol_e_Singlets___Group_Shot.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>The new Oiselle singlet. | Photo: Oiselle</figcaption>
</figure>
<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>For $100 a year, fans of the cult running brand can meet fellow runners, get early access to limited items, and be living, breathing billboards.</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap" id="R8d2JP">When <a href="http://www.oiselle.com">Oiselle</a>, a women's running apparel company, started a brand ambassadorship program in 2010, it went with what other companies were doing at the time: Find people who love the company and run a lot and give them gear to wear at races and all over their blogs and social media feeds.</p>
<p id="ywqsj3">In 2015, that changed. Instead of a few hundred hand-picked brand ambassadors running races in Oiselle clothing, the company now has a program called <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/pre-register-our-volee-team">Volée</a>, which is made up of an army of about 4,000 women who pay $100 a year to be living, breathing, running, tweeting, Instagramming billboards for the brand, a membership that will open up to new members again on April 13th. </p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cQTarFm7NWUcWBmWAJ-X6L1NLCQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8316479/TNFC.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Oiselle</cite>
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<p id="jaiwsQ">Members say they're paying to be part of a supportive, active running community that just happens to be put together by a brand they love. Critics, <a href="http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6653864&page=1">of whom there are many</a>, call the program a marketing tactic for an already-expensive brand charging another fee to be associated with it.</p>
<p id="6C8bv0">“Why are you paying for the privilege of something you'd be doing anyway?” asked <a href="http://interrobanggroup.com">Interrobang Group</a> founder Rachel Weingarten, who has worked on ambassadorship programs for the <a href="https://www.olympic.org/vancouver-2010">Vancouver Olympics</a> and <a href="http://bikenewyork.org">Bike New York</a>. “If a woman feels [Volée] gives her more incentive to run, and she recognizes a sister runner wearing this, they can strike up a conversation, but it's disingenuous for brands to be creating this.”</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="gQM6MK"><q>“Why are you paying for the privilege of something you'd be doing anyway?”</q></aside></div>
<p id="n44PSK">Oiselle, which was founded in 2007 and is French for “bird,” is a higher-end brand. The non-sale price points are in line with Lululemon and Athleta: <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/shop/running-bottoms/tights">Tights</a> run $76 to $106, <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/shop/running-bottoms/running-shorts-and-skirts">shorts</a> are $34 to $56, and <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/shop/running-tops/jackets-vests">jackets</a> are $98 to $208. </p>
<p id="ZMry9x">Unlike those brands, though, Oiselle is hyper-focused on running. It sponsors five professional track and field athletes, and it has more than 30 women in Haute Volée, a program that supports emerging athletes — ones who are very good but who haven't broken through to the top level of the sport yet. Twenty-five dollars of every $100 annual Volée membership fee goes into the Women Up Fund, which pays for gear and travel for Haute Volée athletes, and <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/blog/introducing-got-bras">Oiselle's GOT Bras initiative</a>, which aims to donate 2,000 bras to middle school girls in 2017.</p>
<p id="16tlYd">Jenn Phillips, 37, joined Volée in November 2016 after finding out about the program through a regional Volée area team leader. She said she didn't join for the material benefits — which include a racing singlet, spike bag, early access to new and limited-run items, $20 off a pair of bottoms, and free domestic shipping — but “for the camaraderie and what the brand stands for.” She'd tried running with <a href="https://www.teamrwb.org">Team RWB</a>, a charity group, but said she didn't feel the same connection there like she does with the members of Volée.</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><aside id="4KE2Lr"><q>[Phillips] said she didn't join for the material benefits, but “for the camaraderie and what the brand stands for.”</q></aside></div>
<p id="nZCHt8">She sees her $100 as supporting both those Haute Volée athletes and the stances Oiselle takes, including one against <a href="http://www.teamusa.org/Athlete-Resources/Athlete-Marketing/Rule-40-Guidance">Rule 40</a>, which <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rio-olympics-rule-40-changes-marketing-summer-games-200732935.html">regulates</a> what non-Nike sponsored athletes can wear and do — including tweeting about non-Nike brands — surrounding competition on national teams. (Nike sponsors USA Track & Field.) Oiselle CEO and founder Sally Bergesen is part of a group of non-Nike brand representatives that has been very publicly against Rule 40. In 2014, she went so far as to Photoshop Nike logos off the uniforms of women who ran on the US women's 4 x 1500 meter race in the IAAF World Championship Relays, adding their sponsor brands' logos instead. </p>
<p id="P60vZT">It was a controversial move — she was <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/newswire/usatf-reprimands-oiselle-for-altering-nike-logo-in-photo">reprimanded by USA Track & Field</a> — but it raised the company’s profile quite a bit.</p>
<p id="59yCUk">Oiselle started with a traditional brand ambassadorship program because that's what everybody did, said Bergesen, “where you find people who are active in their communities and have a reach, whether they have a blog or they're in social media or teach a class or run a club locally,” she said. It started with 10 women, herself included, and expanded to about 700.</p>
<p id="7udrZu">Women applied for these positions and, if accepted, would get branded gear to wear in races, 30 percent off anything they ordered from the website, and free shipping on domestic orders. Ambassadors, as is typical with these kinds of programs, weren't paid. They were, however, required to wear the Oiselle singlet in all their races and commit to a certain number of races per year, according to <a href="http://earlymorningrun.blogspot.com">Lisa Alcorn</a>, 35, who joined the ambassadorship program in 2011 and stayed with it through the transition, and is now one of Colorado's four Volée team leaders for that state. </p>
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div>
</div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BSticOHhwK4/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">“I liken my warm ups to a boxing robe. There's a bit of mystery involved. When I'm doing my drills and strides, I want competitors to think, "who's that speedy looking girl?" . . . Race day styles on the road with @pinkfeathers now on the blog! #mypowersuit</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by Oiselle (@oiselle) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2017-04-10T16:28:07+00:00">Apr 10, 2017 at 9:28am PDT</time></p>
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<p id="lUzeOX">Lindsey Hein, a running coach who writes on <a href="http://lindseyhein.com">Out for a Run</a>, was part of the program when it was in that form. She joined because she thought “it was a cool opportunity to meet other people who were interested in running and that whole deal. And I did like their clothes.”</p>
<p id="aDtPBF">She says that relationship soured when she applied for a contest to be on the cover of <em>Women's Running</em> magazine in 2014. The contest was sponsored by Saucony, and she knew that if she won — <a href="http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2014/09/contests/profile-lindsey-hein-our-cover-model-contest-winner_29524#eOW9F3PxwmDm3EoR.97">which she did</a> — she'd be wearing Saucony on the cover.</p>
<p id="IRfVWJ">She said Oiselle was supportive at first, but then pushed back when it realized she'd be wearing Saucony in the photos. In a 2015 blog post, she posted a <a href="http://lindseyhein.com/20150811-3179/oiselle/">tense email exchange with the company</a>, a post where she also said that in exchange for being part of the ambassador program, “you are their marketing bitch.” </p>
<p id="NjXxkX">Her thought at the time, she said in a recent phone call, was that she wasn't paid by Oiselle to wear the clothing like a sponsored athlete and that “this is a great opportunity for me, and your brand is all about supporting women and women doing really cool, inspiring, big things and chasing their dreams,” she said. “It ended a little bit ugly.”</p>
<p id="gwzSfD">She left the program, and while she has friends who are in Volée and has coached three of its team members, she has mixed feelings about the program as it is today. She recognizes that that the community aspect is a big draw, but “you're paying to support them and get their brand out there,” she said. “It's great marketing on their part.”</p>
<p id="MNtnHf">Bergesen said that for her, running is akin to a religious/spiritual experience, and through running she has been able to forge connections and friendships. “I wanted Oiselle, in some capacity, be able to help women form those connections, especially in that early age of their young adult life when there's just a lot of competing forces,” she said.</p>
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:49.81481481481482% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div>
</div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BSobXwch1XA/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">What do you wear when you warm up? How are you trying to feel? What’s your ideal emotion toe-ing the line? How does this affect what you choose to wear? On the blog, Haute Volée athlete @alexinawilson tells us about her race day #powersuit. What's yours? . . . #running #womensrunning #trackandfield #flystyle #race #steeple #stanfordinvite #flystyle</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by Oiselle (@oiselle) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2017-04-08T16:50:08+00:00">Apr 8, 2017 at 9:50am PDT</time></p>
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<p id="OgacIw">To help make those connections beyond seeking out members at events and on social media, Volée members get access to the <a href="http://oiselleteam.ning.com/main/authorization/signIn?target=http%3A%2F%2Foiselleteam.ning.com%2F">Oiselle Team Portal</a>, a social media network, and are invited to Oiselle meet-ups and Oiselle running camps. Bergesen said that often runners will post that they're visiting a city and ask for running routes or someone to run with. </p>
<p id="wu8M1u">For the Colorado group, Alcorn writes a newsletter and helps organize those meet-ups and camps. As a state leader, she’s not paid for her work, but her membership fee is waived. She considers the experience worth it, even though it is a lot of work.</p>
<p id="FrhBUn">“If I wasn't a leader and I was paying $100, I would still pay it because of those benefits of being able to meet up with these really incredibly women and meet women from all over the country,” she said. </p>
<p id="eRrOEG">Bergesen said that, on a strictly transactional standpoint, her community doesn't make money off Volée. The cost of building and managing the community, even with volunteer team leaders, is expensive. “We know that this program has built a very engaged community of women that benefits Oiselle, but we also maintain a healthy distance between Commerce and Community — where neither can be subservient to the other,” she wrote in a follow-up email to our conversation.</p>
<p id="tpe22G">Separate or not, it does push the brand. If you run a lot, you can't miss them. Same if you spend any time on social media tuned into anything running-related. One hundred and forty members will be running the Boston Marathon on April 17th. I saw one member in a race series I ran in March that had less than 400 runners overall.</p>
<p id="VFqncl">I run a lot, and I’ve been writing about running for almost seven years. In that time, I have never seen an apparel brand invoke such strong opinions of love or hate — from men and women — with very little in between. From the time Oiselle started selling a <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/blog/oiselle-runaway-bride-dress-race-debut-2010-new-york-city-marathon">running wedding dress in 2010</a> (which is when I first became cognizant of the brand) to reporting this story, and just from being a runner who writes and talks a lot about running, I’ve been told Oiselle is either a force of change for both women in running and small, independent brands — or a cult. </p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><aside id="jZsqp2"><q>I’ve been told Oiselle either a force of change for both women in running and small, independent brands — or a cult.</q></aside></div>
<p id="kfhokp">Oiselle’s gear is high-quality stuff, but the price points are above what I like to spend on running clothes (and why I also don’t shop at Lululemon or Athleta, or buy Nike or Brooks stuff at full price). I feel the same way about it as I do <a href="http://www.racked.com/2015/3/4/8143155/disney-princess-half-marathon">Disney races</a>: It costs more than I want to dedicate to my running, but I’m not mad about it, because I can sign up for a cheaper race or keep buying <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BNnk2GJhMNL/?taken-by=jenamillerrunner&hl=en">my favorite discontinued Nike running tank</a> on eBay for less than $10. I do have three Oiselle shirts, though. Two were bought on deep discount from my local running store years ago. The third, the <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/shop/running-tops/short-sleeve/distance-crewneck">Distance Crewneck</a> I bought at full price directly from the website, was something I bought myself as a present for finishing my first ultramarathon. </p>
<p id="gKPbBs">Emotion made me spend more than I typically would on a T-shirt, and in reporting this story, a lot of people talked with or about emotion when it comes to Oiselle. </p>
<p id="Xpuav9">Bergesen believes that running is “a path to confidence and empowerment.” As it turns out, you need things to put on your body to do that activity. “When you support Oiselle, you are supporting a 95 percent female-led, dedicated, inspired company that has a very close and direct relationship with its customer base, which means we listen carefully, which means we make changes based on that. I'd be hard-pressed to say that you get that from a Nike or a Lululemon.”</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="3Ebkl2"><q>“I was thinking about that ‘selling empowerment’ thing,” she wrote in reply to a fact-checking email, “and I thought ‘I wish! But turns out you have to [do] that work yourself!’”</q></aside></div>
<p id="99t18b">“If you want to say we're selling empowerment, well, maybe we are.” Later on — more than a week after the phone interview — Bergesen still seemed to turn the question of empowerment over in her mind. “I was thinking about that ‘selling empowerment’ thing,” she wrote in reply to a fact-checking email, “and I thought ‘I wish! But turns out you have to [do] that work yourself!’” She finished her sentiment with a winky face.</p>
<p id="draVy5">Other than location and age,<strong> </strong>Oiselle doesn't have demographics as to who makes up Volée members — the sweet spot is women in their mid-30s. Of course there are exceptions, but in looking at hundreds of Instagram posts with two common hashtags used by Volée members on Instagram — <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/oisellevol%C3%A9e/">#oiselleVolée</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/oiselleteam/">#oiselleteam</a> — it's hard not to see a lot of these women are white, skinny, and rich, or at least try to appear as if they're affluent. It doesn't help either that Oiselle's professional field, including elite and Haute Volée, <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/athletes/elites">is overwhelmingly white</a>, and that <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/size-chart">the largest size Oiselle makes is a size 12</a>.</p>
<p id="C0fdm4">Bergesen doesn't shy away from talking about diversity issues. “Even though I considered myself a woke feminist prior to the election, my eyes have been opened to my own white privilege in new ways since then,” she said. When it comes to diversity and representation, she said the company has “made strides and is improving, but we're not there yet.”</p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d99cOLPYQor3gKbqpXwtQqnLUiE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8316567/IMG_7797.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Oiselle</cite>
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<p id="Dv0G6J">In that vein, Oiselle’s athlete models, who are drawn from its athlete community and appear all over the website, are different races, ages, shapes, and sizes. For the 2016 Olympics, the brand made a custom racing kit for Sarah Attar, an Arabian-American marathon runner competing for Saudi Arabia that met the coverage requirements of that country's sports federation, but also be something that would be functional to wear <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/08/sarah-attar-marathon-uniform-hijab-rio-olympics.html">while running a marathon in Brazil</a> (and then collaborated with her on <a href="http://www.oiselle.com/shop/new-arrivals/seasonal-tops/sarah-attar-tank">items they still sell on the site</a>). Oiselle is also creating larger sizes, which are currently scheduled for release in 2018. </p>
<p id="j9B1yc">For Volée, though, Weingarten said it will be hard for the make-up of the membership to change because, in that it has a membership fee, it's always going to be a self-selecting group. “By virtue of being inclusive, they have to be exclusionary,” Weingarten said. It's not social media stats or a blog that's the criteria to get in now. Instead, to be part of the club, it's applying when memberships are available — and that $100 fee.</p>
<p id="jgVhMK"></p>
https://www.racked.com/2017/4/12/15250894/oiselle-running-marketingJen A. Miller2017-03-18T10:02:01-04:002017-03-18T10:02:01-04:00The Weird Comfort of Florida Tacky
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<img alt="a pink souvenir shop in Florida" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cGTkJTYnWs_iOE8Nv6hcGAcnmEc=/246x0:3954x2781/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53750779/florida_souvenirs.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo: Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>The goods that keep me coming back for more. </p> <p id="4rVrGb">On a warm morning in Daytona Beach last month, I stood on the balcony to my room at a Holiday Inn, looking out. I wasn't staring at another beautiful sunrise, but instead at an orange Dodge Charger. </p>
<p id="8qkP56">The driver had apparently tried to watch that sunrise from her car while bumping club music with a thumping bass. Based on tire tracks, she had done doughnuts on the sand, too. And now she was stuck. Really stuck. A Subaru and a half-dozen beach walkers were trying to help dig her out.</p>
<p id="b3fIzK">I grabbed a box of Cheez-Its to watch the show. I almost opened a beer. “Who needs the Eiffel Tower?” I thought.</p>
<p id="KrMnN9">I was in Florida because I had decided to go on a trip after my dog died to drop out of my everyday life for a little while. I could have gone to France. I even bought a plane ticket to Paris. But a few days before I was supposed to get on that plane, I said fuck it. </p>
<p id="zMr5Bo">Forget culture, wine, and haute couture. <em>Au revoir</em>,<em> </em>good taste. I went to Florida instead. </p>
<p id="USqarg">Yes, Florida, the state that looks like a wang (and <a href="http://www.tallahasseemagazine.com/March-April-2011/Floridas-Tower-of-Power/">has one for its capitol building</a>). I went to college in Tampa and try to go back to the beach once a year. I leave my serious self at the airport and dunk a tanner, blonder, day-drinking, bikini-wearing version of myself into everything that the tackiest state in the union has to offer: sunshine, beaches, overpriced hotel pool bars, and souvenir shops that sell things like nipple-themed sippy cups. </p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="f2leFL"><q>Here, you can buy <em>Frozen</em> boogie boards, thong bikinis, alligator bottle openers, and crucifixes all in one place — sometimes all on the same shelf. </q></aside></div>
<p id="VFIwoy">These are places where primary colors are neon and everything is always 50% off, including custom-printed booty shorts with your name on the butt. Here, you can buy <em>Frozen</em> boogie boards, thong bikinis, alligator bottle openers, and crucifixes all in one place — sometimes all on the same shelf. </p>
<p id="TNnVow">It's an inevitable evolution for a destination that's been grabbing for the cash in your pocket for more than a century before Walt Disney bought his swamp.</p>
<p id="VqpMRU">Florida first started beckoning tourists just after the Civil War. About 50,000 people visited the state in 1869, drawn by (mostly dubious) promises of the state's restorative health powers and sales pitches of cheap and beautiful real estate. </p>
<p id="2Uy3qp">Railroad magnate Henry B. Plant built the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/american_latino_heritage/tampa_bay_hotel.html">Tampa Bay Hotel</a> in 1891, conveniently near a stop on his railroad. It's now part of the University of Tampa, my alma matter. (The hotel closed during the Depression and was then bought by the city, which leases it to the university for $1 a year.) </p>
<p id="TWFMzJ">Back when I was in college, it was the most beautiful building I'd ever seen. But as James W. Hall, author of <em>Hot Damn! — </em>the Bible of Florida weird — told me, it wasn't considered so stately when it was first built. It was seen as a monstrous architectural mash-up with giant Moorish minarets flying on top, stuffed with $500,000 (in 1890s dollars!) of antiques. Plant was "trying to sell northerners on this exotic, weird, fanciful location," Hall said. "It's all about commerciality and creating something out of nothing."</p>
<p id="Q7P4kW">That concept hasn't changed much in the last 125 or so years, but what's considered exotic, weird, and fanciful has shifted with time. Spring break — the bacchanal that’s currently in full swing — started in 1934 when the Colgate men's swim team <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/weekinreview/the-innocent-birth-of-the-spring-bacchanal.html">went to Fort Lauderdale</a> over the Christmas holiday to practice. </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Young people partying during spring break in Florida" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rXBtxzJRRZLYS73HuKNw_rZy6I0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8176201/MTV_spring_break.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Scott Gries/Getty Images</cite>
</figure>
<p id="fyu83N">The idea of a Florida retreat flipped to Easter break, and became supercharged after MTV <a href="http://www.gq.com/story/mtv-spring-break-vj-alan-hunter">broadcast its first <em>Spring Break</em></a><em> </em>from Daytona Beach in 1986. The concept exploded, to sometimes <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/15/us/florida-panama-city-beach-spring-break/">disastrous results</a>.</p>
<p id="KakP5U">Florida's tackiness has long leaned heavily into misogyny — the concept of the wet-shirt contest wasn’t born here, but Florida is <a href="https://mic.com/articles/138633/the-short-sexist-history-of-the-wet-t-shirt-contest-a-symbol-of-spring-break-debauchery#.QQ41rxEWG">where it planted two bare feet (and breasts) on stage</a> — and bikini-clad women, along with guns and Confederate flags, are now dominant themes of the goods for sale here. </p>
<p id="lPZz5I">Walking through the <a href="http://daytonafleamarket.com">Daytona Flea & Farmers Market</a> makes me feel the same way I do when listening to the song "Blurred Lines." I know I should turn away, turn it off. But I keep looking at stuff, just like I still sometimes leave that song on when it comes on the radio.</p>
<p id="4IYMqr">But eventually the song ends, and I go home, as do the 85 million other tourists who come in and out each year. And when your trip is a day, a week, a month, even a snowbird-long season, who cares long as you drop money into the local economy? Florida is "so focused on making money off tourists, and tourists of course don't stick around to see if the things that are being built are permanent," Craig Pittman, author of <em>Oh, Florida!</em>, said.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="pkTIl2"><q>But eventually the song ends, and I go home, as do the 85 million other tourists who come in and out each year. </q></aside></div>
<p id="CiH8TA">Which may be why I was so delighted to watch that Dodge Charger stuck on the beach. It was weird, cheap entertainment that I wouldn’t haven’t enjoyed if I saw a car stuck on the beach in New Jersey. After I finished my Cheez-Its, I called beach patrol. </p>
<p id="wwXqOd">"Yeah," the dispatcher said and sighed. "It happens all the time." Eventually, a pickup truck pulled her out, and it and the beach patrol trucks went on their way and left her alone, but on firmer sand. </p>
<p id="5dFPs5">She stepped out of the car, put the part of her bumper that had become detached into the trunk, adjusted her hat, and took a selfie. </p>
<p id="tOXkmA">"You smell like the beach," my mom said when she picked me up from the airport. It snowed the next day. My serious self returned, and I got back to my normal life, steeped in work and grief over my still-dead dog. </p>
<p id="Nx9ihy">But I got to hit pause for a little while, something I don't know if I'd have been able to do in Paris. As a reminder of that time, I brought home a few more pieces of crap, including a Mickey Mouse ring and a T-shirt of a dolphin leaping over a pink glittery “Florida,” and another tale to tell from my favorite weird and wonderful state. </p>
<p id="iCQ8jb"></p>
https://www.racked.com/2017/3/18/14960352/florida-tacky-souvenirs-spring-breakJen A. Miller2017-03-13T10:32:01-04:002017-03-13T10:32:01-04:00How ‘The Collection’ Mixes Fictional Fashion With Historical Fact
<figure>
<img alt="Jenna Thiam as Nina on The Collection." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OPQ7XVX186h-PZgEcDKTlxQxqOI=/0x622:4673x4127/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53602401/TC.04262_JTapproved_new.lg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jenna Thiam as Nina on <em>The Collection.</em> | Photo: Amazon</figcaption>
</figure>
<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>The show’s costume designer talks creating a couture wardrobe on a tight budget.</p> <p id="d4Jqxc">Do you want to look at pretty clothes to take a break from tracking the collapse of civilization? Pretty<em> couture</em> clothes? In Paris? Set within a big, soapy drama? Yes, of course you do.</p>
<p id="Vqm4wd">Enter <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Collection-Season-1/dp/B01MU59AWE"><em>The Collection</em></a>, a BBC and Amazon co-production that peeks into the world of Parisian fashion after World War II — specifically at Paul Sabine, a fictional fashion house with the potential to change how the world sees Paris, but that isn't so clean under the hem.</p>
<p id="Zlejf7">For starters, business-minded Paul (played by Richard Coyle, whom fans of early 2000s PBS might recognize as Jeff from <em>Coupling</em>) serves as the public face of the fashion house, but it's really his brother Claude (Tom Riley) — who’s kept behind the scenes thanks to his explosive temper and homosexuality — behind the brand’s genius designs.</p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Mamie Gummer as Helen Sabine, Tom Riley as Claude Sabine, and Richard Coyle as Paul Sabine on The Collection." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HgJF6w0EzssUMQ7YU3IKi6iQ34Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8120347/TC.06117_cr1.lg.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Amazon</cite>
<figcaption>Mamie Gummer as Helen Sabine, Tom Riley as Claude Sabine, and Richard Coyle as Paul Sabine on <em>The Collection.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="R1mmJh">There’s also a scheming mother (played in glorious, glittering grand dame fashion by Frances de la Tour) who’s constantly pitting the two brothers against each other, plus Paul's American wife (Mamie Gummer), whom he may or may not have married for her money. Add in a nosy American journalist, an illegitimate child, an affair, a murder, and some possible Nazi business dealings, and you have one dishy, visually stunning show that's waiting to be devoured (I did so in less than a week from the comfort of my sweatpants).</p>
<p id="XKOiRV"><em>The Collection</em> is fiction, but it's based in a lot of fashion fact. Paul Sabine is trying to design clothes that will put Paris back on the fashion map after a bloody war and grim occupation; that’s precisely what Dior did with his landmark 1947 New Look collection. The Nazi plot nods to real-life events, too: Consider <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/books/review/sleeping-with-the-enemy-coco-chanels-secret-war-by-hal-vaughan-book-review.html">Coco Chanel's connections to the Reich</a>, and how she struggled to regain her footing in France despite those associations and whispers of “traitor.”</p>
<p id="bvcBoT">But since <em>The Collection</em> is fiction, the clothes just couldn't be replicas of what Dior and other designers were doing at the time. That task fell to French costume designer <a href="https://www.chattoune-fab.com">Chattoune</a>, who has worked on dozens of films and TV shows and was nominated for a César Award (the French equivalent of an Oscar) for her work on <em>Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky</em>. Chattoune’s challenge with <em>The Collection</em>, she tells me, was creating haute couture clothes that matched the times without copying real-life designs — <em>and</em> without a haute couture budget.</p>
<p id="9hL7sb"></p>
<p id="d4TkAA">Chattoune says that Dior's 1947 collection, so dubbed the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dior.com%2Fcouture%2Fen_us%2Fthe-house-of-dior%2Fthe-story-of-dior%2Fthe-new-look-revolution&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F3%2F13%2F14857358%2Famazon-the-collection-costumes" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">“New Look"</a> by the American press, presented a hurdle instead of a lane simply because it was so iconic. (It was even referenced on <a href="http://tomandlorenzo.com/2016/04/outlander-style-season-2-episode-2/"><em>Outlander</em></a> — yes, the Scottish time-traveling show.) The collection’s main shape, the “Carolle” or “figure eight,” gave women an hourglass silhouette and quickly became the look of the decade. Many designers in Paris were doing similar figure-eight shapes after the war, Chattoune notes, but the look is most often attributed to Dior “because he was the one showing it first.”</p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Frances de la Tour as Yvette Sabine on The Collection." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rKFjfAV-itiKNJT3IwxzzJHPFQ4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8120397/TC.01619.lg.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Amazon</cite>
<figcaption>Frances de la Tour as Yvette Sabine on <em>The Collection.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="aKKd96">Instead of trying to block out Dior’s designs completely, Chattoune immersed herself in the era at the fashion history museum <a href="http://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en/professionals-and-researchers/students-researchers-and-teachers/library">Palais Galliera</a>, where she studied “all of the documents and all of the drawings and all those magazines for the time,” she says. From there, “we tried to have our mind in 1947, but make it modern — make it like people nowadays would like to see it,” she explains.</p>
<p id="FJOlUb">In total, Chattoune designed and created about 40 pieces for the show’s wardrobe — including plenty of Paul Sabine showpieces that proved particularly challenging. “We wanted to do it like haute couture but we could not afford that, and we wanted to do it the best possible [way so that] everything could be filmed,” she recalls. Because of the volume of the fabric, certain seams could take a whole day to create. A lot of the clothes were cut on the bias, “so you have to wait for it to fall for two days on the mannequin,” she notes. “Then after that, you cut it again to have the proper length, and <em>then</em> you start the process of doing the hem.”</p>
<p id="2FciyQ">And while most of the show’s extras wear rented costumes, Chattoune made the seamstresses’ uniforms, as well as the costumes for both Sabine brothers. She designed for Paul 1940s power suits, since he serves as the studio’s money man (and face). She gave Claude a more casual look, with costumes that would set his character apart from the rest of the cast — and that he could wear while riding his motorcycle. As a result, Claude’s style hints at the James Dean/rockabilly look to come in the 1950s — a perfect fit for a rebellious, creative type who’s on the bleeding edge of fashion. “[Riley was] happy with his look and tried to keep the motorcycle trousers most of the time,” she jokes.</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Jenna Thiam as Nina on The Collection." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WW03ZRnv9aFyKAtFNtbYLLj-Vkk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8120483/TC.01269_JTapproved.lg.jpg">
<cite>Photo: Amazon</cite>
<figcaption>Jenna Thiam as Nina on <em>The Collection.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="RByDmR">Asked to pick her favorite look from the show, Chattoune singles out the red dress featured on the title card for the show. “It's so simple and so efficient in the simplicity of it,” she says. It also plays a key role in revealing the tension between the people striving to repair Paris’s fashionable reputation and those still recovering from the war — but to say much more would spoil the story, so you’ll have to watch for yourself.</p>
<p id="EhGcgX">Chattoune is currently working on another project set in modern times (“With modern you have a lot of options, because there's so many things — but less time, because they don't consider that you need to have things made,” she explains) as well as a show set during WWII (“war, submarines, German, very deep, very interesting, very different”). She hasn’t heard whether <em>The Collection</em> will be getting a second season yet, but she’s hopeful. “I want to know what happens!”</p>
<p id="eTKv7c">The Collection<em> is co-produced by BBC Worldwide and Amazon Studios. It premiered in the UK in September 2016 and in the United States on Amazon Prime in February 2017.</em></p>
https://www.racked.com/2017/3/13/14857358/amazon-the-collection-costumesJen A. Miller2017-02-01T11:02:01-05:002017-02-01T11:02:01-05:00The Hat No Runner Should Be Without
<figure>
<img alt="A woman wearing a trucker hat and standing outside" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FnVhplAT4xUJTNQBz9AGgHsOP2A=/221x0:2048x1370/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52937913/headsweats_bigfoot_trucker_hat.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Headsweats <a href="http://www.headsweats.com/trucker-hat-bigfoot-mountain/">Bigfoot Hat</a> ($25)</figcaption>
</figure>
<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>And yes, that’s Bigfoot above the brim.</p> <p id="iRKU4T">I run a lot: eight marathons so far, one ultra marathon, and one of each on the docket for spring 2017. </p>
<p id="jUFe2W">I don't think much about what I wear while running (I have 20 of the same running tank top — thanks, eBay!). For most of my ten-year running career, athleisure has been whatever sweats my dog hadn't made into a bed while I was out beating up my quads. </p>
<p id="DLJS5O">When I need to present myself after a workout, though, for a trip to the bagel shop or that mythical post-run coffee where you can look athletic <em>and</em> cute in $150 tights (which I certainly do not own), I pay attention to one thing and one thing only: my head. I have a lot of hair, and post-run, it's a flyaway mess. Solution: <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.headsweats.com%2Ftrucker-hat-bigfoot-mountain%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F2%2F1%2F14402414%2Fheadsweats-bigfoot-trucker-hat" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Headsweats’ Bigfoot Hat</a> ($25).</p>
<p id="zbQcml">Does this sound stupid and not something that a 36-year-old woman who is <a href="http://runningalovestory.com">sometimes tapped as an authority on running</a> should wear? Possibly. Do I care? Not really. The absurdity is part of its appeal. </p>
<p id="Y4EMBo">"Being from the Pacific Northwest and growing up camping and hiking in the forests there, you couldn't help but hear stories about the big fuzzy guy, and I guess he always stayed with me," said Tim Ray of Headsweats, who designed the hat. "When I think of a scene of the outdoors, he's always lurking back behind a tree somewhere keeping an eye on you."</p>
<p id="4cEnFC">It's technically a trucker hat, but not in a "OMG the 2000s are back, everyone put on your low rise jeans!" kind of way. It has mesh panels on three of its four sides, which is great ventilation if my hair is still sweaty when I put it on. It has an opening in the back to shove my braid through. And unlike my college baseball hat, it's not cotton, so I'm not stuck with a soaked hat pressed against my forehead while I eat that bagel or drink that coffee (after which I will promptly take a nap).</p>
<p id="fVAY7C">The first version came out in 2015, and in one style: a sunset. Mine, which is a blue/violet/white mountainscape, was added soon after, and now Headsweats <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.headsweats.com%2Fcategories%2Four-products%2Fbigfoot-collection%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F2%2F1%2F14402414%2Fheadsweats-bigfoot-trucker-hat" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">sells a few dozen items</a>, including visors and beanies, with Bigfoot blazed on it. In 2016, four of its top ten products in revenue were from Bigfoot truckers, according to a Headsweats spokesperson. </p>
<p id="HkTmHw">Of course this hat has other functions: I can wear it when running errands, when I drive my Jeep with the windows out, and I usually wear it hiking, too. It's been a hit at Home Depot and Nordstrom alike. And when I need to throw a shadow across my face, like when I cried for days on end after I put that beloved dog down and the sight of sweatshirts left unmussed sent me reeling, Bigfoot provided that cover. </p>
<p id="eWhm71">Life can be an ugly business. Running can be, too. If I'm going to cover it up sometimes, I might as well do it with the help of a mythical beast. </p>
<div id="OAVsvG">
<a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.headsweats.com%2Ftrucker-hat-bigfoot-mountain%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2017%2F2%2F1%2F14402414%2Fheadsweats-bigfoot-trucker-hat" class="p-button" target="_blank" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener">Shop It Here</a> <i>Headsweats Bigfoot Hat, $25</i>
</div>
https://www.racked.com/2017/2/1/14402414/headsweats-bigfoot-trucker-hatJen A. Miller2017-01-04T12:32:01-05:002017-01-04T12:32:01-05:00Winter Boots That Are Warm, Weather-Proof, and Still Look Good
<figure>
<img alt="A woman wearing brown snow boots, walking along a log in the woods" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/g6ZVdqiD3NRlcw7PhxqNrZnZj84=/110x0:1890x1335/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52581321/Arhus_boots.0.jpeg" />
<figcaption>Photo: <a href="https://duckfeetusa.com/collections/boots/products/arhus">Duck Feet</a></figcaption>
</figure>
<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>Suitable for outside in the snow, or inside at the bar.</p> <p id="kwPmoy">As I slid onto a stool at Dullboy, a slim and dim spot in downtown Jersey City with $13 cocktails and beverage professionals instead of bartenders, I thought I'd feel out of place. I was, after all, dressed for a trip to Vermont, a week-long vacation that was supposed to involve tromping through snow and eating a fuck ton of cheese. There, my baseball hat, sturdy jeans, past-its-prime North Face jacket, and flannel-lined puffy vest — which had been what my mom wore to chop wood in the 1980s — would have fit right in. </p>
<p id="uGK88L">But I wasn't in Vermont. I was in Jersey City because the clutch of my old Jeep Wrangler blew on the New Jersey Turnpike, and I got stuck here while waiting for the repair, then sucked into an impromptu bar crawl because at a previous bar, I said hello to a guy who then informed me he lived on a boat — sorry, <em>ship</em>.</p>
<p id="aFZCKC">"I love your boots!" said a 20-something in a backless tank top and open-toe shoes. My car might have broken down, and my vest might have been more Killington then gentrified city, but at least my new boots passed the fashion test. </p>
<p id="v43wqh">The boots in question: Duck Feet<a href="https://duckfeetusa.com/collections/boots/products/arhus"> Arhus Boots</a>, imported to the US from the Netherlands via<a href="https://rustandsalt.com"> Rust & Salt</a>, a small company in New Hampshire that just started bringing Duck Feet shoes here in 2015. I saw an ad for them in <em>Modern Farmer</em> magazine (I don't farm. I subscribe for the recipes) at about the same time my 12-year-old <a href="http://aldo.com">Aldo</a> flat brown boots gave up the ghost. I loved those shoes, even if they never really kept my feet dry in the rain or snow. But they didn't look weird or ironic like duck boots, nor were they hard to get on or off like wellies. </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A pair of Duck Feet Arhus Boots in brown" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VnpBOolvS-cbixc8E57dBoPRyWo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7742191/Duckfeet_Arhus_snow_boots.jpg">
<figcaption>Duck Feet<a href="https://duckfeetusa.com/collections/boots/products/arhus"> Arhus Boots</a> ($280)</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="wh8tcK">I ripped the ad out of the magazine and stuck it into my recipe binder where I knew I wouldn't lose it. Could these nut-colored, shearling-lined, rubber-soled boots — even at $280, about $240 more than my dearly departed Aldos — be the answer? They looked like I could tuck jeans into them without any bunching, a problem with other boots I'd tried and rejected. </p>
<p id="ntjaWz">The leather/shearling/rubber combo seemed like it would actually keep my feet warm and dry, unlike my Uggs that soaked through on my first pass with the snow shovel. The Arhus boots seemed mildly fashionable, too, at least as displayed by models doing things like walking on rocks and leaning against trees while accessorized by a plaid cape and crisp fall leaves. </p>
<p id="sJmMEo">It took a 20 percent off Black Friday coupon code and a hotel reservation in Burlington to make me give them a shot.</p>
<p id="rvLok5">The verdict when I eventually got out of Jersey City and into Vermont (and no, I did not check out his boat or ship in between, mom): gold. I only took them off for the treadmill and sleep. Strolling through fast falling snow while checking out a Stars Hollow-esque small Vermont town? No problem. Skirting the edges of wet slop accumulated at street corners of downtown Burlington after the storm? Arhus don't care. </p>
<p id="o7rztP">After stopping at a gas station to clean brine and muck off the back window of my car, I wiped the same off the boots without a stain left behind, just pebbled leather that, after a few days of tromping, softened and melded to my feet. I thought they'd be too heavy for the constant up-and-down dance that driving a stick shift car requires, but on my way to and from the <a href="https://www.cabotcheese.coop/cabot-visitor-center-tours">Cabot Creamery</a> headquarters — where I did indeed eat a fuck ton of cheese — I forgot that I was wearing these bad weather soldiers. I could have rolled down the tops as Rust & Salt recommends, but why bother? I liked the looser look, especially when my feet still stayed warm despite it.</p>
<p id="RmgNl2">On the last day of my trip — Christmas Eve — I put on my festive red and black plaid leggings and drove out to <a href="http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/">Cold Antler Farm</a>, home of writer and farmer Jenna Woginrich. She showed me her sheep, her goats, turkeys, geese, and dogs, where her vegetable garden was when not covered in snow, and where she planned to expand her operation over the new few years. At some point, I stepped in the poop of a member of her menagerie. With one scrape of the sole of my boot on a piece of wood, the poop slid off.</p>
<p id="aH9K0T">"Those are nice," Woginrich said. "You can't put a price on good boots."</p>
<p id="Cwpicb">I now tend to agree (even if you can, apparently, put a very high price on a new clutch). </p>
<p id="7j6AA7"></p>
https://www.racked.com/2017/1/4/14154128/duckfeet-arhus-bootsJen A. Miller