Climbing ‘fashion’ getting out of control
I feel like when I walk into a climbing gym I see the same guy and the same girl scaling every wall. Maybe there is a cloning factory that I don’t know about.
I am definitely a baby in the climbing world, having only climbed for a couple of years, but I am noticing a pattern in the apparel of the young, hip climbing generation.
What really cracks me up is when I go to the gym or a popular climbing site in the area, and all of the females in the joint have on the same pants and all of the males have on the same shorts. Who knew that all climbers had the same taste in fashion?
It kind of appears that everyone is wearing A, shopping at B and able to climb C, D and E ratings. I hope that’s still just my virgin climbing eyes fooling me because it is starting to become sad that I do wear A and I do shop at B. I am just not that great of a climber. It is coming though. I feel it.
I have attended a few competitions and even the people who don’t need to impress anyone with their designer climbing styles (because they are such amazingly awesome climbers) still sport all the “right” gear. It must be because they are sponsored and get it for free.
Those standout climbing brands are everywhere! What happened to just plain old workout clothes? Now we have biking clothes, tennis clothes, clothes for running that you can’t wear climbing and clothes for climbing that you can wear to yoga, but you would never want to wear to hit golf balls.
Don’t get me wrong, as a self-proclaimed shopaholic I like all of the clothes we have to choose from, but sometimes I think it can be overkill. Luckily, I have found my solution to this fashion frenzy. I wear my climbing clothes to yoga . and to go for a hike . and even sometimes to go fishing! Is that wrong?
Should I just break down and spend my money on all these brands? I know that companies have a reason for creating all these nylons and Lycras; they are great for repelling sweat. And there have to be multiple vendors because that is just the nature of the business world.
No one really notices because these brands just keep popping up, and people just keep buying them because they are supposed to be “the only” or “the best” out there. In actuality, I think they might all be made of generally the same stuff, just sewn in different shapes when it comes down to it, but who doesn’t love the selection?
Oh, and what about the strip shows that everyone is so lucky to see in the climbing areas? Is it really so hot that you must take off your shirt to climb up the rock? And then they just put the shirt right back on when they are done. It baffles me. “Wow those muscles are impressive” is what everyone must be thinking about the other climbers when they are in their own zone of trying to complete a route, right? I hope not! I hope climbing isn’t just a big fashion show instead of an actual hobby that people enjoy.
