So for a few seasons now the sports kit has been a bit thin from howies so for this winter we’ve added a few goodies in there.
One which I have been pasionate about having in the range are some merino leggings.
It doesn’t matter what sport you do leggings are an essential bit of kit with your merino base layer, I use them for running, cycling, rowing, and kayaking. The ones I have owned before are from a well known huge brand, they are the best I have found but they annoy me, they are made using all man made fibres, they get cold when they are wet, they smell after a few wears, they dig in on the waistband and below the knee and generally feel uncomfortable and soon as I’ve finished I take them off because they feel so uncomortable.
This lead me to want to design some merino leggings as we all love our merino tops why can’t we have merino bottoms too? However, merino is a very soft fabric so it had to withstand a lot of bending of knees (no baggy knee syndrome allowed) and it had to put up with some abrasion and fit the body without being uncomfortable. I came up with the Taith leggings which are in our new catalogue and on the website. Taith means’journey’ or ‘tour’ in welsh, you will see a lot of these when out on your bike or running in beautiful welsh country side.
Anyway, I have been testing them for a while now from original prototype to the size set which had all the alterations on and they are brilliant, and exactly if not more than what I wanted.
The waistband doesn’t dig in, it’s high enough to keep everything warm, they are a mid length so they don’t cut under your knee, they don’t get baggy knees and they feel like you’re not wearing anything, Lisa was out running in Tenby and said “I feel like I am bottom half naked”.
Last night, after a run along the coast path I got in, made food, curled up with the dog on the sofa and completely forgot to take them off, they were so comfy, warm, dry and non smelly I forgot I was wearing kit.
It’s is a great feeling to be able to design and make something you really want and know that all those little annoyances won’t bother you anymore because you’ve solved the problem, I love them and ladies I wanted to share all this with you because I think you will all love them too, and lets face it, it’s hard trying to find good kit which feels and looks great too.
I am going to stock up and I hope you do too as I want them to be a howies product for years to come.
Here are some pictures of the detail, so you can see the inside of the fabric is merino, the outer nylon to give it strength and the flat finished waistband.

