WE DESERVE MORE THAN LEGGINGS
By Grace Cook
4 Minute Read
Uninspiring, ill-fitting, and lacking self-expression: for too long, our gym wardrobe has limited us. Dany Garcia reveals what's next for Danimás.
“What are you wearing to the gym today?” Asked no one, ever. The gym has become one of the few places in society that completely lacks self-expression. Glance around the next time you’re lifting a dumbbell from the rack, and you’ll see women of all ages wearing almost identical workout sets, as if a uniform were a prerequisite for membership: leggings, often black.
More than that, the pavements are awash with them, too. Everywhere you look, women are walking around in leggings as athleisure. In a 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, style maven Chloe Sevigny said she was “so over” women wearing leggings as clothing. Since then, little has changed.
Somehow, we have accepted leggings as the default, even though most of us don’t even like them. “Women complain about leggings all the time,” says Danimás founder Dany Garcia. “They don’t fit, they slide down, they’re up in your crotch, they’re uncomfortable on your skin—it’s such a forced experience,” she says. “Everyone hates pantyhose, but the fitness industry made pantyhose thicker, turned them into a clothing item, and told us that’s what we are supposed to work out in. Why did we stop innovating?”
This questioning of the status quo led Dany to realize that she herself could innovate; that she could create a new vision for women’s gym wear; that she could create workout garments that not only fit properly, but which inspired and empowered the wearer. “Women always deserve optionality and joy and fashion and excitement,” says Dany. “That was the founding principle of Danimàs as a brand. I wanted women to have so much more. I wanted us to have accessories, and I wanted us to have apparel, and be able to wear clothing that made a moment of this training experience.”
From this vision, the Danimás ethos was born. Next week, Danimás will launch its first-ever apparel collection: a line that has spent 18 months in development and refinement but is the sum of a lifetime of Dany’s gym-related dreams. “I wanted drama and fabrics and to be able to look in the mirror while I’m working out and think, ‘Oh, my outfit looks cool!’” she says. “I also felt it was important that women had a strength training uniform that was fashionable enough that we could wear it outside of the gym. We’ve already proven coming out of COVID that looseness and openness in clothing is preferable.” Currently, women must leave their taste at the door of the gym. Dany is changing that—and the apparel launch is the biggest expression of the Danimás worldview so far. From the weightlifting belts and gloves to the bags and the T-shirt—all moments have been building to this one. The Danimás wardrobe for strength is here.
"Women always deserve optionality and joy and fashion and excitement —for our workouts, as in life."
For Dany, taking a design-led approach to silhouette is not only about style. It’s a decision to enable more women to feel more body confident during a workout. “Most workout apparel is defined by you feeling like you’ve got to be in incredible shape to wear it, like a crop top or little, short shorts,” she says, of these “uncomfortable” items that have become the de facto gym wardrobe. “With more fabric, you have more room. But it also makes it a richer experience; the producer in me wants a movement that can feel cinematic and full of drama and which can inspire women in their journey.” Gyms are filled with mirrors, and how we feel we look when we’re checking our form is inextricably linked to the emotive side of training. Our apparel, says Dany, can inspire us to tackle hard things.
And training is hard. Alongside all the benefits of weightlifting for women—from stronger bones to better sleep, cognition, and muscle growth—there is no denying the toll it takes on our time, our energy levels, and recovery. Training requires discipline to execute; it requires commitment, to ourselves, our schedule, and our bodies. Dany says women deserve a wardrobe and training garments that reflect the magnitude of weightlifting in our lives: each rep is an investment in ourselves and our future. Leggings do not meaningfully reflect the gravitas.
Dany established Danimás to expand the horizons of what strength training could look and feel like, for every woman in the gym. “We’re on your side,” she says. “We understand that when you’re in the gym environment, over time, it builds confidence. When you start training and finish a session, you have invested in your confidence. But we know it can be better. If you’re not stuck in tights that bother you, suddenly, those training moments become more powerful.”
So what should you expect? Style-forward silhouettes that work just as well with stilettos as they do at the squat rack; exquisite European fabrics and fits that are made for a muscular woman’s body. This is workout wear as you’ve never seen it before.
Danimás’ debut apparel collection launches on September 24.
