White Hot: Koral Activewear Gauge Capri Review

Alternate title for this post: “HOLY CRAP, how are these white pants not sheer?!?!”

Koral Activewear is the fitness branch of streetwear brand Koral.  Like many brands around here, Koral is in the business of high end, fashion forward activewear.  Their line gravitates toward abstract, edgy designs rather than feminine and frilly.  I’ve been watching their collections and waiting for an excuse to give them a try.

I found that excuse when Carbon38 had a recent promo for 20% off select brands, and I spotted these gauge capris by Koral. I ordered them kind of on a whim, and in the back of my mind I was thinking, “if Koral can pull off white pants, they can pull off anything”.  Kind of the ultimate test for a brand’s bottoms, don’t ya think?

The gauge capris are a classic tight crop silhouette featuring the usual medium rise, wide waistband, and a triangle gusset.  There’s no waistband pocket.  The fabric is embossed with an abstract print that reminds me of something inspired by animal print combined with wood grain (sounds sexy when I put it that way, right? hah).  The base of the print is a little grey-toned versus the more true white of the top embossing, which gives them some dimension.  But from more than a couple feet away, they appear white, not grey.

I ordered these in an XS.  I usually wear a lululemon size 2, and can wear an XXS or XS in other bottoms depending on the brand/fit.  I’m pleased with how well they fit me, and they stayed in place perfectly for a weightlifting workout.

Laid on top of my lululemon size 2 bottoms, the fit is a tad larger in the hips and waist, but actually tighter through the legs.  They seem to be cut for larger hips but smaller legs.  If you have particularly muscular legs, you may consider a size up.

The length on these is on the long side for crops.  I measured mine at 21″, the same length as lulu’s latest WUC length.  Because of where they hit, the hem doesn’t sit flush, so I may end up taking these to my seamstress to get them hemmed to my preferred crop length, i.e. the photo on the right.  For now, I can tuck the hems under.

The fabric is a textured jacquard material made of a polyamide blend.  They are thick and compressive.  Like the beginning of this post says, they are NOT sheer at all, which really surprised (and thrilled) me.  They did have a bit of a chemical smell right out of the package, but it’s died down.

If you look at the inside, they are lined with a darker material that I’m sure helps with opacity–well played, Koral.  These capris are made in the USA (yay!), though unfortunately the sewn-in tags do not rip out, and they’re a bit on the bulky side as far as tags go.

The only downside of this fabric is that it’s a little stiff, not super-soft.  Since it’s kind of denim-textured and not nylon, it doesn’t have that supple, lush feel you might be used to.  I still find them comfortable, though; they’re not rough or scratchy to me.  I’ll be interested to see whether they soften up after a few washes and wears.  And although they’re a bit thicker than most of my crops, they seem to breathe well and aren’t too hot (but of course, the real test of this will have to wait til the weather actually breaks 75).

Koral’s silver plate logo reminds me of Alala’s gold logos.  I love this.

As a slight aside, this was my first purchase from Carbon38.  It took several days for my order to ship, but when it did, it was sent via 2-day USPS, so I was happy it still showed up in a timely manner overall.  I also got this black C38 string pack with my order, which was a nice, thoughtful surprise.  I guess that means it’s time to get rid of my freebie university string pack that’s literally glued together in places. ;)

Overall, these are keepers!  The white is seriously hot and a great look for the warmer months–they look amazing with bright tops!  These add something totally different to my workout wardrobe and really stand out.  Now I just hope that stains will lift out of them easily because you know every time I wear them, Murphy’s Law dictates that somehow, I’m gonna end up having to do burpees on something dirty…

This style and more of Koral’s offerings are available via Carbon38, Revolve Clothing, and the Koral Activewear website (plus some other misc stockists I found like Ron Robinson, ShopZoeLife, and Swell).

P.S. If you’re balking at the $110 price tag, you might be able to stalk a good coupon code at one of these stockists.  In fact, there are two deals right now you might want to know about.  First, Koral is celebrating the launch of their e-commerce site by offering 20% off everything if you sign up for their email list through 4/24, however, XS and S in this capri are currently out of stock there.  Second, a commenter here noted the other day that Class Pass sent her a promo offering a $100 Carbon38 gift card for signing up before 4/30.  If you have Class Pass in your area, it might be worth investigating!