The Girls Guide: Bethany Hamilton

Surfer Bethany Hamilton blogs live from the beautiful islands of Hawaii! During the summer months, it seems that girls all over the country want to look beachy. Fans often ask Bethany the secret to her sun kissed, surfer style. The secret? There is none! The key to looking great in the summertime (or anytime!) is not worrying about putting a lot of effort into your appearance.

Check out Bethany’s episode of Girl’s Guide below:

New accessories and clothes may help fitness efforts

What if you could improve your athleticism or physique just by wearing an accessory or an article of clothing? Thanks to a new crop of performance wear products, you actually may be able to do so. For the most part, the items sound too good to be true and in fact, none of them has been proven to produce actual results, but the buzz around this category is growing loud.

Power Balance Bands: Rubber bands with dual holograms worn around the wrist to optimize your body’s natural energy flow…is this new wave science or just a bunch of new age talk? Probably best to do “the test” and decide for yourself – but trend-jumping celebs and athletes alike are swearing by them. Advocates suggest that they work to enhance the body’s typical positive frequencies while helping to block out negative ones, like cell phone radiation. The consensus among users is that the body’s natural balance is restored by the energy that flows through the holograms, and that wearing the band works to increase balance, strength and flexibility, promoting better posture and overall performance efficiency.

Uniqlo Easy Exe: Uniqlo shoppers now have a little help when it comes to fitting into the store’s famous skinny jeans. Launched this past spring, the Japanese fast fashion retailer has added “calorie-burning” underwear to its style stable.  Called the ‘Easy Exe’ series, after a phonetic shortening of the word “exercise” in Japanese, the design of plastic dots and lines that traces the gluteus maximus and lower back is said to encourage better posture, which will lead to a more efficient way of walking, according to Uniqlo’s Japanese online shop.  Though the line is currently sold only in Japan (and is apparently made for men), it’s rumored to be hitting North American shores soon.

Reebok EasyTone Workout Clothing: Come November, Reebok will expand its wildly successful EasyTone sneaker line to women’s fitness wear. Like with the shoes, no evidence exists that just wearing the line actually will increase peoples’ flexibility while shaping and strengthening their butts, thighs and cores. However, chances are that consumers will buy in. After all, EasyTone sneakers (and their competitors) are part of the fastest-growing segment (projected to expand 500% this year) in the otherwise stagnant athletic shoe business. While the idea that certain athletic wear can help consumers exercise more intensely, burn more calories and tone up just by wearing it sounds pretty appealing, we’re pretty sure that such products would be really effective only for someone who’s already active.

(h/t Trend Central)

[Video] Interview with Supergirl Nastia Liukin

We met up with Olympic Gold Medal gymnast Nastia Liukin at the Supergirl Jam in Venice Beach, Calif. last weekend. Born Anastasia Valeryevna Liukin, “Nastia” won five medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, including gold in the individual all-around. She hasn’t decided yet whether she’ll go for gold in 2012 but is working hard supporting an apparel line she developed with Warner Bros. Check out what she had to say about her fave designer, what superpower she’d like to have, guest-starring on “Gossip Girl” and more.

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Happy Birthday Nastia!

Surf’s Up: Urban surf trends

While clothing companies whose histories lie beneath the curl of the waves added streetwear to their repertoires long ago, the surf theme further is saturating urban environments in settings ranging from coffee bars to nightlife destinations. As with the beach music trend, the appropriation of surfing as a totem for an idealistically chill way of life ultimately may extend the carefree spirit of summer into cooler seasons.

Trend Central reports that in New York, the cool kids in SoHo are taking their coffee breaks at Saturdays, an espresso bar/urban surf shop. Owned by a quartet of downtown dudes who also work in the fashion industry, Saturdays’ style pedigree is reflected in both its clientele and its stock. The multifunctional space – which includes a Manhattan rarity in the form of a hidden, plant ensconced backyard deck – is usually inhabited by NYC surfers fueling up on cold-pressed iced coffee in between trips out to the Rockaways. Boutique selections include not only a new house line of color-blocked swim trunks and Breton-striped sweatshirts, but also Levi’s’ high end Vintage Clothing collection and designer wetsuits emblazoned with still trendy triangle graphics.

Surf the Webster: Despite what the current season of Jersey Shore may have viewers believing, there’s more to the Miami lifestyle than clubs and drunken catfights. Hoping to enlighten the uneducated about the oft-ignored Floridian surf culture, Surf the Webster is a pop-up store and museum inhabiting South Beach luxury shop The Webster through the end of the month. In addition to stocking ocean ready wares like boards by the aforementioned Saturdays and swimsuits by Basta, the space also marks the beginning of a larger documentation effort, called the Miami Surf Archive Project. Helmed by Michael Laas, a Surfrider Foundation volunteer (10% of the store’s proceeds go to the conservationist organization), the temporary museum includes photos, boards, and video footage of the South Beach surf scene, from the ’60s through the ’80s. Cowabunga.

ASR: 2011 women’s surf & skate fashion

Last weekend, the San Diego Convention Center hosted ASR Marketplace, an action sports trade show with over 700 surf, skate and street brands showcasing their Spring 2011 lines.  The location couldn’t have been sweeter with beaches nearby and the historic Gaslamp Quarter right across the street.

If you couldn’t make it to SoCal  for the event, find out what next season’s trends for swim and young contemporary look like more than six months before they hit stores.

What to expect next Spring from all your favorite brands?   Vans is always a leader in signature shoes and for spring, they’re introducing the Cedar, a sleek low-profile low-top with a  a field of embroidered strawberries.

Vans has always been known for its roots in skating, but they dabble in surf items as well. For Spring/Summer 2011, the label is putting a little more emphasis on its surf and swim collection and getting serious about it.

Most of Vans new garments have  a well-worn comfortable look and feel, using heathered and burned out fabrics, raw seams, washed out graphics, and deconstruction. Accessories  focused on the beach, with a straw market bag and a surf-inspired “Hang Loose” graphic canvas tote.  Vans still kept it close to their skate roots with a cute novelty trucker hat coin purse and a crosshatch weave on the faux leather purses, very reminiscent of their famous checkerboard designs.

On the footwear front,  Native Shoes showed that lightweight and comfortable doesn’t have to mean a compromise on style. The company heads  into Spring 2011 with new colorways and remakes of classic summer silhouettes– the slip-on boat shoe. While the classic laceless slip-on with decorative lace plackets gets a fun remake in monochromatic shades, the laceless boat shoe-styling are eye-catching and perfect for the summer heat. Also for Spring 2011, the label is launching a children’s collection.

For years, Roxy has dominated the girl’s surf world and they’re always a staple at ASR. For Spring 2011, the girl’s brand is introducing the “Fakie”, a board short that doubles as a destructed denim cut-off.   The holes and shreds look completely real, as does the denim, but when you feel the fabric, it’s definitely an easy-wearing pair of shorts for the surf.

For the Spring collection, Roxy takes it back to the beach  by also offering a more technical short with a 4-way stretch and a no-rash Diamond Dobby material. The swim collection features a lot of polka dots, stripes, brights, and black and whites.

Roxy also had beach in mind when creating “Cruiser” slip-on shoes that fit as comfortable as a sandal. The super flexible outsole twists, folds, and bends, making it easy to wear and even easier to carry in your beach bag. In case Spring doesn’t look as sunny as you’d like, Roxy has colorful laced rain boots. The designs match some pieces from the clothing collection, so you can mix and match your boots to your fit.

Spring 2011′s hottest looks were in motion on the ASR Marketplace runway and you can check many of them out here:

Special events provided a dose of entertainment including a roller derby competition and an indoor skate ramp. Volcom summoned the rave scene for their Techno Beach Party and deejays on an elevated platform kept the vibe moving throughout the day.

Fashion makeover: Wimbledon waives all-white dress code for Olympic tennis 2012

Wimbledon is brightening its wardrobe for the 2012 Olympics.

Organizers of the venerable tournament said Friday the traditional all-white dress rule will be waived for the tennis competition at the London Games.

Wimbledon is the only one of tennis’s four Grand Slam tournaments that asks competitors to wear predominantly white clothing.

Players must still wear white during the Grand Slam earlier in the month but the rules will change when the Olympics take place in the same venue shortly thereafter. All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie said Wimbledon had no hesitation in loosening its rules.

“We have been very supportive to the Olympic organizers throughout the process,” he said. “We hope to some extent there will be a different type of audience. It is not a repeat of the Championships. It will be its own competition, have its own style and it will play out in its own way.”

One tradition, however, will remain: no scheduled night sessions. Play will begin at 11 a.m. local time, and is expected to continue until about 8 p.m. As is the case during Wimbledon, play could carry on under the roof on Centre Court if circumstances demand.

The Olympic tennis event is set to begin July 28, 2012 — 20 days after the end of the Grand Slam tournament. The All England Club last week made assurances that the grass courts would be resurfaced in time following a successful test this year.

The 2012 tennis event will be the first to include mixed doubles, meaning there will be five gold medals up for grabs at Wimbledon.

Four years ago in Beijing, Elena Dementieva of Russia won the singles and American sisters Venus and Serena Williams captured the doubles.

So for those unable to get tickets for the Wimbledon Championships, the London Games will provide another chance to see the best players in the world. Tickets for the event go on sale next year.

Win free Dez Clothing – stylish new line for sport & soccer fans

Do you love soccer? Are you a fashionista? If so, you don’t want to miss the chance to win a stylish top from new apparel company Dez Clothing.

Dez (“ten” in Portuguese) is a line of clothing inspired by and dedicated to players who not only wear the number 10 but who embody its profound meaning. These players do not just play the game but compose their movements and the movements of others into a manifest form of art – a poetic, momentous dance of skill and ingenuity – every time they set foot on the field.

If you relate to the mission, you’ll definitely want to enter to win a FREE signature top.

To win a Dez shirt, you must…

• Follow @prettytough on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook www.facebook.com/prettytough
• CLICK HERE to send the tweet that enters you in our contest.

Winners will be randomly drawn from the pool of entrants at midnight PST August 10, 2010 and contacted via Twitter direct message. Only residents of the U.S. and Canada are eligible to win. Please no P.O. boxes.

Good Luck to all!

North Face for all seasons

North Face seems an obvious choice for winter, but as one of the most widely recognized outdoor brands in the world, it’s a really great choice for all seasons. Launched in San Francisco in the 1960′s, The North Face mission partly lies in outfitting extreme alpinists and rock climbers, skiers and boarders, hikers and trail runners.

Even though their roots are in rugged gear, the casual adventurer is not forgotten. The North Face also outfits adventure travelers with apparel, footwear, tents, packs and sleeping bags that survive any conditions, any activity, any location. In particular, North Face offers a number of fleece and shell products that perform as well as other more technical garments at a great price.

A popular choice for a softshell/windproof jacket is the WindWall Fleece which packs in great features & quality. The genius of the WindWall Fleece – which is North Face’s exclusive fabric – is it allows a little bit of air through for breathability, but not so much that you can feel it, resulting in a seriously comfortable jacket whether climbing, hiking or walking. Insulation wise, WindWall Fleece is an excellent partner to a base layer or underneath a shell for when things get a bit nippy.

Another great choice is the North Face Resolve Jacket – a classic waterproof shell garment. If you’ re just starting to get outdoors on a regular basis, and want to have a jacket that doesn’t break the bank, but will let you perform well and keep dry, the Resolve Jacket is ideal. It does this by using North Faces’ own HyVent fabric which ensures water stays away and keep you comfortable when out in the elements. The technology utilizes a three-layer construction to stay simultaneously breathable and waterproof in a variety of conditions.

A fully adjustable hood folds neatly away into the collar for convenience while travelling and exploring. The Resolve also features a mesh lining that protects the interior surface from snagging. Overall this is a light and versatile shell which is best suited to Summer or Fall use but works well in the Winter for general urban use.

Both these jackets are all-purpose favorites of girls everywhere. They’re fashionable and functional for everything from walking to school  to weekend hiking.  And they’ll  look good even after a summer backpacking trip or camping adventure.

Shopping for a winter jacket in the middle of summer

It may be the middle of summer but I’m on a hunt for a winter coat. I’m moving to Boston at the end of August for college and am trying to buy the necessities before I leave. The problem is, I live in Los Angeles where warm, winter clothes aren’t really a staple.

Having talked to other students residing in a cold climate for the school year, I’m pretty sure I want a North Face jacket. These are timeless classics that come with an array of excellent features.  As the temperatures drop, I can’t wait to bundle up in an insulated coat (despite the fact I’ve been warned that as a SoCal girl I’ll freeze during the winter).  Still, I’ve always dreamed of living in a cold, snowy climate and am looking forward to all the new clothing options that will be available to me.

North Face is a brand that really needs no introduction. They lead the way with the latest technical developments and most comfortable, high-performance fabrics.  The jacket should take me from the streets of Boston to a weekend in the mountains.

After a weekend of scouting sporting goods and outdoor adventure stores, the selection of winter jackets was slim at best. There was mostly summer stuff on sale (which I won’t need on the East Coast) and some new Fall items. The salespeople told me that they wouldn’t get winter stock in until Nov. or December and even then, the selection would be limited based on L.A.’s mild temps.  So it looks like I’ll be hitting the online stores for my outerwear needs. Just wish I could find someplace to at least try the jacket on for size. Oh, well. Winter….here I come.

Take a hike (with the right footwear)

Hiking shoes or boots are an essential part of any outdoor wardrobe. From waterproof sandals to lightweight walking shoes or protective boots, choosing the right footwear may be the most important decision you make as a hiker or backpacker. The shoes or boots you choose must be comfortable and rugged, mile after mile.

Outdoor footwear can be divided into a few basic categories. Begin your search for the right shoes or boots  by focusing on the category that best matches your hiking or backpacking plans.

• Light hiking—Pick footwear designed principally for day hiking. These are usually  light-weight and  flexible, and allow for comfort and breathability. As a result, they may be less supportive and durable than your other options.
• Hiking and backpacking— Pick shoes or boots designed for on- and off-trail hiking with light to moderate loads. These are more durable and supportive than lightweight shoes, but they are still intended primarily for short to moderate trips over easy to moderate terrain.
• Extended backpacking and mountaineering—Pick mid or high cut boots designed for on- and off-trail, multiday hiking with moderate to heavy backpacking loads. Durable and supportive, they provide a high degree of ankle and foot protection.

Which is the right cut for you?

• Low-cut —These shoes are fine for lightweight travel, but they provide less roll-resistance for ankle joints. Plus, on muddy routes or trails filled with  grit or sand, it’s tough to keep debris out of your shoes. They’re a good choice for lighter loads on maintained trails.
• Mid-cut —These boots wrap around your ankles and offer some cushioning and protection from debris and hazards. They’re a smart pick for shorter multiday trips with moderate loads.
• High-cut —These boots give you leverage and ankle support on irregular trails or cross-country routes. If you routinely carry heavier loads, high cuts make good sense. Be sure, however, to take the time to break them in before a long-distance trip.

Hiking sandals have become really popular and are useful on those hot summer days and  evenings. If you plan to hike and wearing boots or shoes seem to be too heavy for your feet, then opt for a pair of sandals and keep your feet protected without the unnecessary bulk. They’re ideal for extended trips on the river or easy hiking where your feet are sure to get soaked.

Hikers  also like newer, lightweight shoes and the comfort factor they offer over traditional boots. They’re really great for long and short walks or even just messing around. However, walking shoes are no replacement for hiking boots when the ground is poor and distance is great.

Waterproof boots are always a good choice as well, whether taking an outdoor stroll or  a serious trek.

Know Your Materials

The materials used in a  boot or trail shoe will affect its weight, breathability, durability and water resistance. Since boots made of different fabrics can be similar in performance, personal preference is often the key when choosing between them.

• Full-grain leather—This is your best choice for durability and abrasion resistance. It resists water well and is used primarily in backpacking boots built for extended trips, heavy loads and rugged terrain. Full-grain leather is not as lightweight or breathable as nylon/split grain combinations and it usually requires a break-in period.
• Split-grain leather—This material is usually paired with nylon or nylon mesh to offer lightweight, breathable comfort. Split-grain leather tends to be softer on your feet, takes less time to break in and is lighter than full-grain leather. These boots also cost less. The downside is that they are a bit less resistant to water and abrasion than full-grain leather boots).
• Nubuck leather—Nubuck is full-grain leather that has been buffed to resemble suede. It is very durable and resists water and abrasion. It usually requires a break-in period.
• Synthetic materials—Polyester, nylon and so-called “synthetic leather” are all commonly used materials. They are lighter than actual leather, break in quickly and usually cost a bit less. The downside is that they may show wear sooner.

PRETTY TOUGH TIP: The waterproofness (or water resistance) of your hiking boots depends significantly on how well you treat them. Be sure to follow all care instructions  so that they can perform well and last a long time.

Get the Right Fit

Once you’ve narrowed down your options to a handful of boots or shoes, the best way to decide between them is to try them on and give them a test drive.

Different brands and styles will fit differently. A good fit allows you to easily wiggle your toes inside the footwear. Feet should not slide around inside footwear. Good-fitting boots hold feet firmly without binding.

When trying on shoes, walk on inclines and declines. If you detect heel-lift on inclines, adjust the tension of your laces atop the instep and try the incline again. On declines, toes should not feel too compacted in the toebox.

PRETTY TOUGH TIP: Bring along a pair of your own hiking socks when trying on shoes in store. And it’s best to try on footwear later in the day; feet tend to swell a bit during the day.

Boot Care Basics

Keep your boots and trail shoes clean between uses by brushing off dirt and mud as both can ruin leather over time. Most fabric boots and shoes can be washed on the outside with mild soap and water.

If your boots get drenched, stuff them loosely with newspaper and dry them in a warm place. Never rush the drying process by placing them near a fire or heater.

Boots need to be conditioned from time to time, especially if they’re made of leather. This is true whether you hike in dry, hot conditions or wet, temperate ones.

So now that you know how to treat your feet right —  get moving!

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