Girlfriend Collective’s New Launch Feels Like Wearing Nothin’ At All

Meet FLOAT: Girlfriend Collective's newest assortment of sports bras, bike shorts, and leggings crafted from a cutting-edge material that's been two years in the making. The five-piece collection maintains an impressive lightweight and airy sensation while offering a new-and-improved skin-hugging sturdiness — that the company's co-founder, Quang Dinh, likens to the feel of a fabric-baby born from the standard compression legging crossed with the LITE. The new fiber took an additional two years to develop as Girlfriend Collective tinkered with the fabric composition to ensure that the new legging would be smooth and soft while still feeling barely-there. Citing a beloved Simpsons' moment in which nerdy neighbor Ned Flanders brags to Homer about his new snowsuit, Dinh explained that stupid-sexy Flanders was the north star: “It was built for maximum mobility,” Flanders infamously cooed, “and it feels like I’m wearing nothin' at all!” And the same can be said about the Seattle-based activewear brand’s latest launch.

Girlfriend Collective super fans (*raises hand*) may recall LITE, a lighter-than-air fabrication that Dinh spent two years developing with recycled nylon before launching it on-site. Customers, he told us, “loved that it was lightweight, flexible, soft, and really stretchy.” However, Girlfriend’s ultimate goal is to be fully circular — meaning that all of its clothing will be recycled through the brand’s ReGirlfriend program. With nylon recycling “still in its infancy,” according to Dinh, LITE was retired last year to make way for a new polyester-based fabrication that could be seamlessly repurposed at the end of a garment’s life cycle.

In addition to GC's standard bike short and seamless high-rise leggings, two bra silhouettes previously exclusive to LITE have been resurrected for the FLOAT collection: the ‘90s-inspired spaghetti-strap Juliet Bralette and the supportive, fuller-coverage Lola Bra. There’s a new style on the scene, too: the longline Cleo top — reminiscent of the brand’s best-selling and impossible-to-keep-in stock Paloma model. With prices falling in the very reasonable $38 to $68 range, it’s a wonder that the entire collection isn’t already sold out — but don’t worry, it’s getting there. (Dinh tells us that we can look for the next restock in November.)