Note: Since this interview was published, Dirty Jane has since gone out of business.
The last few years have brought an explosion of new women’s specific mountain bike clothing options. Thank goodness!
Dirty Jane has jumped on the train to help curate all of the best pieces out there in one place. The online retailer offers women’s mountain bike clothing from brands like Wild Rye, Shredly, Kaden Apparel, and more.
In this podcast interview, I chat with Dirty Jane owner, Amy Remark to discuss all things clothing. We talk about plus-size options, how to choose a pair of mountain bike shorts, and which brands are women-owned and American made.
Transcript
Kristen
So Amy, first, thank you for being here today and taking the time out to come chat with us. To get started, can you just tell us who is Amy Remark and what is Dirty Jane?
Amy
Yeah. Thanks for inviting me on your podcast. And yeah, so I am Amy.
I live in Squamish, British Columbia mountain bike Mecca. And I have been mountain biking for 20 years, I learned how to ride up and Whistler back when there was like, you know, five of us women riding at the bike park. Yeah. And, and no clothes. We, you know, we were just putting together whatever outfits we could find, I’m lucky because I’m tall so I could fit into men’s clothes. But my friends weren’t so lucky. And you know, we were all just kind of like piecing outfits together. And there was nothing to choose from. And I actually, I can’t take credit for starting Dirty Jane, my friend started it.
But I’ve been around for the whole you know, since the beginning and took over from her two and a half years ago now. And I just love that there are so many cool options for women’s bike clothes now. And Dirty Jane, it’s just a really great opportunity for women to find everything they need in one place. Oh, you know, instead of having to go to this store, and this store, you know, spend all that time shopping around, try and find things. It’s literally got everything they need all in a one-stop shop. And we support a lot of women’s brands as well, which also is really cool.
Kristen
Yeah, so let’s actually start with that, because that was gonna be one of the questions I was going to ask is what is your philosophy I guess on supporting those women supported or women-owned brands? And then which brands do carry that are women-owned?
Amy
Yeah, so I mean, as a women-owned company, you know, with a real focus on women’s mountain biking, it just is I love being able to support other women who are you know, breaking into the industry doing really cool things offering you know, the clothes that and there’s all different styles and colors and you know, everything that is so giving women a lot of variety to choose from. And so some of the brands that we carry that are women-owned, are Wild Rye, Kaden Apparel, Jules Threads, we’re bringing in Shredly.
Um, what else is on there that’s woman-owned I know, there’s more. I’m drawing a blank here. Um, you know, another small company out of Quebec, that I really liked because they’re, they have like this slow fashion model, which is really cool. Their stuff’s all made in Canada. And it’s just a group of young riders that started a mountain bike company. So yeah, so it’s really cool. Being able to help these other brands just get more visibility and Oh, Revel Riders, another woman-owned one. So yeah, yeah. So I just love being able to support women-owned businesses. You know, we all got to stick together. So
Kristen
I have seen so much change in women’s mountain bike clothing, as we’ve seen more women-owned businesses come out, right, like, all of my mountain bike shorts used to be black. Yeah, and I still like, I still like black, but um, you never saw like, all these beautiful patterns, like very feminine designs coming from the unisex company.
Amy
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then they all would fit weird. You know, so so it’s like these companies. I mean, they get it, you know, and it’s just like, I mean, there’s not, no brand can make products that fits every single body type. Which is why it’s so great that we have options, you know, and like, front hem lengths. And you know, like just different styles. You know, some people still like to wear black and gray shorts where, you know, I like having that option, but I also love my big bright floral shorts. Oh, yeah.
Kristen
I mean, if you ask anybody who makes their favorite mountain bike short, everybody has a different opinion. But most of us don’t get to try out lots of different brands to you’re getting to see all of these different products. So what are your personal favorite mountain bike shorts?
Amy
Ooh, um, I love Oh my gosh, I love all of them. Okay, so I love my Wild Rye shorts.
Kristen
The Freel?
Amy
I like both of them. Okay. The Freel and the Koay I think is how they pronounce it. You know when you see the word but you never actually never pronounce it
Yeah, so I do I love both of their shorts. I just recently started wearing the Capri by Club Ride, which I really am enjoying. I’m like, “Man, why did it take me so long to wear these now?” I’m like, I think I might wear them all the time.
Kristen
I have a pair of those too and they’re great. Like right now where it’s like, almost short season but not quite short season and gives you a little extra length.
Amy
Yeah, yeah, totally. And I really like my TREES. The company I was telling you out of Quebec, I like their shorts as well. Yeah, those are probably my favorite.
Kristen
Is there a particular waist style that you prefer?
Amy
Yes, I like the low. I like less bulk around the waist. You know, I know most brands are all you know, they’re doing the velcro ways to gestures or you know, whatever style they’re doing. And so I think one of the things that I like about Wild Rye, for example, is doesn’t have that have belt loops.
So if you need to adjust you can put and then yeah, the other brands that just have — Club Ride has put the Velcro on the inside. So you know, it’s like when your jerseys can stuck to the velcro and stuff and yeah, you know, and and then yeah, the Resilient shorts, they have a Velcro adjuster but it’s very low profile. So it just doesn’t feel bulky. You know, because it’s just very bulky around there. Especially if you wear a hip pack, right. And then you got your chamois on, your shorts on your you know, it can start to get to feel like a little bit much so I really like the low profile waist where it just doesn’t have like all that big bulk.
Kristen
Agreed I look for the same thing. And I was excited too and you said you’re gonna start carrying Shredly because I have now those yoga waistband Shredly shorts And those are amazing. At least to me.
Amy
Yeah, yeah. Zoic has started making those too. We’ve been selling a lot of them.
Kristen
Okay, very good. I’ll try those.
Amy
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m excited for Shredly too. I haven’t heard Shredly shorts in years. And I know she’s made a lot of changes to the style, so I’m excited to try them again.
Kristen
Yeah, I really like them. Yeah. So other than the waistband, what else do you tell women to look for when they’re buying a pair of mountain bike shorts?
Amy
I mean, you know preferences like pockets, no pockets, you know, again, you really can’t please everyone like I love thigh pockets because I mean quick access to a snack or my phone. Some people hate the thigh pockets because it’s just because you know to them it’s like extra bulk. There’s hemline, you know do you like longer shorts, you like shorter shorts, a lot of companies now are starting to make their most popular shorts and like a seven-inch hem and then a longer I like long hems I’m like twelve inches and longer. I think that’s a Canadian thing. I think us Canadian girls um, so yeah, and then and then just fit you know, like that’s one of the things that I really encourage women to pay the most attention to is fit over the actual size of the shorts.
You know, it’s really easy to get stuck on like, “oh, but I’m a medium so therefore I need to be a medium and every single brand of shorts and you know, whatever that I try on,” but I’m like it’s really more about comfort level you know, like, do the measurements, pay attention to the size chart, go for that over you know the size that you think you should be wearing. You know, I mean, I can vary from a size 6 to a size 10 Yeah. And you know, at the end of the day, it’s like who cares if the shorts look good and I’m comfortable. That’s really all that matters.
So that’s something that I’m really trying to ingrain in women and like really communicate on the website like with the size chart and stuff you know, it’s like okay, don’t just buy a size medium just because that’s what your other shorts or our or size eight because that’s what your jeans are, you know like just really go measure yourself. You know, look at the shorts, read the reviews. I’m going to say, ladies leave reviews. It’s so helpful for other women when they’re trying to shop.
Kristen
This. I also like in terms of sizing I always really like when somebody leaves a review and they say, you know, I’m 5″6 and weigh 150 pounds, I wear the medium and it fits well.
Amy
Totally. In my reviews, like when you go to leave a review on a product actually have a space for that. So women so they can add all that in. So it’s really helpful for other women when they’re shopping. But yeah, yeah, so you know, we come in all different shapes and sizes and you know, finding the the right shorts that you’re comfortable in, because that’s at the end of the day, the most important thing is just being comfortable and feeling good, because when you are comfortable, you feel good. You just have more fun riding your bike.
Kristen
Yeah, so speaking of comfort, what about chamois? What chamois do you recommend?
Amy
Yeah, I love the Club Ride chamois, they’re my favorite.
Kristen
And which one because they have I think they’ve got like three right?
Amy
Yeah, I really like the June because they’re shorter. And so I never just wear chamois, I always have baggy on – like the June because they’re shorter and they just kind of like – I have the thigh rub you know? So they kind of go cuz you know how you’re you know, it’s just like they either gotta go below that or above it. Yeah, so mine sits above it. I know I know people listening – you know my animations here but yeah, so I like it when my chamois sits above that.
And then especially on a hot day, you know, it’s just a lot more comfort and yeah, so I actually a couple years ago went through this I wanted to test you know, riding with chamois, without chamois, and at the end of the day, I preferred riding with a chamois and yeah, I liked the one that just kind of came up like just above my you know, like like high on my leg
Kristen
Right more like almost a brief style. Um, do you always wear chamois like, say you’re doing a downhill day do you wear chamois on those days?
Amy
Yeah, I always wear chamois. In Squamish, you’re pretty much always doing downhill. I don’t ride the park anymore. Okay. Um, but yeah, I always wear chamois because I feel like it’s just a little extra protection. If you wipe out you know, if you scrape your body along the ground, yeah. Just gives you a nice little extra protection for that. And, and then in Squamish, we climb like to get to the down, you have to go up so we’re always climbing up before we go down.
Kristen
So speaking of protection, you sell protective gear on your website also. When for you personally, do you go ahead and put on protective gear?
Amy
Um, I wear knee pads all the time now. I never used to. Back in the day when I rode Park I had everything, I remember the jackets, I don’t know if people still wear those but yeah, I had all that and everything. And then when I moved to Squamish, I stopped wearing pads for a while, and then hit my knee a few times, you know, like, oh, maybe I should start wearing knee pads again. And I love that I stopped wearing them because I just thought they were always so uncomfortable. Right?
Those really low profile pads sort of coming out, you know, the slip-on ones. And so I started wearing them again, and I’m getting older and you know, when you hit your knee off or something, it’s just like, take you out for a while. Yeah, yeah. And they’re all really breathable, like even on super hot days. I can wear them and I’m not even noticing that I have them on. So yeah, I love I just love how I you know, I feel like I’ve been around for like a real evolution of bike gear.
You know, just seeing how things have evolved and changed and yeah, just like how you can have these really protective knee pads that you don’t even feel when you’re wearing them. Yeah, yeah, I haven’t brought myself to put elbow pads on so it might take hitting my elbow off of something like maybe I should start wearing elbow pads.
Kristen
You know elbow pads are one of the areas where I feel like they don’t market well to women, right because a lot of my experience anyway, I’ve got really skinny arms, and the elbow pads like constantly slip down. I haven’t found like a great pair of elbow pads for ladies.
Amy
Right? Well, maybe that’s something I should test out this summer. Yeah. Try on a bunch of different pairs and see.
Kristen
Let’s see what one question we get asked a lot about. Mountain Bike clothing is what clothing is made in the United States or in North America, I should say As opposed to overseas, or do any of the brands that you carry actually do their manufacturing and sewing in North America?
Amy
Yeah, they do. Um, Shredly does. Um, Kaden does, TREES Mountain Apparel does. And I think that might be it. Yeah, yeah. I think the rest of them are done overseas. Jules Threads. I’m not sure actually about Jules. I’d have to I have to check into that. But those ones that I just named for sure are all designed and made in North America.
Kristen
What about plus-sized clothing?
Amy
Yeah, um, you know, there are some of the brands that I carry. Like Zoic has started going up to the Navaeh shorts with the yoga band top, they started going up to three XL I think. Darco just came out with a two XL in their pants. Club Ride, I believe is coming out with a two XL in one of their styles. And Jules Threads goes up quite high. Shredly has – I don’t even know how she manages all her size and styles. I would lose track of all of that. But yeah, she has, I think from the very beginning, done a really great job with the range of sizing and yeah, yeah, and our Dirty Jane jerseys. I’ve always done those up to four XL.
So yeah, you know, trying I mean, there are, I don’t want to take away from these brands who are making an effort to have, you know, more expansive sizes, but there certainly are some brands out there that specialize in plus size clothing, and are doing an amazing job with that, like Machines for Freedom, you know, yeah, so there are some brands like that, who that they specialize in, I think and are doing a really great job with it. But yeah, so I know, some of them, they’re, they’re making an effort, you know, there is taking some time to catch up. And no, I don’t make the clothes. So I don’t, you know, I know that there’s a process to it. I mean, that, you know, just making sure the fabric all matches up and they lay properly. And you know, and they look, you know, everyone still wants to look good.
Kristen
With the past two years, I guess it’s been two years already with COVID, we’ve seen all kinds of supply chain issues and prices going up. What trends are – what challenges have you seen in the last couple years?
Amy
Um, you know, I haven’t seen a lot of challenges on the apparel side, as far as supply chain challenges. I think in the first year, there were some delays with getting fresh product and you know, all the everything was stuck out at sea. For a little while, I would say it’s more hard goods that I’ve seen a real delay it like helmets, okay. I think for all like most of 2021 because I carry 7 Protection and Kali helmets. There were not. There were hardly any helmets. I think that’s changing. But yeah, so I would say helmets pads, that kind of stuff. Like that’s really the only low inventory.
That was a bit of an issue, but apparel everything seemed to be fine. The one thing that I’ve noticed is the real fluctuation in sales – sales were amazing. Yeah. Everyone shopping. Yeah. And then you know, kind of it we had a dip and then things started opening up. And I think people were kind of going through the experience again, and you know, less people were shopping. And then we kind of went through the second wave of COVID where everyone was stuck at home again and shopping. And now, I think retail overall right now is experiencing a major decline. And so I feel that. Yeah, so I did that’s really the ups and downs that I’ve experienced.
Kristen
Yeah, I have experienced the same because we do affiliate marketing through our website and it was crazy, like March to July of 2020 was just unprecedented sales. Yeah, yes. Yeah. Where do you we I mean, we’ve talked a lot about how much gear has improved and women’s mountain bike clothing and offerings have improved? Where do you still see gaps? Is there anything that you hear from women that they still feel like is lacking?
Amy
Yeah, um, I still, you know, I’m in a lot of Facebook groups, because I like to pay attention to what women are talking about, feel they’re missing out on. And it kind of on one respect it kind of saddens me a little bit to hear that women are still frustrated with the lack of clothing. And, you know, I always want to be like, no, no, no, you don’t understand, like, you should have been here 20 years ago. Or like, we had nothing, like you have everything now. And, um, so I don’t know, if it’s just, it’s not, like, in their face enough, you know, like, they’re just not getting exposure to it. So, you know, I, I tried to go in without being super spammy and say, you know, offer, you know, you could, you know, offer up Dirty Jane, I, you know, try to educate like, here’s a lot of women-owned brands specifically want to support women who are doing their thing, like, you know, support them by their product, so that they can keep growing, and they can offer more variety and more sizes.
You know, that’s, it’s funny, because until I got into the retail side of things, you know, I probably was one of those people, like, you know, Do this, do this, but have more, you know, and now that I’m on this side of it, I’m like, oh, yeah, it’s like, you know, it costs money to add a whole new, like, engine, add a whole new hem line. And, you know, so that’s where I’m just like, support them, you know, so that they can continue to grow and bring you the things that you need. Or, like, you know, if this is the style that you’re looking for, here are the shorts that you might like, or here’s the jersey that might interest you, or, you know, so just making sure that women are aware that the options are out there, the clothing is available to them. Yeah, so I would say that’s, one thing is just getting it more in their face. Because it does, it does, you know, it kind of gets me down a little bit when I still see that women are struggling to find the clothes. And then the padding, I would say that’s probably the next thing because as far as I’m aware, there’s no women’s specific padding. It’s all you can buy life jackets, you know, like the chest pads? Yeah, knee and elbow pads. They’re unisex. And we have very different bodies than men. So yeah.
Kristen
I think that’s kind of what I was getting at earlier. Right. Just like women generally have much less muscular upper bodies for the elbow pads. They need to be designed a little bit and better and our thighs are sometimes quite a bit thicker than men’s. And yeah, yeah, I would agree with that one. And I just going back to the availability of women’s clothing, too. I think so much of that comes down to women walking into their local bike shops. I feel like the local bike shops are still doing a terrible job of carrying women’s gear. They are Yeah. So I really does. I mean, forced women, I think to go to Dirty Jane and go to these online options, because yeah, our local bike shops don’t care.
Amy
Yeah, yeah. Isn’t it crazy. I mean, I live in mountain bike Mecca. And here. I mean, it’s even a struggle here to you know, I’ve toyed with the idea of having a storefront. I mean, it would be very seasonal. But you know, just because, I mean, it’s crazy that, you know, I’m like, I live in Squamish and yeah, hard to find. Like, I wouldn’t be able to just go out and find shorts, you know, like, I might have one brand, one color, one size to choose from and not options. Yeah. Yeah, I know. It’s crazy.
Kristen
That would be really cool. If you opened a storefront though. Give women and option to come in and actually try things on and that’d be amazing.
Amy
Yeah, yeah. You know, and I, you know, as far as sizing and trying things on and stuff like I do make myself very readily available to answer sizing questions. Of course, you know, all the, you know, it’s I’m always coming from my own experience of the clothes. So that’s why, you know, I do try to get a really why – like, you know, feedback. It’s always I mean, I really heavily rely on feedback and those reviews.
Kristen
Um, why should women come and buy from Dirty Jane as opposed to going on Amazon or even going somewhere like REI?
Amy
Yeah, well, um it’s really a preference, you know, if you the part where it’s women-owned, you know, there’s, I mean, there’s a lot of things I would love to do with Dirty Jane, you know, I’m a sole proprietor, you know, like I’m, I’m a one-woman show, I can only do so many things. So I would I have so many ideas and plans and things that I would love to do with Dirty Jane.
But again, you know, it requires growing and getting that support getting, you know, the community of women bikers on board, but I would say, you know, the, the one thing about Dirty Jane is that it’s just, again, it’s that one-stop shop, you know, you can get helmets all the gear, like we even sell shoes now. So it’s just it’s easy that way. It’s you know, it’s it’s a woman-focused brand. You don’t have to sift through a whole bunch of stuff that you don’t need, like shopping on REI. It’s a small business – if that’s important to you supporting small and then Amazon I mean Amazon is Amazon Yep. Let’s not give them all our money.
Kristen
You also have an ambassador program. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Amy
Yeah, I do. Um, yeah, so the ambassador program is I I’ve kind of played around with a different a few different ways of running the program. It’s, it’s awesome in one sense, I have some very amazing ambassadors who are super loyal they’ve been around for a couple years, they’re great they you know, they’re always promoting and supporting the brand. It’s again tough sometimes because I am one person, I have another job you know, I just run out of steam sometimes.
As much as I would love to have more energy and time to nurture my ambassadors ad nurture that program. You know, I find myself we have a we have a private Facebook group I find myself going on there and being like, oh my god, I can’t believe three months since I came on and chatted with you ladies like I’m sorry like I just I wish I had more time. But you know, I do try to make it so it is a good experience for them. You know, I am not at the point where I obviously you know, I mean some brands larger brands have paid ambassadors and you know, obviously can’t compete with that so I really have to rely on women who just believe in the brand and who really want to be a part of something that is cool and well you know hopefully be there to see it flourish and grow and stick around and yeah, so you know, it’s that yeah, I don’t really know what else to say about it. Thank you to all the ambassadors!
Kristen
It works too. I think I first discovered Dirty Jane through Melissa. Okay, yeah, so it works obviously um, you mentioned being a sole proprietor and a one-woman show how do you personally find the time to balance work and still find time to ride also?
Amy
I don’t ride as much as I would like to a work an insane amount of hours. I don’t know how I do it. I would say I’m a single person so I don’t have kids so I have that you know I can work yeah, a gazillion hours and no one cares I am trying to work less you know, I mean the thing with being – owning a business is the work can literally never end.
There’s always like one more thing to work on, one more thing to improve, one more post to put out, one more email to write, one more you know what I mean? Like it’s just one you know, it’s just like oh, I you know, more product descriptions to write you know, a Facebook post to do or like a you know, website refresh. It’s like the work can literally never ever ever end.
Kristen
Yes. I totally relate. Yeah.
Amy
So it’s really just being like, okay, stop, go, right. Because, you know, it’s just like when you get exercise and you’re out on your bike is you have that space to like free up, you know, your brain for some creative some, you know, renewed creative juices to flow and a new perspective. And you know, it’s so easy to get burned out when you run a business. And so I have friends who remind me to go out and ride my bike, and, you know, and then aside from that, it’s just like having fresh content for Instagram. It’s like, Okay, I better go ride my bike, so I’ll have some fresh stuff to put on Instagram. Yeah. So that helps. But yeah, I would say overall, I don’t do a very good job of managing my time or my schedule.
Kristen
Let’s see, I’ve got three final questions for you. But before I do that, where can people – I mean, what’s your website? Where can people connect with you?
Amy
Instagram is a really great place to come and be a part of the community. It’s Dirty Jane, we’re just Dirty Jane on Instagram. One of the things that I really, really want to work on this year is not just being a retail space, you know, it’s easy to just constantly have like, buy this jersey, buy these shorts, buy, buy, buy. And while yes, ultimately Dirty Jane doesn’t exist, if people aren’t buying stuff. I also want it to have a community feel, you know, have more of my ambassadors more involved. Being more original content is having it more of like an educational space, you know, doing things like how to change a tire, how to clean. I’m thinking of my bike right now. And all the things that need to be fixed on it. Like, I had someone looking at it the other day, and my cogs are all filthy.
Kristen
That’s my bike always.
Amy
Um, so you know, having more educational space, having more like riding tutorials, you know, like going out with friends and being like, Okay, we’re gonna, we’re gonna ride this scary rock roll today and having someone there who is like, you know, walking us through it and teaching us how to do anything.
So like, I just really want to add more components like that to Dirty Jane. So it really is a cool space for women to be and hang out. So that was the long answer to Instagram. Okay. The website is dirtyjane.com and I did last year because I’m in Canada, I have started importing more product into Canada and I did dirtyjane.ca. Okay, so women in Canada can shop dirtyjane.ca and shop without having to pay import duties.
Kristen
For women in the US you actually have a, like a fulfillment center in the United States?
Amy
Yeah, yeah. So some of it gets shipped from Canada to the US. And then some of the brands that I sell, I work directly with them. So we ship straight from there.
Kristen
Okay. Got it. Yeah. Okay, so time for the last three questions. And the first one is what bike or bikes do you ride?
Amy
I have one bike. I have a 2016 Norco Sight that I love. It’s funny, because every time I chat with someone, I’m like, I’m open to sponsors. I could use a new bike. Yeah, my bike is very rough around the edges. Right now. You know, Squamish is, is hard on bikes. So you know, I mean, there’s a lack of bikes and just, you know, the cost of bikes these days. Yeah. So I’m gonna put a bit of work into my bike, but I love my bike. Yeah, it’s been it’s been a great bike. It’s, yeah, I have no complaints.
Kristen
I’m in much the same boat and that just during COVID there’s been such a lack of new bike since I’ve been holding off buying a new bikes and just have to keep replacing every single component.
Amy
Yeah, I think my bike this year is ready for pretty much everything other than the frame to yeah.
Kristen
Okay, second question is, what is your favorite place you’ve ever ridden your bike?
Amy
Huh, well, Squamish is pretty awesome. Yeah, it’s really great here. Where else do I love? I went to Moab about four years ago and really enjoyed it there. Um, you know, I mean desert riding is so different to you know, thick forests riding so it was just a nice different experience. But yeah, I had fun there.
Kristen
What’s your favorite trail in Squamish?
Amy
Oh, I really love Angry M and Rupert.
Kristen
Let’s see, the final question is: What is your favorite thing about riding your bike?
Amy
Um, ooh, well, I love the adrenaline. And I love the focus. So it’s just like it, you know, you when you’re riding your bike, you literally can’t think about anything else. So I have one of those brains that just like, never stops, you know, it’s like wakes me up at two o’clock in the morning sometimes with like, 10 different thoughts. So I love that when I’m biking, you cannot focus on anything else, except for the trail in front of you. You know, I don’t know, if you have I have a couple friends who like to talk while they’re biking. Going up, it’s fine. You know, I mean, I’m usually suffering on the way up. So they’re doing all the talking, and I’m just but on the way down, I’m like, okay, you know, some people, I don’t know how they can do it. But I cannot. I have to just be focusing on what I’m doing. And so I love that.
It’s just, yeah, everything falls away. Nothing else matters. You know. All everything. And it’s just I have one task. And that is to get down to the bottom of the trail and just entirely focused on what I’m doing. And so I would say that is the thing that I love most about it.
Links Mentioned In The Episode
- Best Women’s Mountain Bike Shorts
- Shredly Review
- Wild Rye Review
- Club Ride Review
- Zoic Navaeh Review