In early 2010,I got a pair of black American Apparel leggings that I loved & wore extremely often for almost 4 years. By late fall 2013,however,they had predictably become quite worn -- they had a few holes & were bit faded & were so stretched out that they were practically falling off me (not ideal for leggings!).I'm not complaining;almost 4 years is a good run for leggings worn about 2-3 times a week except in the summer (I also have a brown pair that I bought at the same time but wore much less & those are still in great shape)but it was definitely time for a new pair! I wanted to buy another pair of those same AA leggings but the price had gone up quite a bit, my budget was tight & I couldn't find them on sale anywhere. It was December & I really wanted black leggings for the winter so, after looking around & reading the reviews for several different brands/styles, I decided to order these, which were not exactly cheap as far as leggings go but were definitely more reasonably priced than the AA ones. I figured if I didn't like them as much as the AA ones, I could order those when my bank account recovered a bit from the holidays or I found them on sale. I never ended up ordering the AA ones, though, bc these are great! They are high quality (no holes or fading after several months of very frequent wear), very comfortable & fit well. I am just slightly smaller, weight-wise, than the "average" woman (I'm 5'5 1/2" -- I usually round up to 5'6" but for the sake of helping others chose the right size, I'll refrain from doing so here ;)-- & weigh about 115 lbs, maybe 120 when I've been particularly hungry or 110 when I've been exercising every day or coming off an illness) & typically wear an XS in women's clothing unless the brand runs small & the XS in these fit well.I could probably gain an extra 10-15 lbs or lose 5-10 lbs & they'd still fit well -- leggings are nice like that! They are thick enough that I wasn't cold wearing them outside in the winter, though it typically doesn't get all that cold where I live. I did wear them with a skirt & warm boots on a few days when it was in the 30s & 40s ,though,& was fine.I wasn't, however, outside for all that long -- the longest was 25 minutes while supervising recess; I wouldn't wear them if I were going to be out walking all day unless it was at least in the low 50s. I also wore them outside for quite a while on several days it the 70s-low 80s & was not at all hot. I finally had to retire them for the season when it got to be warmer than that, however :) The only slight drawback is that they are rather long on me. My legs are pretty short for someone my height -- I have a somewhat long torso & a kind of big head lol -- so I run into that problem with women's pants fairly often (unless I get a short/petite pair). I'm guessing, though, that they would be a bit long on even someone my height with legs that are proportionate to her height as they seem longer than most women's pants. It's not a major issue for me bc I generally wear them with boots & when I wear them w/ other shoes/sandals I can just pull them up higher on my torso without them looking noticeably different, especially since I always wear leggings with a skirt,tunic, or dress. If you plan on wearing them with both a shorter top & shoes/sandals instead of boots, however, the length might be a problem.
