The first time I bought something from Lady White Co. was at Ven. Space in New York a little more than a year ago. I’d been aware of the brand for a while, but there was something about this piece that stood out to me. It was a plain black shirt in the same cotton jersey that Lady White Co. uses across its collections. In its cut and its fabric, the shirt blurred the lines between casual sportswear and a more formal design. Pretty much every time I’ve worn it since then, I’ve found myself asking the same question: What counts as sportswear?
Sportswear has come to mean different things to different people. On one hand, it’s the pure performance gear designed to make you run faster, jump higher, or just sweat less. Basically, the things you wear to work out. On the other hand, sportswear is something rooted in history and vintage styles, something not necessarily designed to improve your split speeds but to make you feel comfortable. This is the world that Lady White Co. is operating in.
“The ease of sportswear is the draw, the comfort, functionality and adaptability of the fabrics and fits,” says Phillip Proyce, the brand’s co-founder. “We’ve always considered sportswear to be one of the iconic American pillars to fashion.”
Lady White Co. was started in 2015 with a simple mission: to develop a white T-shirt made entirely in California, “from cotton to the finishing,” says Proyce. In the decade since, the brand has expanded. They still make white T-shirts, but there are also hoodies, shirts, and jackets — and an enduring commitment to doing it all in jersey fabric. In doing so, Lady White Co. is at the forefront of a new wave of bands that are rethinking what sportswear can mean, creating functional and comfortable clothing that’s designed for everyday life. It’s sportswear in the lineage of Camber or Champion — comfortable hoodies and soft sweatshirts — rather than technical performance gear made from mass-produced plastics.
Another brand operating in this world is Body of Work. They started in Toronto in 2020, driven by founders Brittney MacKinnon and Dwayne Vatcher’s interest in sports (Vatcher played competitive hockey). “Dwayne and I have a personal relationship with active living that has always informed how we make clothes,” MacKinnon says. “There is a heritage, versatility and straightforwardness to sportswear that continues to inspire new ideas.”
Both brands make clothing that takes these ideas — ease, comfort, softness — and pushes them in new directions. For Lady White Co. that means cropped jackets, formal pants, and that Ven. Space button-down shirt, all made with the same fabrics and functions as traditional sportswear, but designed for an entirely different context.
Some of Body of Work’s most popular pieces include the Jasper Pull-on Pant, a wide-leg silhouette made from a cotton canvas that softens over time, and the button-up ribbed jersey Magnolia Cardigan. The color palettes — all earthy browns and “Lichen Green” — draw on MacKinnon and Vatcher’s time outside. While the fabrics and the fits come from sportswear, the cuts and finishes are proof that these are clothes for everyday dressing, not regular exercise.
While comfort is the main goal, the designs themselves are more grown-up. You can see it in Lady White Co.’s smart shirting and long sleeve polos, both made using their signature jersey fabric, and the way that Body of Work adds a more formal V neck to a classic sweatshirt. “Our focus on sportswear allows us to go a bit deeper into what it can become,” Proyce says. “The foundation of sportswear is already so rich; it’s our job to make a small tributary and branch with super-obsessed attention to detail. There is complexity to the plainness that I think people are drawn to.”
Both companies are also built around small-scale production. “T-shirts and sweatshirts have mass production capabilities that have led to awful quality and a disposable character,” Proyce says. “We try to do the opposite.” The same goes for Body of Work, which designs, cuts, and sews almost all of its pieces in Toronto, and uses natural fibers wherever possible. It may cost more to produce fabrics locally, but “the quality and beauty of the fabrics we have been able to create have been well worth it,” MacKinnon says. There’s crisp cotton canvas designed to soften with every wear, and French terry brushed to feel almost suede-like.
Overall, the rise of brands like Body of Work and Lady White Co. signal an encouraging shift in a sportswear landscape that has ceded so much space from heritage labels to synthetic fibers and boring shapes. It will be interesting to watch just how far the pendulum can swing the other way, for fashion watchers, athletes of taste, and elastic waist enthusiasts alike. For now, it's exciting to consider how dressing with ease — now a non-negotiable dictate of modern style — doesn't have to mean melding with the herd.
