This morning the doorbell rang – Nick and I looked at each other puzzled – we’re past that stage when the doorbell rings regularly because wedding gifts are arriving galour. Nick went down to check it out and came up with a shiny pink package for me (picture below!). I got excited…I didn’t recall ordering anything online recently…then I realized it must be my ‘pv.body’ 1st delivery! Before I get into the contents of the package – let me explain what pv.body is:

This is another monthly subscription club – similar to Birchbox. Through the pv.body website you take a quiz so that they can better understand your fitness/work-out gear style. Once you’ve completed, you’re given a profile which helps them ‘hand pick’ items for you each month. Each month you are charged $49.95 and sent an outfit – from what I understand, the outfit is 1 top and 1 bottom. You can ‘cancel anytime’ or ‘skip a month’ at any time. The whole premise is – getting high quality work out gear for less. I saw pv.body promoted online and they were boasting gear from Lululemon, Nike and a few stylish and higher quality fitness apparel companies. You don’t know what brand you’re getting each month but they promote on their site that they partner with a variety of brands. So, I decided to try…

I got my first package today – pictures below with some description – then my feedback on package #1:

pretty pink package – my gear arrived in

the contents of the package – the top and bottom each wrapped in tissue paper (pink and white) – and a note from pv.body regarding Sizing

the top by ’15 love apparel’ very soft – nylon/spandex blend

the bottoms – a pair of leggings/stretch pants ‘Performance Sportswear by American Apparel’

My thoughts:

• The presentation – the contents were nicely folded and wrapped in tissue paper – but I was surprised with the note – because it was on plain white computer paper and had been sloppily cut. The bar might be high because I’m comparing this to my experience with Birchbox and one of the things they do so well is presentation. They always include descriptive cards for the products they send, the paper is high quality, and everything is well-designed. Personally, I think the sloppily cut computer paper that was the only note inside the package, cheapened the whole pv.body experience
• The top – by 15 Love Apparel – is very soft…I’ve never heard of this company. I looked them up – seems like this brand is sold in boutiques. I noticed that in Massachusetts, they’re sold at Equinox (high-end gym), Exhale Spa (high-end spa), and a couple other high-end (aka expensive) spa/fitness club boutiques. I looked up the avg. cost of a top on this site and it looks like they range between $40-$55. There is very limited selection on 15 love apparel site in terms of tops. The top I got isn’t an exciting piece but I do know when I filled out my quiz I answered that I prefer black/white work-out clothing. I answered that way because I was nervous to get super bright or floral gear…but I guess seeing that I got a grey top with black accents, this is not something I’d buy for myself because I have many things like this and I’m pretty sure I could find a spandex/nylon t-shirt (which I typically wouldn’t wear working out because I prefer tank tops for better mobility) at Marshalls or TJMaxx for under $20, easily
• The bottoms – like most people, I’m familiar with American Apparel and think of them as a place to get solid color t’s, tanks, and dresses – with typically mid/higher price points but solid quality. I didn’t realize they have a performance line. The pants I got from pv.body feel stretchy like work-out pants but I put them on and they’re super thin. Now, they did send me a size small and if I had known they’d be sending me anything by American Apparel I would have willingly gone up a size because I find AA can run small. BUT, I’m not even sure a size medium would help with these pants I got – because when I bend over – they’re see-through!!! See pic below! (I just had to share this). These are not work out pants in my eyes. They are leggings and not good ones because I would have to wear a long top over them in fear that my booty would show whenever I bend over. I will admit I have a round butt – but when I wear my Lululemon or other work out pants, and even if I put myself in a size too small, my butt/thong would not show through the fabric. So, my thoughts – I HATE these bottoms

OMG – that’s my thong. For the record, I don’t wear underwear when I work out – but even if I had nothing on, this would still be bad because you’d see my bear bottom! Bad, bad, bad

Now – with all that said, let me share what that computer paper note said – “Hi there! We work with many brands so sizing may run differently for each. We consider your selected size when sending your order, so you may receive a size larger or smaller in your top or bottom. If you have any questions please contact us at customerservice@puravit.com and we’ll take care of everything for you! xoxo The pv.body Team”

Welp, they’re getting an email from me. I want something else for the bottoms, at least. I’ll let you know how seamless the customer service experience is. But I will admit, I don’t really want to bother dealing with this on a monthly basis…because sizing is hard with clothing, they’re right! Tops are way easier – but bottoms, not so much. In some stores, I’m a small, in others, I could be a medium or even bigger depending on the fabric. I hated the experience of putting on these pants and realizing they’re sheer and too tight, it was depressing! Maybe I’m dramatic but now I feel stuck with them until I email customer service at this company which seems like more trouble than it’s worth.

I’m also trying to find my quiz (which I can’t seem to easily find on the pv site now!) so I can make sure I put the correct sizing for bottoms…now that I’ve seen that they’re sending brands like American Apparel, I need to make sure I put ‘medium’ or ‘size 6’ because I’d rather risk them being slightly big than skin tight or sheer.

I have decided to give it ONE more month to give it a fair shake. But my general feeling is – I pay around $80 a month for my gym…paying $49.95 for ‘mystery’ sports gear each month seems very frivolous. And now that I’ve seen package #1, I’m not sure it’s worth my money. The need to court me better – send higher quality descriptions/notes with the gear, tell me more about the company if you’re sending me gear from a less well-known brand…and please don’t send me anything else from American Apparel ever. Questions, comments?!

UPDATE – I’m re-taking the gear quiz now to re-do my profile – they’ve definitely re-vamped the quiz since I first took it (I wish they emailed me about this?!!) and added additional questions. I like this…because I can be more specific. That’s a good sign!