Henri Lloyd Womens Collection
by Amy Bradley-Watson, Henri Lloyd 2 May 2008 08:33 BST
Henri Lloyd was one of the first technical clothing manufacture’s to design and produce a women’s technical waterproof sailing jacket, that was in 1986 and the jacket was called – The Voyager. The jacket was constructed from Bri-Nylon and incorporated the Henri Lloyd characteristics of taped seams, storm flap zip and a foldaway hood, as with the current range, the jacket came in a variety of sizes and colour’s designed specifically for women.
Since then, other important women’s products have included the Women’s Offshore Jacket and the TP3 Women’s Reflex jacket and hi-fits and Henri Lloyd has always endeavoured to introduce women specific products into our technical range each year.
Sailing is one of the only sports when men and women can compete on even terms and at the same level, also more women than ever now take part in sailing, which was apparent at Skandia Cowes Week 2007 where around a third of the 8,500 competitors were female, Skandia Cowes Week now incorporates a Ladies Day into the week.
Henri Lloyd value the importance of women in the sport, and understand that in order to perform to your best potential, garments need to fit correctly, gone are the days where women will accept wearing men's garments in smaller sizes.
In 2006, Henri Lloyd was recognised at METS for our Women’s TP2 Phantom Jacket, which was produced specifically for women, the jacket received a special mention at the 2006 Dame Awards where the judging panel congratulated the Henri Lloyd design team for recognising the need for bespoke protection for women in the sailing world.
For 2008, Henri Lloyd has designed and introduced a collection of women’s clothing alongside the men’s collection, which have been produced just for the female sailing market; these include a woman’s Fast-Dri, Core (thermal), Dinghy/Sportboat, Offshore and Coastal/Inshore range. The collection offers a selection of more feminine colours including an attractive sea blue and signal red, in conjunction with this, we also launched a range of women’s technical footwear.
Certain design features have been introduced into the women’s collection, for example, the Women’s Hi-Fits incorporate the drop seat pant facility, and also a higher bib which offers additional protection to the wearer. The Hi-fits have also been designed to contour the female figure for additional comfort.
Whilst the design of our women’s jackets, takes into account the smaller stature of the female figure, the arms are further articulated and are shorter and more slender, whilst the shape of the jacket takes into account the female stature.
Henri Lloyd has worked alongside some of the world’s best female sailors, including double Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson, and round the world sailor Dee Caffari, who is also our Ocean and Offshore Range Ambassador.
“Henri Lloyd is renowned for the quality of their technical sailing clothing and I am thrilled that they will be supporting me throughout my Aviva Ocean Racing campaign. We plan to work closely together over the next two years to further develop their technical marine range which will not only benefit me during the Vendee Globe but also future Henri Lloyd customers” Dee Caffari.