The Gold Collection - Part 4: Stuff for the fitness fellas

So, in spite of the creator of Zumba being male, the the number of lady instructors and students far outnumber the gentlemen. I suspect that this is the reason the Zumbawear menswear collections have tended to be somewhat...blah. From what I've read, the Zumba guys have long since hoped for:
1) a variety of styles
2) some bright colors
3) well-fitting sizes
4) enough inventory (just in case the women decide to buy some of it)

Obviously I can't speak to sizes or inventory, since I neither own any of the menswear, nor do I work for Zumba. But I can look at the picture above and see that there are several different types of tops and pants with some bright colors. Menswear collections in recent history have not been this extensive. If the ladies got three different styles of long pants, the men got one style; same with the shirts. As far as colors go, up until now, it's been a lot of black, grey, and dark grey with small accents of bright blue or bright green.

The Secret Admirer Warm-up Tee in "Sew Black"

Here are some examples of note from the previous collection (released a month and a half or so ago...): a shirt and a pair of pants. I'll start with the shirt. This shirt was exciting because the logo was in blue. Men finally had a bright color. Of course, the actual -amount- of color is somewhat minimal when you compare it to the women's long-sleeved shirt from the same collection. But, this was still an improvement - colorwise. Stylewise, it's long-sleeved! Great for being a warm-up shirt, but then what? The sleeveless tops in the same collection were plain white with a blue logo or plain grey with a green logo. White? Grey? Meh.

Mo'Fun French Terry Pants in "Have A Blast Blue"

Okay, so these pants... In the picture on the left, they are modeled by a man but they are actually a unisex item. Some of the lady models have these on as well. These have a tapered leg, which means it gets skinnier down towards the ankle, and one issue with that is that plenty of guys don't have skinny legs! After reading a man's opinion of these pants (he didn't like them...), I checked Zumba's online shop to look at them again and noticed that three reviewers gave them 5/5 stars. Upon closer inspection, all three reviewers were women. So, now you have an idea of what the Zumba guys have had to live with. I really had no idea myself until I dug into it a bit since I'm a lady and I live happily in a world of women's neon Zumbawear. As it turns out, most of the men buy their athletic wear at sporting goods shops or department stores. In the course of reading about menswear, I did come across one website recommended by a Zumba guy called Bewild.com; they sell some interesting pants and I'll admit to being tempted by the pink camo pair. Because that's just what the Zumbamommy needs right? Another pair of pants...heh. I so totally do! No, no...the holidays are nearly upon us...patience...

Alrighty then, on to the current collection! The fellas got tops, bottoms (pants and shorts), and outerwear (hoodies). That's pretty good for a Zumba menswear collection, but remember, I did -three- posts on the stuff the ladies got because doing all of that at once would have made for too long of a post.

* Tops ---

Front

Back

The Awesome-tron V-neck Tee in "Thunderin' Grey" and in "Sew Black". I think it's interesting that while the t-shirt for the men has that same geometric detail, it's in a complimentary color as opposed to gold like the ladies' shirts. Which brings up a good question: This is the Gold Collection...so where is the gold for men?

Front

Back

The Funk Phenomenon Crew Neck Tee in "Sew Black" and in "Love Me Lime". It is a solid color on the front while the back is color-blocked and has the word Zumba outlined on it. I like the color combinations of black/blue and lime/orange. Hopefully the men do too, the lime/orange is very bright. The pop of color at the neckline gives the shirt a layered look (it's not really layered...). What's nice about this is that it's a bright colored shirt that is -also- short sleeved.

Back

Front

The Totally Spaced Loose Tank in "Sew Black" and in "Dark N Dirty Slate".  These two look to me like sleeveless versions of the v-neck shirt. Same color combinations and the word Zumba is written on the front in almost the same place. They feel a little plain to me. If I were a guy, one that had been looking forward to some brightly colored shirts, I might feel disappointed that there wasn't at least one brightly colored tank top. But that's just me speculating... So, three styles of tops is pretty good. Yep, were moving on to bottoms already. I told you I could do the menswear all together...

*Pants/Shorts ---

The Pull It Together Pants are very very similar to the terry pants from the previous collection (shown above); they're a poly-cotton blend with a drawstring waist. The leg on these is also tapered. What's different from the other pair is the bright stripe and accents, as well as the bright Zumba logo. These make the pants a bit more colorful and coordinates them with the tops. I personally wouldn't want a tapered leg and, as I mentioned above, at least one fella out there doesn't either. I love my wide-legged cargoes and can't imagine wearing a skinny anything to class...which brings up another good question: What happened to the men's cargo pants? There haven't been any in a very long time and I'm not sure why that is exactly. If any Zumba guys out there happen to read this, by all means, chime in with your thoughts and comments! Well, that's it for pants, all two pairs of them.

Back

Front

The Journey Into Space Shorts come in "Sew Black" and "Go For Green". I actually really like these (for menswear...), probably because they look like short cargoes sans ribbons; there are ladies pants (cargoes or cargo capris) in both of these colors. The shorts are 100% nylon, so I imagine that the feel of the fabric is similar to the fabric cargoes are made out of too. Each pair has the word Zumba written on the leg in the opposite color.

These are the Funk Phenomenon Jersey Jammers. They are color-blocked like the Funk Phenomenon Tee and designed to coordinate. Like the Pull It Together Pants, these are a poly-cotton blend with an elastic waistband and drawstring. I like the colors and the styling, to me, seems masculine with the lines. Both styles of shorts look comfortable, so if I were going to buy menswear (never gonna happen...) I might look at the shorts because of this. Of course, I'm 5'3" so they wouldn't be shorts on me, they'd be really wide-legged capri pants!

* Outerwear ---
The men's hoodies obviously coordinate with the rest of the men's collection. The blue one is very bright so hopefully that will make some of the Zumba guys happy. These pretty much speak for themselves, but I got a real chuckle over the description on Zumba's website so I just can't finish this post without sharing: "You've got moves that are cooler than ice, but sometimes you need some layers to start the fire! Top your outfit off with the Pull It Together Hoodie for a classic way to heat up your look. With unique pocket details and a color-blocked hood, this piece will bring all the girls to your yard!" See what I mean? Yeah...

So that is the Gold Collection for men. Where's the gold though? That's what I still want to know... In my opinion, some hits and some misses, but I'm a lady so I suppose it's not really my opinions that count here.

Question: Zumba guys (hopefully there's at least one or two of you in my audience), what do you think of the new line?

*I am not affiliated with nor compensated by Zumba Fitness, just an interested shopper and Zumba-lover!