Women's Gramicci Clothing & Bags

Gramicci started in a California garage in 1982, when a Yosemite climber called Mike Graham got tired of trousers he couldn't high-step in. He borrowed a diamond gusset from a pair of kung-fu trousers and a one-handed webbing belt from a backpack strap, and that's still what you're buying. The women's range runs from the G-Pant to skirts, quilted jackets and Cordura bags. There's more in trousers and coats and jackets.

Women's Gramicci Trousers

The G-Pant is the original and the one we'd start with: straight leg, low crotch, and that webbing belt you can tighten one-handed. The Brooks is the tidier, more tapered take on it, the Voyager is the lighter nylon one for warm weather and travel, and the Gadget and Balloon pants go roomier again. All of them use the gusset, so they actually move. Wear them with a plain tee and trainers and they look like what they are, or with a knit and a boot and they pass for proper trousers. The one thing to sort out first is size. The waist is elasticated with the belt over the top, so there's a lot of give, and Gramicci's own sizing runs differently from UK sizing. We've written the whole thing up in our Gramicci sizing guide.

Gramicci Skirts, Jackets and Bags

Skirts are the biggest part of the women's range now. The convertible ones are the cleverest thing here, a zip turning a long skirt into a short one, which sounds gimmicky until you're getting on a bike in one. The Voyager and Baker skirts carry the same webbing belt as the trousers, so they adjust the same way, and they sit well with a big jumper and boots through autumn. The quilted thermal jackets are the warm ones, the canvas jacket softens with wear, and the packable shell folds into nothing. The Cordura bags are the least glamorous things Gramicci makes and probably the longest-lasting, though the pale colours don't stay pale.

Where Gramicci Came From

Mike Graham was one of the Stonemasters, who climbed Yosemite through the 1970s in painter's trousers and army surplus. None of it let him high-step properly. He'd been sewing since his teens, making haul bags for other climbers, and Yvon Chouinard had him making things for Patagonia before Gramicci existed. So in 1982 he made his own shorts in a garage, with a diamond gusset lifted from kung-fu trousers and a webbing belt lifted from a backpack, because a climber on a rock face has one hand free at most. The name was a private joke, a fake Italian nickname from a fictitious all-Italian ascent of Half Dome. Japan took to it in the nineties, and that's where the brand ended up.

There's more in trousers, skirts and bags.

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