Branwyn Essential Compressive Leggings

Review by Erin Trail

BRANWYN is a women’s performance innerwear company that uses Merino wool as the main fiber of their garments. Their Essential Compressive Leggings are their first activewear leggings in their line up.

Features

• Compressive, seamless, 4-way stretch knit support utilizing our proprietary POWRspun Merino tech, consisting of 76% extra fine ZQ Merino, 14% nylon, and 10% elastane.
• A soft, wide waistband offers comfortable coverage that won’t dig in or slip down.
• Super-stretchy fabric holds its shape as you bend, twist, run, and stretch.
• Sweat-wicking Merino pulls moisture away from your skin to keep you feeling dry and comfortable.

The BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings are crafted using seamless Merino construction, a technique that uses specialized knitting machines to create the fabric and garment at the same time—no fabric waste, no scraps, no unnecessary seams. It’s significantly different from the traditional “cut and sew” method used in most activewear which involves cutting large swaths of synthetic fabric into pieces and stitching them together leaving behind waste and excess. These items also pack a high amount of merino (76%) while still maintaining performance compression.

The Merino wool is ZQ certified, OEKO-TEX 100, and REACH compliant, showing BRANWYN’s commitment to environmental sustainability, animal welfare, social responsibility, and a traceable supply chain from sheep to shop.

Fit and Function

Like most women, I love leggings and wear them for nearly anything. These leggings are different from any other leggings I’ve ever owned, largely due to the use of Merino as the main material.

Testing Conditions:

• Weight lifting
• Hot yoga (temperatures around 95 degrees)
• Running (temperatures around 45 degrees)
• Running errands + leisure

First off, I love the fit and feel of the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings. I had an anaphylaxis reaction around the time that I received these, with full body hives. These leggings were my go-to because they are so incredibly soft. My poor skin was pretty angry post-reaction and these leggings provided just the right amount of comfort.

I was a ballerina when I was a kid, and the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings give me nostalgic vibes of that period of my life. For some reason, I have fuzzy memories of thick, soft tights, and the BRANWYN leggings bring that feeling back in full force.

The BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings have a very high waist. For me, they come up almost to my lower ribs. The knit on the leggings is the right combination of supportive and stretch. They’re not so tight around my waist that it’s uncomfortable but I do feel a bit of (good) compression in my legs. They’re also really flexible; I had no issues with any of my gym or yoga movements while wearing the leggings.  I did observe that the tops of the leggings did roll down a bit, but I think that’s because they come up above my natural waistline.  They only rolled when I bent at the waist.

I found the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings to fit true to size. The BRANWYN website did flag that the leggings may have some transparency when doing certain movements (squats, downward facing dog) but I haven’t experienced any issues.

The knit of the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings is unique, as compared to most other leggings in my collection. They’re knit, and because of that, they have a bit of texture to them. They feel more like heavy (HEAVY) winter tights, in that they’ve got a bit of a fuzzy texture to them and you can see the ribbing in the knit. I have noticed that due to the texture of the knit, the leggings seem to attract and show more pet hair and gym-floor dirt than my other leggings.

But how did they perform?

Running

I wore the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings on one of my medium runs (9 miles) in 45 degree temperatures. The leggings were great. They didn’t move or migrate downwards. There was zero chafing or discomfort. And my temperature level was perfect. The light compression was also really nice as those miles accumulated.

Weight Lifting

I wore the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings a few times to capture a full range of gym work. I wore them on my leg day, which largely consists of deadlifts, split squats, plyometrics (jumping), and core. And I wore them on my upper body day, which generally consists of bench press, shoulder work, core work, and some HIIT style core + kettlebell swings. The leggings were comfortable and could accommodate a wide range of movements. I didn’t have to adjust them at all and felt really good while I wore them.

Hot Yoga

This was the big test – Merino wool leggings in a 95 degree room for a 1 hour flow class! My yoga friends thought I was a bit crazy for wearing wool to class, but I figured this was the ultimate test. The class I go to is a pretty active one, with over half the class consisting of a pretty vigorous flow. You are always dripping with sweat half way through the class. And yes, the leggings were on the warm side. But at 95 degrees, you’re going to be warm in anything. As I progressed through the class, the leggings became completely soaked with sweat (as do any leggings that I wear to this class). I never felt too warm or uncomfortable. Rather, I could feel the leggings wicking my sweat away from my skin. They almost felt like second skin instead of another layer. The BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings were also really flexible and I had no issues with any of the poses in the class.

I also tested out the “funk – free” properties of the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings, wearing them on back to back workouts. They felt fresh and didn’t smell like I had done a workout in them the day prior.

Finally, they seem to hold up to wear and tear really well. Some Merino base layers that I own seem to get a bit of a fuzzy, worn look to them, even after a few washes. I’ve been wearing and washing the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings pretty regularly over the past 6 weeks and they still look as good as new. The knit is still compressive, with zero sagging, and the fabric doesn’t have any wear fuzzies developing.

Closing Thoughts

The BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings truly feel like a comfortable hug, giving me vibes of warm fuzzy ballet tights while offering modern construction and performance. The leggings are soft, flexible, and compressive. I wore them in a wide range of activities and they performed well on every test I threw at them.

Because of the Merino base material, I think the BRANWYN Essential Compressive Leggings would also be a great winter base layer for activities like skiing or snowshoeing. They would be great lightweight, but warm, leggings to wear camping or backpacking. I would even wear them as heavy tights under dresses next winter.

Erin Trail