I Need It is a series where I talk about items I am salivating over and delve into their history, along with my favorites in linked shop-it form!

A few months ago, I spotted Addison Rae’s creative partner, Lexee Smith, post a photo of herself on Instagram in pink FreeCity sweats. She was lathered up in daddy’s-credit-card carpe diem of the ‘00s: baseball cap cocked to the side, an itty-bitty black crop top, and the elastic waistband of the sweatpants rolled down. How relaxed. So bitchy and blasé. That gorge-on-it lackadaisical chill. The whole look felt lazily rich. After all, the sweatpants in pretty pinks, soft purples, and verdant greens are pricey: $168. You’ll spot them, sometimes with slogans like “Artists Wanted,” in the loaded-crunch areas of Los Angeles, Miami, New York—and “out East.” Note: The sweats are sold at The Row’s Amagansett location. And let’s not forget that Mary Kate wore them this past July, and a pair of zillion-dollar flip-flops, traipsing around the Hamptons.

FreeCity was founded in 2001 by Nina Garduno, the former chief men’s buyer at Ron Herman/Fred Segal. Seemingly, during the late cusp-of-the-millennium era of deep-pocketed celebrity quest for Zen, Garduno took a trip to Denmark’s self-governing commune of Freetown Christiana. From there, Garduno dreamed up the brand FreeCity and plopped the feel-good, hand-dyed products—along with a teepee—into an 800-square-foot Malibu strip mall.

From afar, the sweats appear to be any other simple pair of sweatpants. But fans swear by the sweat’s cushiness, softness, and lightness. Wearing the sweats is like being stroked by the fingertips of angels. Sally Singer wrote a fun piece in the November 2007 issue of Vogue, which discusses the process of Garduno’s team, who “abuse beautiful Swiss cotton and Italian-made tees” until they become deliciously supple. The sweatpants arrived during a red-hot era of super-luxe basics: C&C California and James Perse tees, along with a slew of designer denim

The sweats certainly have their place in celebrity history. There is a burned-in-my-brain paparazzi image of Madonna, Tracy Anderson, and Gwyneth Paltrow from 2004 in London aprés workout. The three former friends, all clad in Nike Shox, wear sweat-soaked blenders of garb: Madonna is in head-to-toe Ed Hardy, Tracy Anderson is in spandex and a bubblegum pink lace top (or bra), and Gwyneth Paltrow is in a gold jacket with a pair of gray FreeCity sweatpants hanging off of her long body. Whenever I post the image, someone always points out the “freecity!!!!”

I never quite got the FreeCity fandom. The sweats never entered my hometown as a teen, and $168 seems criminal to blow on…sweatpants. But everything is relative: When I was on a Tory Burch shoot recently, Los Angeles-born Cassie Coane commented on my orange Maharishi pants, a crunchier, techier cousin of FreeCity. The conversation drifted into the sweats, and I asked why they had such a chokehold on LA girls. “It’s a dark answer, but you could convince your parents to buy you one piece of it, and it bought you the freedom to wear whatever else you wanted to, because if you had a FreeCity that was it,” she says.

I Need It #4: My '00s Jennifer Aniston Blazing Orange Summer Cargos

Liana Satenstein

·

Jun 27

Read full story

Beyond Los Angeles, FreeCity sweats still managed to infiltrate smaller towns and cities across the country. Isabella O’day, who runs the vintage sportswear outlet RummageStretch, remembers the status sweats as being “ the epitome of cool growing up in Wisconsin because it meant you went on a trip to a big city, specifically the Abbott Kinney store,” she says. “This random store in Mequoin, Wisconsin, started carrying them, and people would drive two hours to buy them.” In O’Day’s world, the sweats were so coveted that one girl would get a pair, and then the friends would share them. Sisterhood of the Traveling Sweats!

Vintage Sportswear Will Crush Your Alo Yoga Sets

Liana Satenstein

·

Jul 8

Read full story

So why are we seeing the sweats now? Many would argue that FreeCity never technically went away, and it has remained a staple in some wardrobes. But the resurgence of the sweats is linked to the perpetual nostalgia for the early and mid-2000s, now with a subversive, in-on-it flair a la Lexee Smith. We know that the sweats are ridiculously priced, and are symbolic of the megawatt wellness culture of the early aughts. Though, unlike 20 years ago, you don’t have to spend over $150 to nab a pair of FreeCity sweats. I’m choosing to go below $100–sometimes below $60–and you can, too.

FreeCity hoodies and sweats below.

CLOSE TO GWYNETH’S FREECITY SWEATS!!!

I’m kind of into this FreeCity basic white T-shirt…($78)

Obsessed with this orange hue…my Maharishis are this, too ($54)

Insanely printed FreeCity hoodie in a sweet blue ($150 but try ‘em with best offer)

Purple FreeCity sweats that are sorority sliced at the cuff ($30)

How did someone not snap up this zip-up yet? ($45)

“Bike Friend” hah! FreeCity green sweats ($50)

This slogan is how I want to be right now ($50)

Slogans just keep getting better…($34)

Watch NEVERWORNS here