The shorts were easily my favorite Alo piece that I wore for this story, and they encapsulate what I started to recognize as the Alo appeal: nothing is flashy, the colors are mostly easy-to-style neutral tones (particularly on the men’s side), unless you dip into the limited seasonal colors. Even those are restrained. None of it looks aggressively techy. It’s easy to toss together a full, comfortable fit and walk out the house, ready to do whatever.

Day 3: Maximum Erewhon

Alo’s bestselling men’s shirt is the Conquer Reform, a slim-fitting sueded polyester tee I’d selected in black. For most of this year I’d been sticking to boxier, drapier tees, for reasons relating to both my sense of style and some complicated body image issues. I worried the form-fitting Conquer Reform meant stepping outside of my comfort zone, but it proved flattering and comfortable without shrink-wrapping itself to my torso.

With Alo’s Conquer React shorts and its Throwback socks (cushy, cozy, a sleeper hit) rounding out my fit for a morning hike, I achieved maximum Erewhon Membership Haver aesthetics. Since I’m someone who follows through, I hit it up for coffee after.

Day 4: Precious Cargos

I started the day with a run in the Repetition shorts and a very, very cold shower. Despite the heat I had to make myself marginally more presentable for an in-person work meeting. Still, I had made a promise.

That meant pulling on Alo’s simple heather grey Accolade crewneck sweatshirt along with the Northstar cargo pants. The pants aren’t shy: there are two flap pockets with snaps at the very front of the thighs, and then two tilted cargo pockets right at the knees, lower than normal. Plus a drawstring.

Special thanks to the powerhouse AC in the Uber, which kept me from sweating into the thick, cotton/poly fabric as the heat wave hit its apex. In most circumstances this would have been an all-day fit, but I’ll confess that I spent the rest of the afternoon in my apartment wearing the Repetition shorts and a paper-thin Hanes tank with my apartment AC on full blast.

Day 5: Alo, From the Other Side

To close out my week of Alo-leisure I booked a second date with some new favorites: the boxy Double Take tee and the Conquer React shorts. I could style them easily without having to think twice, and I could spontaneously stop by the basketball court, batting cage, or LA Fitness weight room. Okay, on most days I didn’t have to worry. I left the Double Take tee in the locker room while I played tennis (did I mention the heat wave??).

After a few sets, I hit up a neighborhood coffee shop to do some work. Sitting near the window, I counted more than half a dozen people wearing Alo gear. Some were taking yoga classes at the studio next door; others ran errands in shops across the street or grabbed an afternoon cold brew. Plenty had the Alo look: twenty-somethings with influencer jobs (or influencer dreams). But I noticed some moms, too, plus a couple pushing a stroller—one of them wearing a branded Alo hat and the other a sports tank.

Five days into my Alo experiment and I’d started to see the light. Maybe Alo isn’t completely about projecting an aspirational Calabasas lifestyle. Maybe we’re all just busy these days, between errands and meetings and Zoom calls and Solidcore classes and coffee dates. I can see the merit in clothes that can cover almost all of those settings—even (and perhaps especially) when you’re just trying to survive a brutal LA heatwave.