Shop Around // Victor Athletics

What do you do when you’ve founded a successful denim line and want to create something to help American factories while producing affordably priced sustainable fashion? You launch a line of athletic wear, that’s what.

The husband and wife duo behind Cincinnati-based Noble Denim is jumping headfirst into the athleisure market with Victor Athletics, a line of comfy sweatshirts, sweatpants, and tees made with organic cotton and manufactured in Tennessee. Following an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign, Chris and Abby Sutton opened the first Victor Athletics storefront on Republic Street in Over-the-Rhine last Saturday.

It’s fun to see how the spare, straightforward aesthetic represented on their Instagram translates into a retail shop: artfully packaged Le Baigneur soaps (one is charmingly named Amuse Douche) and Earth Tu Face skincare products share shelf space with cozy loungewear in basic gray, black, cream, and blue.

Just inside the entrance is a glass-enclosed room filled with industrial machinery, where spools of thick thread, various cutting and measuring tools, and rolls of material line the walls. The machines look pretty hard core, and the idea is that the “theater” will allow shoppers to see part of the manufacturing process in action.

The popular heritage feel that’s permeated indie fashion for the past few years was in full force at Saturday’s opening, with Bulleit’s whiskey-mobile holding court outside and custom Noble Denim x Bulleit candles lighting the shop crowded with Noble enthusiasts and OTR regulars. Victor is clearly a winner, just in time for the holiday season.

Victor Athletics, 1405 Republic Street, Over-the-Rhine