Tulsan creates EQ Wear line of horse riding pants that bring fashion to the saddle

Beverly Anderson wasn’t asking for much.

An engineer and consultant by trade and horseback rider by inclination, she wanted something comfortable to wear while riding her quarter horse that could also transition from the barn to whatever else life had in store — running errands, a quick bite to eat, going to a school meeting. An outfit to which she could change her boots and add a sweater and go most anywhere.

“If I had meetings, I wanted to be in something that was at least presentable and not screaming ‘I just got off my horse.’ ”

As Anderson rides Western, as opposed to the smaller English saddle, she found jeans too uncomfortable because of the seam running down the inside of the leg rubbing on the saddle. Yoga pants were comfy but made her feel like she was going to “slide right out of the saddle.” Old jodhpurs she wore when riding American saddlebred horses worked best, but they didn’t look the part.

So Anderson, who grew up in Tulsa, engineered what she wanted. That project, which became EQ Wear, started with drawing patterns on the floor of her home and has grown into a company with worldwide sales in countries including Poland, Canada and England.

And it’s all based, designed and manufactured in Tulsa and sewn by local seamstresses.

“I decided there’s got to be something else that was performance-enhancing, good for riding and had a Western aesthetic,” Anderson said.

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She said she was addicted to horses from the time she could walk and rode at Tulsa’s Millerwood Stables and Southern Hills Stables, but with no retail or design experience, she had a lot of learning to do, starting with research. She interviewed women in the retail industry and discovered a need for what she wanted for herself.

Anderson worked with a designer in Oklahoma City who helped her with the design of a pant with side panels, but the woman knew nothing about riding — including shapes and fabrics that work — so she came up with the rest, Anderson said. It took a year of trial and error, trying to get people to make the pants and finding the right fabric.

To produce the premium apparel, ranging from just under $200 to $2,000 a pair, she draws out the patterns herself, chooses the luxurious fabrics — combinations of ultra suede, high-end knit combined with Lycra for stretch, woven denim, lambskin, buckskin and more — and has two part-time seamstresses sew the garments.

One of the leathers she uses is buckskin tanned by artisans in the Choctaw Nation.

“I talked to a man who knows everything about Choctaw life and living, and he and his wife tan and dye the hides in a 10,000-year-old Choctaw ancestral way. It’s all completely natural with no chemicals. And the hides feel like the softest sweatshirt you would ever put next to your body, but they are strong and durable.”

The next step is expanding the cottage industry from her home in Tulsa to a space where the office and manufacturing could all be under one roof, Anderson said.

So she launched a Kickstarter campaign that ran from Feb. 4 to March 6 and surpassed her $25,000 goal by more than $8,000.

“I also wanted to give the products in select retailers, and at trunk shows and horse shows, a broader exposure because of Kickstarter’s global audience.”

She has found a location in Tulsa, but it’s not for retail sales. Proceeds from the campaign will also be used to sponsor brand representatives in the equestrian industry and to get the products into retail and event locations, according to press information.

In the meantime, Anderson is making pants that meet the five F’s — function first, flattering and fashion forward, she said.

“I made these for riding, and yet people really embrace them for fashion, so I don’t want anyone thinking you have to have a horse to wear the pants. People actually are buying more for fashion now and then for function.

“With function, you really have to earn your way in. In my future marketing plan, I have a couple of women who ride in them now, so I need more people to see them in a functional setting. But I also don’t want to limit the pants.

“You can get them for any kind of wear you want to do whether it’s shooting, motorcycle riding — anything that you want to have something great to wear that also looks fashionable or if you want a ranch lifestyle look.

“It’s funny because a lot of my friends say ‘I love the pants, but I don’t have a horse.’ You don’t have to have a horse.”

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