CAYL

CAYL, or Climb As You Love, is a brand out of Korea that specializes in technical, outdoor apparel.

Over the past few years, CAYL has continued to build out its run line, with an emphasize on functional gear.

We stopped by their showroom in Paris and were immediately charmed by Lee, the Founder and head Designer, who welcomed us in the quiet but robust space. We got to take a look at pieces for Spring/Summer 2026, including a whole selection of run-first apparel and accessories

Where some brands in the running space pick a minimalist or uniform approach to their lines, CAYL delivered a line fully built on functional necessities and accommodations to maximize the use of each item.

The intention is clear with each piece and you can feel the effort to pursue technical perfection.

While heavily built-out, the pieces neither look or feel like too much, which gives the brand an effortless foothold at the front of the technicality race. Bottoms contained multi-layered cuts, movement-inspired patterns and pockets to house items for an on-the-go life.

Tops were developed to layer up to one whole unit, where each piece served a purpose in the broader ecosystem of the brand.

CAYL seems to have taken color inspiration from the landscapes they envision their clothes to thrive in; earth tones and darker hues mostly made up the S/S 2026 collection, with some striped patterns or brighter colors to accent.

These colors feel wearable and approachable.

Apart from the clothing options of CAYL, which represent a function-first approach to running gear, the accessories really stood out. It seems like Lee and CAYL have created articles for almost every outing you could want. Belts with multifunctional and modular features, packs of any size and distance, hats for speed or hats for sun; the CAYL accessories really capture the brand’s ethos of function.

I was able to try on the belt, which had evident intentionality in the design: multi-layered pockets for different features (gels, a phone, hydration), bungee corded belts for an adjustable fit and pole lockdown. It was quite impressive. Amongst others, the hydration packs caught my eye as super lightweight and not overbuilt.

A wearable sleeping bag Lee walked us through also stuck out. While most may not be particularly drawn to it, it struck me as having such high utility for ultrarunning or backpacking use cases. I’d imagined myself slipping into this at crew stops in a 100 mile race, or a packable blanket/night wear for a fast pack. The sleeping bag, like all of CAYL’s pieces, captured the philosophy of the brand - form follows function.