{"id":223,"date":"2025-09-10T20:11:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T20:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/good-worldwide.go-vip.net\/upworthy\/2025\/09\/10\/target-champion-pleated-sweatpants\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T20:11:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T20:11:00","slug":"target-champion-pleated-sweatpants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodinc.com\/qa-upworthy\/2025\/09\/10\/target-champion-pleated-sweatpants\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman calls out Champion for ill-placed pleat on new sweatpants and people are cackling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pleats just make things cuter…most of the time. Pleated skirts and dresses<\/a> give the clothing more movement and can make the entire outfit feel a little more feminine<\/a>, if that’s the look you’re going for. Pleats in pants allow them to have a more shape-hugging fit while standing, but provide a less constricting fit when you sit. Sweatpants with pleats<\/a> that make them look like slacks sounds like every boss babe’s dream, except if you happened to purchase a pair of Champion’s pleated sweatpants. <\/p>\n

Dr. Marcy Crouch, a women’s health clinical specialist and physical therapist, recently purchased a pair of Champion pleated sweatpants. To her confusion and horror, after holding up the low-rise business-casual-appearing sweatpants, she notices the pleats don’t just hit the hip area like typical pleats in pants. There’s an additional pleat down the center of the pants…in the front. <\/p>\n

\n

\"center
Friends capturing happy moments with a selfie. Photo credit: Canva<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

The pleat itself is small, so you’d think it would be unnoticeable. But…it’s not. In her now-viral TikTok video, Crouch is wearing leggings, making it easy for her to kick off her shoes and pull the sweatpants on to show just what the pleat does for her (or to<\/em> her). Standing in front of the camera, there’s nowhere else to look but at the suddenly inappropriate pleat in the front of her pants. Crouch wonders out loud how this design flaw made it into stores, while commenters had a blast making punny jokes that just won’t quit. <\/p>\n

“Listen Target, READ MY LIPS\u2026 ‘Do better!” one person writes. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
@thedowntheredoc<\/a> Wow. Just wow @target @Champion \u266c original sound – Dr. Marcy Crouch, DPT, WCS<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n

“Clams down best comment section in a while,” another says. <\/p>\n

“Are those from their Tulips collection?” someone else jokes. <\/p>\n

One woman is thinking a large-scale act would really drive the point home: “I think all of us should buy a pair and make the rest of the country uncomfortable lol.”<\/p>\n

\n

\"center
Joyful moment with vibrant blue nails. Photo credit: Canva<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Another commenter just wasn’t ready for the reveal, saying, “I thought you were upset that sweatpants had a pleat down the center of the leg. I was not prepared.”<\/p>\n

Were women in the room when these pants were designed? One person thinks the answer is no. “Tell me these pants were designed and made by a team of men without telling me they were designed and made by a team of men \u2026”<\/p>\n

The center pleat defies all imagination before Dr. Crouch dons them for the camera, saying, “I already knew where it was going. Holy clam flaps, Batman. I was not expecting it to be that bad! They literally recreated the whole thing. That\u2019s honestly impressive, in its own way.”<\/p>\n

\n

\"center
Embarrassed by the text, she covers her face in disbelief. Photo credit: Canva<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Yes, this was approved and likely went through multiple quality checks before making it to the store, though one woman is in disbelief that these pants were vetted for sale, writing, “Someone designed it, and someone else approved the design, and then they made thousands of pairs\u2026. Nobody batted an eye. Was there even one woman involved anywhere along the way??”<\/p>\n

Are these pants still being sold in Target stores? Did Champion get into majora trouble over their pants that accentuate the thing they’re supposed to cover? The world may never know. But for everyone’s sake who wants to maintain eye contact with the women they’re speaking with, let’s hope these pants made it to their rightful place, in a Georgia O’Keeffe museum. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It was so much worse than I thought it would be!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":187974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alternative_headline":"","alternative_description":"","alternative_featured_image":0,"rkv_announcement":{"visible":true},"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"partner_boost":false,"hide_partner_badge":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[176,177,146],"tags":[135,168,169,170,171,172,173,174,175,178,179,180,181,182,183,184,185,186,187],"sponsor":[],"rkv-people-shadow":[167],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humor","category-joy","category-popular","tag-popular_source-pageview","tag-boss-babe","tag-center-pleat","tag-champion","tag-design-flaw","tag-dresses","tag-embarrassed","tag-feminine","tag-georgia-okeeffe-museum","tag-joyful-moment","tag-marcy-crouch","tag-physical-therapist","tag-pleated-sweat-pants","tag-pleats","tag-punny-jokes","tag-slacks","tag-sweatpants","tag-tulips-collection","tag-womens-health"],"edit_link":null,"apple_news_notices":[],"rkv_author":{"id":167,"name":"Gabe Jewell","display_name":"Gabe Jewell","first_name":"","last_name":"","nickname":"","url":"https:\/\/goodinc.com\/qa-upworthy\/author\/gabe-jewell\/","link":"https:\/\/goodinc.com\/qa-upworthy\/author\/gabe-jewell\/","description":"","slug":"gabe-jewell","avatar_urls":[],"email":false},"yoast_head":"\nWoman calls out Champion for ill-placed pleat on new sweatpants and people are cackling - 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