Athleisure

Last updated
Windbreakers and leggings serve as quintessential representative fashion trends that exemplify the contemporary athleisure lifestyle. Athleisure-wear.jpg
Windbreakers and leggings serve as quintessential representative fashion trends that exemplify the contemporary athleisure lifestyle.

Athleisure is a hybrid [1] style of athletic clothing typically worn as everyday wear. The word is a portmanteau combining the words 'athletic' and 'leisure'. Athleisure outfits can include tracksuits, sports jackets, hoodies, yoga pants, tights, sneakers, flats, Birkenstocks, uggs, leggings and shorts [2] that look like athletic wear and pair well with it. Characterized as "fashionable, dressed-up sweats and exercise clothing," [3] the growth of the athleisure trend took root during the mid-2010s, which grew out of the popularity of yoga pants that emerged throughout the mid to late 2000s. The convenience of wearing clothes that matched and paired well with yoga pants gave mainstream North American women the agency to exhibit their casual fashion sensibilities for the sake of convenience in multiple occasions without having to change frequently throughout various settings while going on and about their daily lives. Since the mid-2010s, the pervasiveness of the athleisure phenomenon has experienced a significant surge in popularity across Canada and the United States, particularly within the everyday life and daily routines of mainstream North American women. The atheleisure trend entails casual clothing options that give North American women the option to incorporate athletic clothing as part as of their everyday attire, irrespective of their actual engagement in physical activities or not.

Contents

Since the 2010s, the pervasiveness of the athleisure phenomenon has experienced a significant surge in popularity, particularly within the everyday life and daily routines of mainstream North Americans. This trend entails individuals opting to incorporate athletic clothing into their everyday attire, irrespective of their actual engagement in physical activities.

Athleisure can also be considered a contemporary fashion industry movement, enabled by scientific development and growth of advanced and cutting-edge textile materials and technical fabrics and fibers which allow modern activewear to be more durable, breathable, lightweight, stretchy, versatile, comfortable, and fashionable. [4] Since the mid 2010s, it is also recognized as a retail clothing category. [5]

Background

In the 1930s, the American sportswear company Champion began producing hoodies for American working-class laborers working in freezing temperatures. In 1958, the American chemical maker DuPont invented spandex, a crucial material component foundational in many pieces of contemporary athleisure. The German sportswear company Adidas popularized athletic fashion by introducing sport-to-street tracksuits in 1963. By the 1970s, athletic fashion was ubiquitous throughout North American street culture which grew in popularity throughout the 1980s from old school hip hop music videos. [6]

By some accounts, the growth of the modern athleisure trend took root during the mid-2010s, which itself grew out of the popularity of yoga pants that emerged throughout the mid to late 2000s. Springing from the convenience of wearing clothes allowed North American women to casually wear yoga pants for multiple occasions without having to frequently change. Its popularity may have also stemmed from its ability to fill a gap in the sportswear market, when athletic apparel was once merely utilitarian rather than for stylistic and cosmetic purposes. [7] Another account suggests that the cyclical nature of blue jean sales has allowed athleisure apparel to supplant denim as casual wear. [8] [9] [10] Activewear that had been worn exclusively in gyms is now being worn elsewhere by young adults and fitness-conscious consumers and has been accompanied by a relaxation in dress codes. The styles, colors, and fabrics of athleisure suggest a broader emphasis on fashion as opposed to functionality. [11] Innovations in textiles have brought improvements in functionality, such that modern garments and footwear have become more breathable, lightweight, stretchy, versatile, comfortable, fashionable, durable, and waterproof. Contemporary garments are performance enhancing and allow wearers to carry out everyday activities easily. [12]

Evolution in the 2020s

By 2020, a so-called "next-gen athleisure" category had emerged, owing to increasing acceptance in the workplace as well as advancements in fabric and production technology, which has led yoga pants to also function as an acceptable form of officewear. [1] The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a continued increase in the popularity of athleisure wear. Some fashion brands that had previously made streetwear or suits pivoted to items like hoodies and jogging trousers, since many people were quarantined at home and wanted comfortable clothing that would still look stylish for virtual meetings. [13] [14]

Joggers being sold as fancy pants, alongside plaid pajama pants, at a Uniqlo store in Hong Kong in 2021. HK TKO Jiang Jun Ao Tseung Kwan O PopCorn mall shop Uniqlo clothing store September 2021 SS2 02.jpg
Joggers being sold as fancy pants, alongside plaid pajama pants, at a Uniqlo store in Hong Kong in 2021.
Athleisure clothing frequently uses accents of brightly-colored fabric acting as a stark contrast against a dark background, as shown here with a person wearing Lululemon's famed groove pants. Wrap Pant 1.jpg
Athleisure clothing frequently uses accents of brightly-colored fabric acting as a stark contrast against a dark background, as shown here with a person wearing Lululemon's famed groove pants.

Reports in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal in 2015 described the athleisure market as growing, displacing typical workwear styles, and cutting in to sales of jeans, with a market size in 2014 of US$35 billion, representing an 8% increase from the previous year. [5] [15] [16] According to one estimate, the athleisure market, including footwear, was US$270 billion in 2016, and was estimated to grow 30% in the United States and Asia by the year 2020. [17] The global athleisure market as of 2018, as assessed by Allied Market Research, was noted to estimated at US$155 billion. [1] In Canada as of 2019, "active" or athleisure clothing made up about 25 per cent of the apparel that Canadians were buying, but in 2021 that number grew to more than one-third, with sales growing twice as fast as other forms of clothing. [14] A report by Market Research Future anticipates the market to surpass US$842 billion by 2028. [18]

In spite of this, there is an arising issue regarding market saturation with athleisure being regarded as traditional luxury and mass merchant brands tap into this trend. [10] The athleisure market for casual athletic clothing has become increasingly crowded with big-box retailers such as Walmart and Target, as well as fast fashion brands joining the fray, often at cheaper prices. A market analyst estimated that the athleisure market was not slowing down, with much competition and pressure on various retail outlets including sporting goods stores. [15]

Impacts

Social

A woman wearing sports bra and boyshorts, which were conventionally women's sportswear, but are now also worn as casual or athleisure by women across North American society. Keeping Fit and Connected (6635665267) (cropped).jpg
A woman wearing sports bra and boyshorts, which were conventionally women's sportswear, but are now also worn as casual or athleisure by women across North American society.

Global shifts toward an awareness in health and rise in fitness trends have led to growing interest and participation in sports among the public. Many have actively joined sporting clubs and competitions in order to fully adopt the characteristics of the contemporary athleisure lifestyle. Consequently, sportswear brands have capitalized on this opportunity to improve and introduce better quality apparel, footwear, and gear for sale to potential customers, which allows modern sportswear brands to cultivate customer loyalty by showcasing their commitment to promoting a healthy lifestyle through their products. [19]

Athleisure has been promoted by celebrities such as Beyoncé and Rihanna. [20] It has been criticized because of the way it displays the feminine form. In a 2019 article in the New York Times which focused specifically on leggings, the question was asked, "When did leggings make the leap from garment to cultural lightning rod?" In a letter to the editor of The Observer, school newspaper at the University of Notre Dame, reported the Times, a woman wrote, "it was for their own as well as the greater good [for women not to wear leggings] in part because leggings made it hard for men to control themselves." [21]

Materials and technology

Scientific advancements have led to the rise of new modern technical fibers being developed and used to make athleisure more resistant to wear and tear, water, grease, and stains as well as to enable greater odor reduction, sweat-wicking, and stretchability to conform to the human body's shape. [20] [22] Some athleisure designs allow certain segments more breathability while other parts can have greater tension or durability. [23] A type of athleisure sometimes called "technical wear" focuses on clothes that are more suitable for wearing to the office while also being comfortable in concurrence. [20]

Environmental

There have been concerns that materials used in athleisure may have negative consequences for the environment; these chemicals include dyes and solvents and polyfluorinated chemicals and petroleum which are used to make athleisure resistant to water and grease and stains. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leggings</span> Several types of leg coverings

Leggings are several types of leg attire that have varied through the years. Modern usage from the 1960s onwards has come to refer to elastic close-fitting high-rise garments worn over the legs typically by women, such as leg warmers or tights. Usage from the 18th century refers to men's wear usually made of cloth or leather that is wrapped around the leg down to the ankle. In the 19th century, leggings usually referred to infants' leg clothing that were matched with a jacket, as well as leg-wrappings made of leather or wool and worn by soldiers and trappers. Leggings prominently returned to women's fashion in the 1960s, drawing from the form-fitting clothing of dancers. With the widespread adoption of the synthetic fibre Lycra and the rise in popularity of aerobics, leggings came to further prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually made their way into streetwear. Leggings are a part of the late 2010s into the 2020s athleisure fashion trend of wearing activewear outside sporting activities and in casual settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracksuit</span> Trousers and jacket originally for athletes

A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly for athletes to wear over competition clothing and to take off before competition. In modern times, it has become commonly worn in other contexts. The tracksuit was one of the earliest uses of synthetic fibers in sportswear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casual wear</span> Western dress code suited for everyday use

Casual wear is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the Western world following the counterculture of the 1960s. When emphasising casual wear's comfort, it may be referred to as leisurewear or loungewear.

Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding, 1980s nostalgia, and Japanese street fashion. Later, haute couture became an influence, and was in turn influenced by streetwear. Streetwear centers on comfortable clothing and accessories such as jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, and sneakers. Brands may create exclusivity through intentional product scarcity; enthusiasts follow particular brands and try to obtain limited edition releases, including via proxy purchases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990s in fashion</span> Costume and fashion of the 1990s

Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lululemon Athletica</span> Multinational athletic apparel retailer

Lululemon athletica inc., commonly known as lululemon, is a Canadian multinational athletic apparel retailer headquartered in British Columbia and incorporated in Delaware, United States. It was founded in 1998 as a retailer of yoga pants and other yoga wear, and has expanded to also sell athletic wear, lifestyle apparel, accessories, and personal care products. The company has 711 stores internationally and sells online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000s in fashion</span> Fashion in the decade 2000–2009

The fashion of the 2000's is often described as a global mash up, where trends saw the fusion of vintage styles, global and ethnic clothing, as well as the fashions of numerous music-based subcultures. Hip-hop fashion generally was the most popular among young people of all sexes, followed by the retro inspired indie look later in the decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sportswear</span> Equipment and attire for physical activity

Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workwear</span> Clothing that is worn in the exercise of a service profession, a craft or an engineering profession

Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivy League (clothes)</span> Style of 1950s northeastern USA fashion

Ivy League is a style of men's dress, popular during the late 1950s in the Northeastern United States, and said to have originated on college campuses, particularly those of the Ivy League. It was the predecessor to the preppy style of dress.

Penningtons is a Canadian fashion retail store that specializes in plus-size womens' clothing, with locations across Canada in all ten provinces.

The United States is the leading country in the fashion design industry, followed by France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Apart from professional business attire, American fashion is eclectic and predominantly informal. While Americans' diverse cultural roots are reflected in their clothing, particularly those of recent immigrants, cowboy hats, boots, jeans, and leather motorcycle jackets are emblematic of specifically American styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sportswear (fashion)</span> Fashion category of relaxed day clothes, originally separates

Sportswear is an American fashion term originally used to describe separates, but which since the 1930s has come to be applied to day and evening fashions of varying degrees of formality that demonstrate a specific relaxed approach to their design, while remaining appropriate for a wide range of social occasions. The term is not necessarily synonymous with activewear, clothing designed specifically for participants in sporting pursuits. Although sports clothing was available from European haute couture houses and "sporty" garments were increasingly worn as everyday or informal wear, the early American sportswear designers were associated with ready-to-wear manufacturers. While most fashions in America in the early 20th century were directly copied from, or influenced heavily by Paris, American sportswear became a home-grown exception to this rule, and could be described as the American Look. Sportswear was designed to be easy to look after, with accessible fastenings that enabled a modern emancipated woman to dress herself without a maid's assistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010s in fashion</span> Fashion-related events during the 2010s

The 2010s were defined by hipster fashion, athleisure, a revival of austerity-era period pieces and alternative fashions, swag-inspired outfits, 1980s-style neon streetwear, and unisex 1990s-style elements influenced by grunge and skater fashions. The later years of the decade witnessed the growing importance in the western world of social media influencers paid to promote fast fashion brands on Pinterest and Instagram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stirrup pants</span>

Stirrup pants or stirrup leggings are a type of close-fitting women's pants that taper at the ankle, similar to leggings, except that the material extends to a band, or strap, that is worn under the arch of the foot to hold the pant leg in place. The band of material is often elasticized to prevent the material around the foot from tearing. Stirrup pants were originally sportswear for women, and remain sportswear for horse riding and skiing. However, they have come in and out of fashion during the 20th and early 21st centuries, peaking in popularity as street fashion during the 1980s to the mid 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoga pants</span> Non-binding stretch pants originally worn as athletic or leisurewear

Yoga pants are high-denier hosiery reaching from ankle to waist, originally designed for yoga as exercise and first sold in 1998 by Lululemon, a company founded for that purpose. They were initially made of a mix of nylon and Lycra; more specialised fabrics have been introduced to provide moisture-wicking, compression, and odour reduction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion and clothing in the Philippines</span> Fashion and folk costume of the Philippines

Fashion and clothing in the Philippines refers to the way the people of the Philippine society generally dress up at home, at work, travelling and during special occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweatpants</span> Soft trousers made for athletic or leisure purposes

Sweatpants are a casual variety of soft trousers intended for comfort or athletic purposes, although they are now worn in many different situations. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa they are known as tracksuit bottoms or trackies. In Australia and New Zealand, they are also commonly known as trackpants, tracky daks or joggers. They are also referred to as jogging pants in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020s in fashion</span> Fashion-related events during the 2020s

The fashions of the 2020s represent a departure from 2010s fashion and feature a nostalgia for older aesthetics. They have been largely inspired by styles of the late 1990s to mid-2000s, 1980s, and late 1960s to early 1970s Early in the decade, several publications noted the shortened trend and nostalgia cycle in 2020s fashion. Fashion was also shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a major impact on the fashion industry, and led to shifting retail and consumer trends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accent Group</span> Australian multinational clothing retail company (1988)

Accent Group is an Australian and New Zealand footwear and clothing retail, wholesaling and distribution company. It has more than 800 retail stores, along with 19 brands, and more than 20 online platforms.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tsapovsky, Flora (22 June 2020). "Once a WFH Staple, Athleisure Gets Down to Business". Wired . Condé Nast. Hybrid clothing has definitely been on the rise ... as performance fabrics become more sophisticated, they're better adapted to bridge the gap between work and leisure.
  2. "I Hated Shorts Until Athleisure Became a Thing". Glamour . 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  3. Loring, Devin (March 25, 2015). "What's 'athleisure'? Find out in Spring Lake". USA Today . Retrieved 2022-12-06. ...worn during non-athletic, leisurely activities...
  4. Aktar, Alev (2014-11-30). "Active or Idle, Everyone Is Wearing Gym Clothes Now". Entrepreneur . Retrieved 2017-12-04.
  5. 1 2 DiBlasio, Natalie (December 29, 2014). "Retailers rush to tap Millennial 'athleisure' market". USA Today . Retrieved 2022-12-06. ...Sales for 'athleisure,' a new clothing category ... comfy-casual-athletic action ... Millennial women are flocking to athleisure clothing—fashionable, dressed up sweats and exercise clothing—for their casual go-to clothing for both leisure and work. For many of the Millennials, jeans have dropped to a distant second for weekend wear.
  6. Guzzetta, Marli (2019). "Athleisure Used to Be Just an Outfit. Here's How It Became a Lifestyle".
  7. Speculations, Great. "The Athleisure Trend Is Here To Stay". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  8. Sanders, Sam (April 8, 2015). "For The Modern Man, The Sweatpant Moves Out Of The Gym". NPR . Retrieved 2022-12-06. ...growing trend called "athleisure."... sales of athleisure apparel were more than $35 billion last year...
  9. Tschorn, Adam (2015-02-12). "New York Fashion Week: For men, athleisure gains ground on workwear". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2022-12-13.
  10. 1 2 Salfino, Catherine (2017-02-02). "From Workout to Workwear, Athleisure Works a New Angle" . Sourcing Journal. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  11. "Athleisure's Winners and Losers". The Business of Fashion. 2016-11-16. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  12. Goodrum, Alison (2016-04-02). "The dress issue: introduction". Annals of Leisure Research. 19 (2): 145–161. doi: 10.1080/11745398.2016.1169581 . ISSN   1174-5398.
  13. "How fashion designers flipped to athleisure during Covid". BBC News . 2021-06-23. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  14. 1 2 Evans, Pete (Oct 11, 2021). "Sweatpants forever? Why the 'athleisure' fashion trend may outlast the pandemic". CBC News. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  15. 1 2 D'Innocenzio, Anne (September 6, 2014). "Jeans face uncertain future amid yoga wear rage". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2022-12-13. ...Levi Strauss, which invented the first pair of blue jeans 141 years ago, is among jean makers that acknowledge their women's business has been hurt.
  16. Holmes, Elizabeth (May 5, 2015). "Athleisure: A Workout Look for Every Occasion". The Wall Street Journal (Video). Retrieved 2022-12-06. ...athletic-inspired, casual look...
  17. Milnes, Hilary (2016-03-22). "Designer sneakers and $200 leggings: How luxury stepped into the rise of athleisure". Digiday. Retrieved 2022-12-13.
  18. Market Research Future (2022-10-26). "Athleisure Market Size to Surpass USD 842.03 Billion by 2028 at 10.33% CAGR". GlobeNewswire (Press release). Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  19. Fromm, Jeff. "The Lululemon Lifestyle: Millennials Seek More Than Just Comfort From Athleisure Wear". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  20. 1 2 3 Chayka, Kyle (2015-07-13). "Technical Wear: The Better Athleisure". Maxim . Retrieved 2022-12-13.
  21. Friedman, Vanessa (April 1, 2019). "It's Possible Leggings Are the Future. Deal With It". New York Times. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  22. Kapner, Suzanne (May 7, 2015). "Luxe Meets 'Athleisure' in Techie Cashmere". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 2022-12-13.
  23. Mann, L., August 3, 2015, Knitting Industry, Athleisure and the Future of Fashion, Retrieved May 30, 2016
  24. Westervelt, Amy (2015-06-02). "Sweat it out: could your sportswear be toxic?". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2017-05-22.