Athletics and leisure, athleisure, allows women to wear casual clothing for exercise and general use. Activewear has increasingly become a fashion trend. Women don’t just wear the sportswear for athletic activities, but also for casual, work, social, and school occasions.
The fashion trend has grown rapidly to dominate women’s fashion and the general industry at large. Some popular activewear worn for athleisure include:
- Yoga pants
- Women’s leggings
- Hoodies
- Gym tanks
- Tights
- Sweatpants
- Sneakers
- Sports bras
- Shorts, etc.
The Athleisure/Activewear Trend
Activewear began to trend in the fashion industry during the early 1970s when fitness increased in popularity. People wore casual clothing for workouts or exercises as fitness became popular.
As a result, sports brands improvised their clothes to suit athletic activities. The clothes were produced in larger quantities to meet the increasing demand. Materials such as spandex, Lycra, and nylon, among other synthetics were used to innovate sportswear.
Made for comfort, activewear fostered their popularity as the go-to casual clothing of choice. Athletic brands, such as Nike and Adidas, further enhanced their activewear outfits to make them more waterproof, lightweight, and breathable.
Therefore, athleisure integrated urban, sports, and fashion trends to produce a single solution for living an active yet fashionable lifestyle. The role of technology and new materials used in clothes production produced activewear with the following properties:
- Reduced odor
- Sweat-wicking
- Stretchability, and
- Protection from dirt
The properties of activewear has made athleisure ideal for sports and leisure, including healthy lifestyles. Designed for all kinds of occasions, activewear makes it easy to transition from walks in a park to work, or vice versa.
Check out this graph about the size of the various components of the fashion industry. Women’s wear is the largest and athleisure is a growing component of that revenue.
8 Reasons Activewear Dominates Women’s Fashion
Although fashion trends come and go, activewear is more than just a trend. Instead, it has become a way of life and continues to dominate women’s fashion for the following reasons:
1. Comfort and Simple Lifestyle
Activewear is designed for use at anytime and anywhere. This has seen many women embrace athleisure wear despite their professional backgrounds and interests in fitness. You can adorn activewear to social events such as parties or even to work.
The sportswear are wrinkle-free, durable, and odor-free, explaining why they’re easy to wear. With your preferred activewear, you can grace your event or occasion in style and comfort.
2. Innovation
Athletic brands such as Nike have continued to enhance the quality of their activewear. A combination of fashion styles and new fibers produce activewear with high quality feel and comfort.
What’s more, the versatile nature of athleisure (can be worn for various occasions) means it can’t go out of trend.
3. Growth of the Activewear Market
Despite being saturated, the athleisure market continues to grow. A couple of growth indicators in the market include increasing preference for activewear over denim and the integration of fashion and sport industries’ aesthetics.
Many years ago, the preference for activewear over denim would have been unthinkable due to the latter’s popularity in almost every fashion trend. However, the simple and comfortable nature of activewear has made it a preferred option over denim. This shows that athleisure is here to stay.
Athleisure combines both aspects of the fashion and sports industry. Fashion brands, based on the recent trend, are increasingly designing and making more clothing for sports and leisure.
Clothing brands that strictly produce athletic wear continue to add fashion elements to their sportswear. This indicates that the future of women’s fashion is athleisure.
Moreover, the athleisure industry continues to grow. Valued to be worth $270 billion, the industry has grown over the last decade by about 42%. The industry was also projected to grow by 30% by 2020.
4. Athleisure is All-weather
Activewear is all-weather, meaning it’s adaptive to all kinds of weather. This is unlike most fashion trends suitable for specific weather.
Hoodies and overcoats control body temperature, making them ideal for winter or cold weather. On the other hand, sportswear fabric repel moisture and absorb sweat to keep the body cool and dry in hot weather.
5. Celebrity endorsement
The world’s main fashion influencers are celebrities. They’ve been in the frontline, bringing athleisure into the mainstream. Celebrities such as Rihanna, Beyonce and Rita Ora displayed their lifestyle “behind the scenes” on social media.
Activewear was seen as an important part of that lifestyle. As a result, many followers adopted the simple lifestyle of the celebrities. This further led to activewear dominating women’s fashion.
6. Increasing Popularity of Fitness Lifestyles
With more women concerned about their health and wellness, the fitness industry continues to rise in popularity. This has resulted in a large following for fitness influencers on social media.
Fitness influencers promote activewear on a consistent basis, with most of their followers adopting the trend. As a result, activewear is increasingly worn on streets, runways, and gyms. This is known as an athleisure cult.
7. Increasing acceptance of activewear as work wear
Athleisure isn’t just for streets, gym, parties, and runways, but also workplaces. Many people are moving from wearing formal suits and ties to donning activewear.
Workers commonly pair comfy tees with athletic shoes, especially those in the marketing and media industry. A good example of a high-profile professional who wear activewear to work is Steve Jobs.
8. Sports leisure shoes
Athleisure shoes have become the in thing for women. Unlike footwear, they deliver better performance for users. There is an increase in sales of casual athletic footwear and sneakers inspired by running.
However, the demand for shoes based on performance and training sneakers has dropped.
Conclusion
Although initially worn for sports only, activewear has grown in popularity over the years. Today, athleisure is worn for sports, leisure and even in formal settings. This increase in popularity has been attributed to innovation, celebrity endorsement, comfort, and increased popularity of fitness lifestyles. Therefore, activewear dominates women’s fashion.