Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Athleisure wear is a moniker combining athletics and leisure: performance and sports-inspired clothes for everyday casualwear. The market gained traction in North America during the 2000s and 2010s, as brands such as Under Armour, Athleta, Lululemon and Nike put athletic clothing in the spotlight and women increasingly wore performance pieces through busy everyday schedules.
Athleisure wear is a moniker combining athletics and leisure. Performance and sports-inspired clothes for everyday casualwear.
The popularity this “athleisure” wear market, has been steadily gaining traction in North America during the decade of 2000’s and 2010’s. Under Armour, Athleta, Lululemon, Nike, and others have put the athletic market once again in the spotlight. Sales of activewear, including athleisure items such as yoga pants, appear to be continuing in popularity.
Apparel industry analysts suggest that women are increasingly wearing performance and sports-inspired clothes for everyday casualwear. This is in part due to the flexibility such items give to busy schedules.
As a reminder, back in the 1980’s a fashion trend existed where people were wearing tracksuits. Are we headed back to aerobics inspired days of the 1980’s?
Lululemon appears to be the primary company that led the way in terms of identifying the athleisure trend. Kicked off by the apparent fact that women were willing to spend $100 on a pair of stylish yoga pants that could take them from a fitness class to the supermarket and beyond.
Is the athleisure trend taking share from denim lines?
Learn more about women’s athletic clothing stores and yoga apparel here on Apparel Search.
It would also be a good idea to visit the women’s fitness clothing guide section.
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Many trend categories fade when the novelty does; athleisure instead settled into the wardrobe because it solved daily problems. Technical knit fabrics stretch, wick moisture and resist odor better than the casual clothes they replaced, waistbands and flat seams stay comfortable through a full day, and a clean, minimal design language lets the same legging or jogger move from a morning class to errands to a casual workplace. Retailers responded by treating the category as a permanent department rather than a season's story, and denim — the previous default for casual dress — lost share to it, a shift this page already raises as a question.
The category also blurred the line between sports apparel and leisure wear, two neighboring terms in this directory. Sports apparel is made for the activity itself; athleisure borrows its fabrics, trims and styling for clothing whose real venue is everyday life, with genuine performance as a welcome bonus rather than the whole point.
Athleisure combines “athletics” and “leisure” — performance and sports-inspired clothes designed to be worn as everyday casualwear, not only for exercise.
Lululemon appears to be the primary company that led the way, after women proved willing to spend $100 on a pair of stylish yoga pants that could take them from a fitness class to the supermarket and beyond. Under Armour, Athleta and Nike also put the athletic market in the spotlight.
The name is recent, but the habit is not: back in the 1980s a fashion trend existed for wearing tracksuits as everyday dress, and this page asks whether athleisure is a return to those aerobics-inspired days. Analysts add that the flexibility of performance clothing suits busy schedules.