GetWiki

{{short description|Fashion trend featuring clothing designed for athletic activities}}File:Athleisure-wear.jpg|thumb|upright|Windbreakers and leggings serve as quintessential representative fashion trends that exemplify the contemporary athleisure lifestyle.]]Athleisure is a hybrid 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 shortsWEB, 2017-08-23, I Hated Shorts Until Athleisure Became a Thing,weblink 2022-12-06, Glamour (magazine), Glamour, that look like athletic wear and pair well with it. Characterized as "fashionable, dressed-up sweats and exercise clothing,"WEB, Loring, Devin, March 25, 2015, What's 'athleisure'? Find out in Spring Lake,weblink 2022-12-06, USA Today, ...worn during non-athletic, leisurely activities..., 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. 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.WEB, Aktar, Alev, Active or Idle, Everyone Is Wearing Gym Clothes Now, Entrepreneur (magazine), Entrepreneur, 2014-11-30,weblink 2017-12-04, Since the mid 2010s, it is also recognized as a retail clothing category.

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.WEB, Guzzetta, Marli, Athleisure Used to Be Just an Outfit. Here's How It Became a Lifestyle,weblink 2019, 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.NEWS,weblink The Athleisure Trend Is Here To Stay, Speculations, Great, Forbes, 2017-05-22, Another account suggests that the cyclical nature of blue jean sales has allowed athleisure apparel to supplant denim as casual wear.NEWS, Sanders, Sam, April 8, 2015, For The Modern Man, The Sweatpant Moves Out Of The Gym, NPR,weblink 2022-12-06, ...growing trend called "athleisure."... sales of athleisure apparel were more than $35 billion last year..., WEB, Tschorn, Adam, 2015-02-12, New York Fashion Week: For men, athleisure gains ground on workwear,weblink 2022-12-13, Los Angeles Times, NEWS, Salfino, Catherine, 2017-02-02, From Workout to Workwear, Athleisure Works a New Angle, Sourcing Journal,weblink subscription, 2017-05-22, 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.NEWS, 2016-11-16, Athleisure's Winners and Losers, en-GB, The Business of Fashion,weblink 2017-05-22, 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.JOURNAL, Goodrum, Alison, 2016-04-02, The dress issue: introduction, Annals of Leisure Research, 19, 2, 145–161, 10.1080/11745398.2016.1169581, 1174-5398, free,

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.MAGAZINE, Tsapovsky, Flora, 22 June 2020, Once a WFH Staple, Athleisure Gets Down to Business,weblink 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., Wired (magazine), Wired, 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.NEWS, 2021-06-23, How fashion designers flipped to athleisure during Covid, en-GB, BBC News,weblink 2022-07-12, (File:HK TKO 將軍澳 Tseung Kwan O PopCorn mall shop Uniqlo clothing store September 2021 SS2 02.jpg|alt=A rack of jogger pants in a shopping mall store. The sign above them reads "Drape Jogger Pants: $199. Flattering drape in casual look". Next to them is a row of plaid pajama pants.|thumb|Joggers being sold as fancy pants, alongside plaid pajama pants, at a Uniqlo store in Hong Kong in 2021.)File:Wrap Pant 1.jpg|thumb|upright|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.]]

Market size and trends

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.WEB, DiBlasio, Natalie, December 29, 2014, Retailers rush to tap Millennial 'athleisure' market,weblink 2022-12-06, USA Today, ...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., WEB, D'Innocenzio, Anne, September 6, 2014, Jeans face uncertain future amid yoga wear rage,weblink 2022-12-13, USA TODAY, ...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., WEB, Holmes, Elizabeth, May 5, 2015, Athleisure: A Workout Look for Every Occasion,weblink 2022-12-06, The Wall Street Journal, Video, ...athletic-inspired, casual look..., 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.WEB, Milnes, Hilary, 2016-03-22, Designer sneakers and $200 leggings: How luxury stepped into the rise of athleisure,weblink 2022-12-13, Digiday, The global athleisure market as of 2018, as assessed by Allied Market Research, was noted to estimated at US$155 billion. 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.NEWS, Evans, Pete, Oct 11, 2021, Sweatpants forever? Why the 'athleisure' fashion trend may outlast the pandemic, CBC News,weblink July 12, 2022, A report by Market Research Future anticipates the market to surpass US$842 billion by 2028.PRESS RELEASE, Market Research Future, 2022-10-26, Athleisure Market Size to Surpass USD 842.03 Billion by 2028 at 10.33% CAGR,weblink 2023-01-27, GlobeNewswire, 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. 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.

Impacts

Social

File:Keeping Fit and Connected (6635665267) (cropped).jpg|thumb|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.NEWS,weblink The Lululemon Lifestyle: Millennials Seek More Than Just Comfort From Athleisure Wear, Fromm, Jeff, Forbes, 2017-05-22, Athleisure has been promoted by celebrities such as Beyoncé and Rihanna. 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."NEWS, Friedman, Vanessa, It's Possible Leggings Are the Future. Deal With It.,weblink 30 August 2023, New York Times, April 1, 2019,

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.WEB, Chayka, Kyle, 2015-07-13, Technical Wear: The Better Athleisure,weblink 2022-12-13, Maxim (magazine), Maxim, WEB, Kapner, Suzanne, May 7, 2015, Luxe Meets 'Athleisure' in Techie Cashmere,weblink 2022-12-13, The Wall Street Journal, Some athleisure designs allow certain segments more breathability while other parts can have greater tension or durability.Mann, L., August 3, 2015, Knitting Industry, Athleisure and the Future of Fashion, Retrieved May 30, 2016 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.

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.NEWS,weblink Sweat it out: could your sportswear be toxic?, Westervelt, Amy, Amy Westervelt, 2015-06-02, The Guardian, 2017-05-22, en-GB, 0261-3077,

See also

{{Wiktionary}}

• Activewear
• Exercise dress
• Fitness culture
• Gorpcore
• Sportswear
• Women's sports

References

{{Reflist}}{{Fashion}}{{Clothing}}