Fashion can be a really bizarre quandary.
It’s propelled by trends, commerce and technology like no other business. With the trends amalgamating and moving so quickly, it can be tricky to delineate where one fashion style begins and the other ends.
When we think of the word ‘athleisure’ its not readily assigned into a fashion category. The term relates to a style – a social movement that’s entirely its own tribe. But of course athleisure has the indisputable connection to sportswear.
Perhaps there is a word in another language which captures the notion of athleisure in an even more comprehensive way?
Until then we have this word which brings together a cultural idea that’s expressed through daywear fashion and coupled with the inextricable link of social behaviour.
The first talking point to discuss is how athleisure is an idea that challenges fashion and consistently forges new playing fields for customers.
A democratised form of fashion
Even for myself I remember what was deemed a social faux pas with wearing sweatpants and hoodies as everyday wear. Twenty years ago there came a stigma related to wearing tracksuits beyond the age of twenty-five.
Cultural feedback at the time was that it represented something too nonchalant, juvenile and perhaps even yobbish to be seen as desirable.
Fast forward to today and ironically, every haute couture brand has its own hoodies and sweatpants offerings. The transition from what is seen as socially villainous to being a status approved zeitgeist in fashion is funny indeed.
But ultimately it’s also very welcomed as change brings new and relatable ideas to a contemporary and different audience.
When I think of Virgil Abloh’s first collection for Louis Vuitton in 2018, the collaborative idea of streetwear paraphernalia and the urbanised voice come to the fore. The collection is both earmarked and highlighted by traits that give the distant memory of sportswear but also morph far beyond that. The sneakers and sweats blossom into a democratised fantasy we can believe in – into present day fashion.
There’s a sense of calm and casual functionality; a utility that sits quite easily into our everyday ideas of what to wear nowadays. It’s then of no surprise that these ideas of democratised daily style put Louis Vuitton at the top in terms of monetised valuation in 2024.
It’s also not surprising that Nike is in close attendance for top spot when we globally analyse where people are trading their money for style.
The social relationship between how we spend our time and perceive wealth
There’s never been an era like today where we constantly find ways to monetise time and give it back to people. The idea that we can “save time” or create more free time suits a culture where apps and software task manage us with adaptable convenience.
Our digital behaviour, and conformity to using applications, are a reflections of how we work, complete tasks and play.
This notion that we don’t have time, and the adaptation of roles and tasks within our lives, coincides with a world where athleisure can flourish. The idea being that what we’re wearing is accessible and easy to dress up. But doesn’t have the time consuming intricacies of more polished garments which are much more difficult to dress down.
Adaptability, stretch and comfort all contribute to creating the world of athleisure.
The other big social disruption that pinpoints the rise of athleisure is the COVID 19 pandemic. The delineation between work, home and leisure was so closely linked for many. Those confined parameters where these worlds seemingly connect leads to a mindset of tasking to make the most out of our day.
This ideology around time being finite after social upheaval motivates a world to reconcile always being athleisure ready.
Money, and more specifically wealth, is the other variable related to time which has changed our perception of athleisure. As apps and digital platforms have democratised opportunities for making money, the externalities of what people wear mislead us.
Any generalisations related to visual cues of what wealth “looks like” goes completely out the window in our present technological epoch. Especially with the system of digital currency, the internet and mobile technologies interconnecting.
We live in an age where millionaires are under twenty years old, where money is a metric on a phone and mastering the insights set by softwares ones and zeros creates cryptocurrencies.
Could you tell who is and isn’t wealthy at a glance? The visual cues for money are more masked than ever.
I wonder if we’ve entered an era now where the status of flaunting doesn’t matter that much. Again the social construct of being unassuming plays into the idea that dressing down to sweats, leggings and sneakers is a social norm we can all relate to.
Wealth is now a silent language that doesn’t require showing off.
Also, wealth has never been in the control of those so young and the notion that airs of prosperity come with clothing inevitably die down.
How we style present day athleisure
So how would we summaries athleisure away from a term that couples the words athletic performance and leisure? Well, its the synergy of combining a ready to wear motif that smooths off that hardened edge of performance sportswear.
For example the first generalisation that comes to mind is polyamide (or nylon) garments with elastane that sculpt the body. They also help it ventilate sweat.
Sculpting apparel items create a very defined shape which is best offset by other materials, textures and shapes which either elongate, widen or loosen our form. Encouraging the use of cotton, denim, wool and various outerwear to reshape the body is the game here. This styling sensibility is about weaving activewear motifs under the wider tapestry of ready to wear fashion.
Sportswear brands sit on an inner circle that doesn’t occupy the outer circle of ready to wear fashion. Sportswear is the closest part to the centre athleisure. The contrast between these two worlds becomes very complimentary. But when we take the ideology of two sportswear brands and marry them, those worlds can often clash because of their similarities.
Finding play between sculpting, different forms of draping and brand ethos creates a sweet spot where athleisure can reside.
Work, relaxation and activity
We think of athleisure as a way to quell apparel surplus and to get more done in less time.
Today’s idea of daily success often comes down to completing tasks in a way that doesn’t impede our opportunity for relaxation or wellness. A trip to any gym in a major city at five pm peak time tells its own story. But beyond a desire to hit the workouts is the sense that athleisure apparel, accessories and footwear give us a sense of freedom. Freedom that the mundane rigour of daily life just cannot inhibit.
We’re also much more conscientious with thinking about longevity and wellness as goals worth aspiring to.
Not just getting to the gym when we can. But the holistic notion of wellness as a lifestyle. A freedom and choice that doesn’t compartmentalise work and play for example. Or at least structures those areas in a way we deem fitting.
It’s one of the reasons why more people look for a smart casual sneaker they can wear to work. Wanting to relax that suited ensemble in the most appropriate way possible.
Today’s world which highlights the importance of sustainable living, doing more with less and creating wellness for a sense of fulfilment is key. It makes the subtext with athleisure even more prominent in today’s society.
Sports brands getting us comfortable with casual
Our appetite for sportswear only heightens when we see its performance driven form melded with luxury brands. Whether they’re haute couture brands or considered “high-end” our feelings for sportswear being niche assuage when luxury brands collaborate to a common goal.
When the names, branding and meticulous craft of the LVMH world come to the fore in the sports world, athleisure ideology transcends in a big way.
While at Dior, creative director Kim Jones adapted the Jordon 1 from Nike which trail-blazed a large following of passioned consumers in 2020. Adidas collaborated with both Prada and Gucci in 2022 and Loewe’s on going relationship with the Swiss brand ON is also an example of this starting in the same year.
But it’s not just the LVMH group which has sort to capitalise on speaking the language of sportswear construction.
Victoria Beckham worked with Reebok (2019), Jacquemus and Nike honed Parisian craft with athletic endeavour (2022) and designer Willy Chavarria began fusing his world with that of Adidas (2021). All have influenced the social following to garner athleisure, develop its cultural conversation and make athletic fashion a main stay in the eyes of consumers.
It would be easy to categorise the desire people have with these cross-pollinated worlds as merely a trickle down effect.
The kind where elite narration decides just how smart sportswear can be and those on the ground shopping follow suit. My thinking is that as a culture we realise sportswear has an ergonomical beauty of its own which is only embellished by luxury brands. Comfort, elegance and taste are not ‘top-down’ exclusive as athleisure continues blazing its own path to glory.
Consumer economics: The thinking behind our choices
When I talk with customers about their goals buying active footwear, the terms “daily use” and “everyday lifestyle” become interchangeable.
After unpacking these terms with more open ended questions and active listening, it’s clear the trainers in question won’t just be used for general commuting. When customers discuss an everyday lifestyle shoe they’re phrasing the notion it will be adaptable in multiple settings and scenarios.
“I want to be able to walk, go to the gym, do errands and maybe a little bit of running too”.
So the shoe really has to do a lot to paraphrase this thinking.
This mindset is also offset by consumers being more economically savvy in today’s social climate.
Rising inflation means surplus income must be used wisely with more emphasis on products that “kill multiple birds with one stone” so to speak. Sportswear is perhaps the only fashion sector where two polar extremes like ready to wear can converge with athletic performance. The result is a new construct in athleisure where so many lifestyle goals are ticked with hybrid ease.
This also fits nicely on the apparel side too. Sportswear is known for its thermoregulating properties more than any other lifestyle or ready to wear brands. The idea being that the varying percentages of nylon, polyester and elastane keep our body temperature balanced. Cooling off and warming us up depending on the situation. We use many of the sub categories within sportswear to accommodate our wider lifestyle goals whether its running, hiking or gym wear. Today, our wardrobes have never been more athleisure orientated than before.
We live in an age where going to work is not a token of status. But being a more content version of ourselves – one that is more relaxed with casual appearances.
We also consider optimising for thriftiness as a hallmark of sustainable action as our ocean levels rise and more apparel and footwear is dumped in to our seas. With all of these things in mind it looks like the “three in one” consumer trend will only grow.
Going from athleisure to lifewear: The next evolution
Sportswear brands grow market share on one simple assumption: the niche represented with sweating must be a world onto itself. This means the finite area of active performance doesn’t happen long enough in a persons day to fully encapsulate who they are.
There must be more.
So more brands try to accomodate the lifestyle part to appeal to more customers. With more people having a wardrobe that blends different brands together fashion companies have responded by expanding their scope to be lifewear orientated.
This means having a brand that has various touch points for the consumer which enlighten and problem solve in the most organic and authentic way.
More companies are doing this and either start as ready to wear brands with activewear made additional. Or sportswear brands that also do ready to wear. Their fusion of the two worlds are similar but with varying results.
Uniqlo, Hugo Boss and Zara sit on the ready to wear end of the spectrum. While brands like Fabletics, Vuori and Live The Process sit on the more aspirational athletic side of things. The real trick with these brands is talking to consumers in an authentic way that doesn’t stilt the most recognisable version of themselves.
Diversified brands have a lot to consider, not in terms of what product lines to add, but which ones to subtract as consumer tastes evolve.
Everyone wanting something can look elsewhere so it’s important these brands understand this. This doesn’t necessarily mean the scarcity mentality of selling their brand universe to the consumer.
It could counterintuitively mean appreciating how their brand can compliment the myriad of other brands a customer may have. Athleisure brands that understand this as a secret ingredient of success will be the ones who win new fans with an irresistible soft sale philosophy.
