Athleisure clothing is a billion-dollar business — more than $35 billion last year, to be exact — that could use a better name.
Is the subliminal message that you are being athletic simply by wearing these clothes for leisure?
Does putting on a pair of leggings or workout pants make you feel fit even if you haven’t flexed a muscle? Or is athleisure the catchphrase for the 21st century’s uniform — clothing that’s comfortable and adaptable enough to cover most of your daily stops?
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The variable is “daily stops,” of course. It makes a difference if you’re a young entrepreneur taking a meeting at Starbucks — or a teller working at Bank of America.
Merle Ginsberg, senior style writer for The Hollywood Reporter and a fashion journalist for more than 20 years, said “the trend is not going away — not now, not ever.”
She’s speaking mainly about Los Angeles and New York City, but is any trend just coastal anymore? Considering social media, and chain store proliferation, isn’t what’s happening in L.A. and NYC destined to show up in Des Moines? What’s next? Will pajamas as street-wear become the new frontier in retail?
What’s next? Will pajamas as street-wear become the new frontier in retail?
A brief historical perspective may be helpful (at least we’ll know who is partially to blame for the popularity of leggings and sweatpants as acceptable street-wear).
Back in the early 2000s, two things happened that fueled the athleisure phenomenon. Juicy Couture, a Los Angeles-based company, scored big with its velour sweatsuits. Around the same time, celebrity journalism exploded. Shots of young celebrities going about their daily routine in athleisure outfits were ubiquitous and synonymous with cool. Ka-ching!
Now everyone wanted to get into the athleisure business, especially when it became acceptable for some workplaces. The sales pitch was mix leggings with a nice blouse or jacket, pop on nice shoes, even heels, and you can go anywhere.
“It’s now a cash cow, baby,” is how Ginsberg sums up the business and the reason for its expected longevity.
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Women are divided on this trend. Some say leggings are the greatest advancement in clothing history, while others cringe at the idea of workout attire outside the gym.
The cringers have a point. It can be disconcerting when a middle-aged woman and her 10-year-old daughter are dressed alike — leggings, hoodie, sneakers. It can be annoying when a woman, regardless of age, flaunts her toned physique by wearing yoga pants at the grocery store, dry cleaners or movie theater.
A sorrier image is the person who isn’t fit, however — but who squeezes into leggings just because they’re comfortable.
The male side of athleisure is cringe-worthy as well. There is nothing sexy about droopy sweat pants even if those pants are cashmere and cost $600. Tossing a blazer over sweats is not a modern-day version of a suit. Though some young men can pull off this style, can they really compete with their peers who are dressed for success?
Is there anything sexier than a man with confidence wearing a traditional, well-tailored suit?
There’s also the elitism factor. Many creative jobs allow men and women to wear anything to work — sneakers, sweatshirts, leggings, often with a backpack completing the “look,” Ginsberg points out. How many of us have the luxury of making a living doing one of these creative jobs?
Jodi Guber, who founded a popular athleisure company called Beyond Yoga, told the Yogi Times her goal is to create “clothing that takes a woman from car pool to gym, then off to do errands or lunch with friends while still feeling fashionable and properly dressed.”
No mention of a 9-5 regular job in that description. Just saying.
Ginsberg is probably right that the trend is here to stay, but maybe the younger generation will rebel. Maybe someday we’ll see a “the emperor has no clothes” moment. Maybe some teenage girl will have an epiphany as she watches someone from her mother’s generation show up in leggings at a fancy restaurant and isn’t able to stop herself from blurting out, “OMG, the empress has no pants.”
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