The Age of Athleisure: What’s Next?

Written by: Jordann Landretti

Since the pandemic hit in early 2020, the athleisure fashion trend has continued to be popular among consumers. Being at home all the time eliminated the need to dress up and created a desire to stay in constant comfort. These ideals have lasted and continue to show up in places such as airports, schools, and even the workplace. Business casual now includes dress pants that feel like sweats and elevated sweatshirts. However, there is unrest happening in the fashion world against the idea of wearing sweatpants all the time. Has the trend run its course, or is it just evolving? Are we past the point of the pandemic to finally stop wearing our sweats? The answer is no, athleisure is evolving

When you have nowhere to go, why not wear what makes you comfortable? Sweatpants and sweatshirts are many people's first go-to to feel cozy but were not always socially acceptable to wear outside the house. That all changed when COVID hit, which ultimately opened up the market for more fashionable sweatpants. Athleisure companies thrived off of these trends and still are going strong. Now that comfort has been introduced, it is hard for people to stay away from it. However, taking a look into some of the most popular athleisure brands, we can see that trends have shifted away from just workout attire and more of a marketing push on casual, even business casual wear.

For example, an industry leader in the athleisure market, Lululemon, recently came out with a product called the “Daydrift” pants. Which is a trouser style pant that holds the comfort of sleek sweatpants with a comfortable waistband. This, in addition to other products that have come out of the brand's inventory, includes blazers, other dress pants mostly for men, sweaters, etc. All of these have the same comfort of athleisure with the aesthetic of business casual and business professional. The men’s “ABC Pants” are notorious for their business professional look while being comfortable enough to wear on the plane, which is why it's such a popular product. Lululemon is not the only company straying away from just athleisure workout gear, companies such as Alo and Athleta have made blazers and other dress pants and jumpsuits that can be dressed up or down.

The Alo “First-Class Blazer” for example embodies the business professional aesthetic made out of stretchy and sleek material used for the brand’s true athleisure clothing. There is a definite movement from classic athleisure to more business casual attire. Another interesting example was the trend of viral jeans from Rag & Bone that fit and feel like sweatpants but look just like jeans. These jeans were in the spotlight on TikTok for having the appearance of a light wash jean, done so well that it was not believable that they were made out of sweatpant material. Creative ideas that combine the feel of athleisure and casual aesthetic continue to be popular amongst consumers because of their versatility.

Now that the world is close to recovering from COVID, people are back in the workplace and back to having to wear business professional attire, these brands are striving to keep up with these consumer needs. Popular additions such as trousers, a blazer, a button shirt, and a trench coat are quickly being adopted by athleisure brands. More of this is to come as people want fashion but continue to highly value comfort.

Edited by Hana Razvi