Athleisure

DESCRIPTION

Athleisure is a casual and comfortable style that can be worn as everyday wear or for exercise. The “sport leisure” style has become the largest category in the U.S. ,bringing more publicity and popularity to brands such as Adidas and Nike (Cheng, 2018). Street style has increased in popularity in recent years due to its nature of self expression in all shapes and forms. Athleisure is very prominent in the carefree vibe of street style causing many bloggers and celebrities to pose in both their affordable and high end athleisure. Examples of athleisure brands are Adidas, Nike, and Champion, these are more affordable compared to high end brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Off-White who are contributing to the athleisure and street style trend. These brands carry various forms of sneakers, leggings, sweatshirts, T-shirts and hats. In 2014, Vogue dedicated an entire article to the rising popularity of gym to street wear.  The article states the two reasons this new trend came to be was to provide a quick transition from one activity to the next, not compromising style for comfort, as well as the fashion industry simply becoming more acceptable (Studeman, 2014). Considering that back in 2014 was when altheisure first became a common thing to continuing to rise in popularity as each year passes, it does not seem to be going out of style any time soon.

HISTORY

 

Image(s) 1-3 from left to right: Image 1: This woman is dressed in coordinating pieces from Adidas, Image 2: Pairing athleisure-wear leggings with a bomber jacket, why not? Image 3: Nothing dresses up your yoga-wear like a wool top coat

Many attribute the arrival of the Athleisure trend to the founding of Lululemon in 1998. The $98 Lululemon Yoga pants bridged the gap between the comfort and ease of athletic-wear designed for the gym and a more sophisticated version of “loungewear”. Shifting acceptance of attire considered to be acceptable in public, as well as in the workplace, combined with the pants’ indisputable level of comfort, allowed the trend to spread quickly.  Suddenly, designer athletic-wear started popping up all over and the trend caught on like wildfire. By 2015, denim sales had dropped suddenly by almost 6% after a decade of steadily rising sales. Meanwhile, athletic-wear spiked by 7% in the same period. By 2015, Americans were spending nearly $44 billion on Athleisure items; a staggering 16% rise from 2014. Some relate this shift in trend to a lack of new designs in the denim industry combined with an upward trend toward active lifestyles and shifting interests in health for consumers.

CONTEMPORARY USAGE

The athleisure trend isn’t taking a rest from earlier this year, the sport leisure style has become the largest category in the U.S. sneaker space, beating performance-oriented footwear.  The athleisure culture does not seem to show any sign of slowing down in the near future, as it is still a very popular style to wear. Many companies are expanding their lines to include more athleisure-type shoes due to the steady flow of popularity that has been increasing the past two years.  Athleisure has been described as the new casual, combining both comfort and durability. It has as created a fundamental shift from being trendy to an actual style that people embrace and promote. Athleisure-wear started out as more of a trend, but further grew into a common and popularly expanding style.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE