Your butt’s been parked on the sofa since March. But now that offices are reopening, it’s time to get your ass in gear. Which leaves us with a vital question: WTF WILL I WEAR?
You can have my sweatpants…
… when you yank them off my cold, dead booty.
Athleisure — clothes that are fit for workouts but are way nicer than your ratty old gym shorts — has been on the rise for years now. The market is projected to leap by $80.7B between 2020 and 2024.
The pandemic has been a boon to many athleisure companies — and some apparel businesses had to pivot to catch up.
“Part of this has been curating some of our most comfortable, casual items into a loungewear page,” Sarah LaFleur, CEO and founder of M.M. LaFleur, a luxury brand that caters to professional women, told us.
An example of LaFleur’s pivot: The company changed how it talked about a pair of pants called the Colbys. LaFleur originally marketed them as travel-friendly, but sales increased 8x when they were renamed the “Colby Jogger.”
Athleisure is getting a glow up
In the Before Times, a solid work ensemble could take us from meetings to meetups at the hottest watering hole. These days, we might hit up a socially distanced vinyasa class before heading home. A few brands nailing the After Times aesthetic:
- As Wired reported, Uniqlo expanded its AIRism undies line — made with moisture-wicking, quick-dry, stank-controlling and antibacterial fabric — to include tank tops, T-shirts, and hoodies.
- Banana Republic makes men’s suits using “Smart-Weight Performance” fabric.
- Epoque Evolution’s versatile pieces are made with Econyl, a 100% regenerated nylon textile made from old carpets and fishnets.
