Activewear has been trending for several years now. Being fit is in style and workout clothes have become more acceptable for everyday casual outfits. The active segment of the fashion world has enjoyed a blazing growth rate for the last few years, seemingly with no end in sight.
According to market research by Euromonitor, activewear growth in 2016 outpaced the fashion industry’s growth at 7% versus 4%, respectively. But within the estimated $78 billion market, the data show that “performance apparel” only grew by just under 5%, not much higher than the broader fashion industry average. So how did the 7% number come about? It was mostly driven by “sports-inspired footwear” (i.e., athleisure shoes) and performance footwear, both hovering around 9% growth.
While athleisure street fashion and sporty shoes might still be going strong, activewear itself isn’t reaching the same heights. This report was published in January of 2017, so how those numbers have evolved in the intervening months remains to be seen.
Importantly, the data above encompass the entire global marketplace. Outside of the United States, the activewear market is in different stages of maturity. Europe and Asia still appear to be hot markets for activewear, which I would speculate are outpacing growth in the US in terms of percentage.
Here in the US, it feels like the tide is turning. Even within the last year, active fashion seems to have reached a plateau as the market continues to mature. Although this theory is partially a gut feeling, I have a few specific examples that lend support to the idea that active fashion is cooling off.
1 | Very few new brands
Two or three years ago, I was constantly discovering new brands. It seemed like everywhere I turned, there was a new label launching and something new to try. Now, it’s much harder to find new brands that look like promising up-and-comers.
And it’s not just me. Multi-brand stockists like Carbon38, Bandier, and Revolve are rarely adding new brands to their lineup. Instead, their new arrivals sections are stocked with new season collections from established labels.
The market is currently dominated by both long-standing activewear giants (e.g., Nike, Adidas, lululemon) as well as independent brands that are relatively young, but still established enough to have gained traction in their niche. Brand new startups seem to have mostly dropped out of the picture and get little hype or awareness.
In other words, it feels like the market is equilibrating. The players in the game are set, and shake-ups in the space are becoming rarer.
2 | Influencers changing their scope
A while back, I found and followed a whole slew of fitness influencers on Instagram. These women have become extremely popular, some even making a living off of their social media influence.
As the months ticked by, I noticed that many (most?) of them started posting more and more content that had nothing to do with fitness. Although they had always shared some element of “lifestyle” content, the balance flipped. Instead of fitness being the focus with lifestyle content filling in occasionally, now fitness takes a back seat to posts of their outfits, chic soirées, and beauty routines.
Even more telling, recently quite a few of them changed their fitness-minded Instagram usernames to something that no longer included fitness at all. Although most of these women were never explicitly activewear influencers, the transition is still suggestive of the underlying trend. Fitness seems to have become something influencers do in the background rather than their central message.
3 | Lower blog traffic
Over the last few months, traffic on this site has fluctuated, but the trend has turned slightly downward. In particular, my reviews of non-lululemon brands seem to garner less interest than they used to. Granted, lululemon posts have always outperformed posts featuring other brands, but the trend seems more marked of late.
It’s hard to gauge this one accurately, since I’ve also cut back on the frequency of posting to save my sanity and give me time for other important things in my life. So, there may be other factors at play in terms of the slight slowing of traffic to my site, but it’s one more thing that has me raising an eyebrow at the state of activewear.
4 | Fewer blog inquiries from active brands
Not long ago, I would get inquiries from brands at least once a week asking me to promote their products. These emails included a mixture of existing brands and new ones I hadn’t heard of. These days, the inquiries have drastically slowed. I get many fewer inquiries, and the ones I do get are often for other types of products, not activewear at all. This observation supports the idea that there are fewer brands starting up.
A big caveat: activewear is not truly a trend
Here’s the thing: yes, activewear has been a huge market for a while. It’s grown by leaps and bounds as being fit and wearing comfortable clothes has become particularly trendy.
That said, activewear isn’t like bell sleeves, blocky heels, or lace-up sweaters. Though it’s been partially co-opted as a style statement, it’s not a purely aesthetic trend. It’s a segment of fashion that actually has a functional purpose.
Unlike bell sleeves, people will always need activewear because there will always be active people (I hope!). Technically-minded clothing serves a legitimate need. With that in mind, there will always be a market for stylish, functional activewear that helps people perform their best and feel good doing it. Believe me, I don’t see the entire activewear niche going the way of 00’s-era Juicy Couture tracksuits anytime soon.
The future of activewear
The way I see it, activewear isn’t dying, it’s just entering a new phase of maturity. Instead of the wild, haphazard period of growth in which everyone and their dog was starting an activewear label, the market is becoming more discerning. This leveling off has always felt inevitable to me, it’s just been a question of when that shift would occur. Perhaps we’re reaching that point now.
Now that the shiny newness of active fashion has worn off, I think consumers are re-balancing their buying patterns with a healthy mix of performance clothing and streetwear, rather than all activewear all the time. Several years ago, the novelty factor of readily available, stylish, high-quality activewear was enough to throw us into a buy-everything frenzy. As our closets have become fully stocked with spandex, we still appreciate a fantastic addition to our repertoire, but we’re choosier.
I absolutely still believe that new players can and will successfully enter the space. Indeed, I hope they do! Active fashion will continue to grow and fantastic products will continue to be available, but it will happen at a more modest pace in contrast to the meteoric growth of years past.
What do you think? Has the luster of active fashion started to fade? Have buyers gotten their fill of activewear and are now moving on to other things? Or do you think the demand is still as strong as ever?
I don’t know if it’s past its peak or not since I don’t follow trends or fashion much. I do know that I got very tired of brands that were formerly functional AND attractive moving more in a direction of fashion. Lululemon is the worst offender that comes to mind – I used to haunt uploads and spend a TON of money there, and now I haven’t bought anything there in close to a year. All the black/white/gray/barely-there pastels, and moving to “cropped” and shorter inseams on everything (and problems in quality and sizing and customer service) totally turned me off. Even Athleta, which used to have very functional catalogs, is moving to more of the monochrome look and catalogs which look more like fashion shows than catalogs. I’m not going to plow through pages of that, or root around on websites, trying to find cute functional workout clothes – I’ve mainly been using what’s in my closet.
As you said – I’m also WAY more choosy about things. Using LLL as a example – when they were putting out so much fantastic stuff, I tried to grab as much as I could. Now, I wait until I see something I LOVE, which is so rare in any brand these days that I’m not buying much. And when it arrives, it better be perfect, or it’s going back.
Also agree about bloggers becoming more “lifestylers”. Frankly I’m not interested in their beauty routines or food preferences or trips or events they attend, and I’ve pretty much stopped reading almost all the blogs and Facebook groups I used to. I just get up, put on workout clothes I already have in my closets, and do my workouts. :-)
Yeah, I’ve been pretty uninspired by the constant slog of monochrome as well. At some point, I really do have enough black pants! I wish I had more running clothes from lululemon when the quality was a bit better, but thankfully there’s still eBay and Poshmark. :) I picked up an older running vest for half of retail price, and it’s cuter and better than the current stuff so I call that a win.
Re: lifestyle bloggers, I think there’s value in mixing things up and showing a bit of your personality, but at some point it’s just too much and starts to feel like some sort of weird lifestyle voyeurism. That’s not really valuable to me.
i agree that the market has become more discerning. i dont see the “ill buy everything on upload night” mentality anymore. this can be because people are pickier or because they have bought so much before that chances are, they will have something similar in their closet already.
the overriding shopping thought in my mind lately is … just how many gray tanks do i need? or how many blue tights? these days, for me to actually buy something, it has to be different, either in print or in function.
Yes, I agree that I don’t see the crazy upload shopping sprees to the same extent. That’s also underscored by the lessened enthusiasm for and buzz surrounding lulu’s uploads in general.
I agree that I’m more critical about whether something is going to add something different to my closet. Granted, I still buy things because I’m curious about a brand or for style reasons (particularly if I want to share it on this space), but I’m still way pickier than I was, say, 2 years ago.
I was never one to wear active wear outside the gym or for casual/daily wear and I never understood that whole thing. Did I go to coffee after a yoga class in my yoga pants? Yes, but on rest/non-workout days you would find me in normal non athletic comfortable clothing. I’ve just always done that. Active wear for activity, regular clothing for everyday life. I always spent decent money for both types. Even the old days of Lulu’s “buy now, think later” mentality didn’t suck me in. I only bought true technical items that worked for my specific workouts. I haven’t bought Lulu in quite a long time as it seemed they moved over from the technical clothing to the more athleisure style. I’ve moved over to Athleta for a lot of my technical clothing now. They have great technical gear plus they have a separate athleisure line. They haven’t given up one for the other (Unlike Lulu has).
As far as the trend of athletic wear – I usually don’t pay attention to trends like that as such. I do think athletic wear as casual wear is on it’s way out though as people realize you can be just as comfy in a great pair of jeans and boots paired with a cute sweater and feel put together and cute and not sloppy or look like you just came from the gym. That part of the trend is on its way out IMO.
I’m in such ways similar to you. To me, athletic wear is for the gym. I do not wear athleisure as a trend out of the gym. My style is definintely more on the feminine/formal side so the gym clothes outside the gym never interested me.
I wore my lululemon to the gym 10 years ago and I still do so today. I buy fewer and fewer pieces too. Not just because i find say lululemon has become boring (and they have), but mostly because i have more than enough for what I need. I do exercise 5-6 times a week, but I also have 3 drawers full of leggings, tanks, technical jackets,…that I’ve been collecting the past 10 years. Now a days I spend my money on house renovation, international trips, my daughter’s education fund….you know you grow up and priorities change.
Yes, re: your last point, I think a lot of people were lured in by the idea of being maximally comfortable and the novelty of the whole thing, but that allure seems to be fading. And I agree that lulu seems to be placing less emphasis on performance elements of their clothing in favor of transitional styles. Besides their actual products, their branding and imagery also seems to evoke more feelings of a weekend warrior lifestyle and downplaying the committed athlete angle it seems like they used to have.
I am more concerned about looking good as a result of my workouts rather than looking good while working out. That said, I do try not to clash and take some care with my clothing choices for working out. However, I don’t buy much. The stuff I have lasts forever. And I could care less if it isn’t the latest season or color or style. When I do buy, I tend to pick things off the sales racks.
Like the person above, I have a wardrobe for working out and a wardrobe for wearing. I absolutely do not wear workout clothing as casual wear. It is not a look I like.
I think Athleta has some very cute casual, non-workout clothes: dresses, t-shirts, cashmere sweaters, etc.
I look forward to seeing your latest national park pictures!
Heh, your first sentence is quite on the nose! Obviously I always try to make my outfits nice, but at the end of the day, I’m not going to wear unsupportive tights on a long run just because they match my shoes better or have a cool design!
I’m a runner, a long distance runner. I get really sweaty & gross. That’s just fine. Have you ever heard, “you look good wearing clothes!”? That’s the affirming comment I hear but do not seek.
I only ever had one foot in the whole active wear craze. Being busty and hourglass-shaped even at my fittest/leanest, I never could walk into a place like lululemon and just buy whatever I wanted. I’ve always had to be discerning. There are some primo pieces in my active collection, but that collection is very small compared to a lot of women I know.
I agree though, that the activewear trend is slowing down. Just judging from my own reaction to it – though I would like to add more to my small collection, I rarely see anything these days that excites me, and I’ve also noticed that there’s just less out there to peruse. Like a couple commenters said, even the big companies like lululemon put out so much blah stuff now, and at a premium price. I used to drool over Alala, but they’re charm is wearing off of me too. My activewear attitude is moving away from “this looks great and I must have it!!” and more into “I kinda need some new running crops for fall, is there anything decent out there that doesn’t come in black/heathered grey?”
I’m busty and hourglass like you (40″-30″-40″ with 32G/H cups) and still managed to collect quite a few lulu items (oooops). I have been buying for around 1o years though. I just don’t buy my sports bras there. And have bought very few pieces for the past 3 years (maybe 1 item every 3 months if I really like it).
I like your attitude on active wear too and feel the same. I just started getting serious about running. So I have purchased some cold weather running stuff (I live in cold climate). So it’s more based on need now…
Only been buying LLL for about three years – would probably have a lot more if I’d discovered them when they were truly good! Their bras are straight out for me but even their tops generally don’t work (I mean, their tank tops fit me okay, but I always feel bad spending $50 on a simple tank. There are some things I’ll splurge on and some things I just won’t).
I see what you mean. I do wear their Energy bras, but only for yoga. I stay away from their tank that have bras incorporated because I know they don’t fit. I don’t really blame them though, I blame my bust, lol!
I do love me some ls swiftly shirts from Lulu and older CRB’s.
I agree that I’ve felt a bit more blah about just about every brand. It’s unclear whether it’s because the appeal of buying more is wearing off in general, or the designs just aren’t speaking to me like they used to. Your last sentence nails it, haha. Ironically, even though it feels like there are a zillion brands out there, the options in terms of colors and styles (particularly among true performance designs) can feel very redundant.
I’m at the gym most days, either teaching or working out myself, so I’ll probably always be into activewear. I basically try to dress up leggings in any way I can to justify wearing them out of the gym and to work. I also have a short attention span for clothes, so I’m constantly selling, stalking, and buying. I have noticed that it’s become harder to re-sell, which is disappointing. I’ve been more nervous lately about buying anything that isn’t discounted.
I know I’m alone in this, but the Lululemon reviews are the only ones I don’t really read. I’m still very interested in the smaller labels and appreciate all of your reviews. I probably wouldn’t have branched out as much as I have without your careful reviews.
I’ve definitely noticed that it’s become harder to re-sell, especially on Poshmark, where I get ridiculously low offers because once one person sells something similar from that brand at a low price, that’s what becomes expected. Of course, I like scoring a good deal too, but it just makes selling way harder and makes me wary of buying things from smaller / less known brands.
Yes, reselling seems slow for me too. It doesn’t seem like something I can count on as a fallback to recoup my costs. Instead, what I make from reselling is more like a nice-to-have bonus, if I manage to sell. And thanks for the input and positive words on reviews. :)
my jeans have been shelved for the past few years in favor of leggings and athletic pants, but lately I have enjoyed wearing them again along with some cute, colorful tops, seems like a lot of sportswear these days is so plain and only available in drab colors. I just wish that “normal” tops and dresses would be made with more comfortable athletic fabrics, so that you get the comfort of sportswear without the sportswear look.
It’s funny, but I used to own like 2-3 pairs of jeans and wore activewear all the time. I was also in grad school, but still! Now that I’ve discovered jeans that I actually like wearing and that are almost as comfy as leggings, I’ve stocked up and am wearing them more than yoga pants.
Drab colors is definitely a theme of this comment section today–I’m with you on that. Like ssiren, finding comfortable and flattering jeans is so helpful for appreciating both sides of the fashion fence.
Regarding the drab colors: in a Lululemon store I looked at the merino wool sweater with a kangaroo pocket. Loved it at first glance but the offerings were dark gray, lighter dark gray, or so dark navy blue it was indistinguable from dark gray. Not my choice of color at all! So it stayed in the store
I really enjoyed this article and feel it is especially well-written! I hadn’t consciously noticed these changes, but now that you point them out I can definitely see what you’re saying.
I’m a big Lululemon fan and I only got on board 2 years ago, but IMO they have totally changed in that time and not for the better. Personally I blame these changes for the shift in the bloggers focus, there just isn’t as much to get excited about so they’ve had to branch out.
For Athleta, I’ve been staying away from their pants since I found LLL but I recently bought a pair in their powervita material and I’m really impressed. I haven’t seen you post anything about it but I think you should definitely check them out. I don’t think I’m the first to describe them but they are softer than LLL aligns and have compression, super nice. I ordered a second pair (guilty face).
Thanks for your great post and awesome blog :)
Thanks for the kind words! It was a fun piece to write. :)
I agree with you that even in the last 2 years, lulu’s whole vibe has shifted considerably. The pieces of change were in place before that, but they seem to have really doubled down. They’re definitely a totally different brand now than they used to be.
Re: powervita, I tried a pair of leggings when they first came out, but they unfortunately fit terribly so they went back immediately. Now that they have more options I might try again at some point, especially if the fabric is good for my aerial classes…
i wonder what the breakdown is for athleisure versus technical stuff. you touch on it here, but i’ve long noticed a general trend toward athleisure – with fake leather fabrics, lots of metal zippers, or voluminous designs that are not actually useful for sports – which has really taken off in the last two seasons. koral, for example, labels how technical its fabrics are, so many leggings that look technical are actually meant for “medium” performance. it’s almost like companies are splitting off into two categories: athletic-inspired casual wear and actual activewear. i’m not against the separation of more definitively athleisure designs, because i personally never much liked going out wearing clothes that looked truly like i was about to work out. (plus, in much of europe, the full-on athleticwear-all-day trend never really caught on.) so i have separate “wardrobes” for working out and casual-cool comfort. but, beyond my personal preferences/experiences, it has looked to me for a while that this division might be where the pendulum is swinging. and it makes sense, from a business perspective: actual technical clothes must be ultimately less lucrative for companies than the fancier athleisure stuff that feels more fashiony (and thus can be more expensive) and can follow trends more effectively (too many performance-based limitations in actual activewear).
I completely agree with this. Good blog post and great opinions. I’m just glad that If I want clothes to specifically work out in, I don’t have to order men’s small sizes from the eastbay catalog like I did in the 90s…. lol
**and by good blog post I mean GREAT awesome post lol
agree!! though i must say it is much like the fitness industry where ppl are trending towards more trendy workouts/boutique fitness studios vs the traditional gyms etc. so that’s where the market for gym wear was headed towards ie ppl wanted to feel unique/look unique and trendy in the gym, nevermind if it really holds for workouts.. I love active wear, but mainly because of my body shape, i can’t really wear jeans anymore or tops with sleeves without looking like a sausage or sack. but i definitely appreciate good technical fabrics and designs (esp for bras). and i don’t get the ‘faux leather’ things .. lol don’t see how they would hold up in the gym.
that said, there are too many labels out there selling similar items .. after a while the market does get saturated ..
will be interesting to see which brands will continue to stay
You make excellent points. I live in Germany and when I wear my fitness clothing in the daytime on my way to teach Pilates, it’s clear that I’m on my way specifically to work out. Athleisure didn’t catch on in Europe quite as much as it did in the USA.
Re: the fancier athleisure vs. technical clothing: SPOT ON. I’m sorry, but I can’t work out in fake leather pants. It restricts my movements. Same with frivolous zippers. I can’t lay on a Pilates Reformer with zippers cutting in my flesh. I’ve tended to move towards technical pieces vs. the more fashion minded garments. I think a lot of people have done that. Maybe I shouldn’t call certain companies out, but I don’t know if anyone has noticed that Carbon 38 went in a very fashion minded direction and is still doing that with some of their in house collections. I would look at a lot of their pieces and think, “Looks interesting but how could you really wear that for a challenging workout.” I’ll admit I own quite a few of their plain tanks and love them for my sweaty workouts but I haven’t been buying much from them lately because some pieces were a bit over the top.
Carbon38 is a great example. Besides their leggings and what have you, many of their recent collections aren’t even trying to be workout clothing, they’re just purely casual clothing that happens to be sportswear-inspired (e.g., passport collection). When they started creating collections, it was pretty much exclusively technical, so the fashion capsules seems to be a change. I’m not hating on that, because if that’s what they want to create and sell, that’s totally fine, but it does seem to underline the broader trend.
Very insightful points. I completely agree that there are lots of “medium” performance brands that function well for studio or home workouts, but don’t always hold up to intense performance. On a personal note, those types of designs worked well for me for crossfit and the other various active things I was mostly doing a couple years ago. On the other hand, currently, both of my athletic hobbies (trail running and aerial silks) require a very specific set of performance/design characteristics, so I’ve gone the opposite direction in my buying preferences versus the industry, which has been rather ill-timed.
I think you raise a good point that fashion-influenced, mostly-functional activewear is a more tenable, scaleable niche than true performance clothing. Ironically, lululemon really founded the high-performance activewear with stylistic elements, but even they have mostly abandoned that and migrated toward trends and casual, sports-inspired designs along with the majority of other brands.
This is such an interesting question to ask and think about! I’ve definitely noticed a change, especially in regards to fitness/yoga social media posts and influencers. Some accounts I follow have been posting less and are a bit “over it” (and I kind of am too!).
I think that the leveling off of the activewear market can be a good thing because it means whatever brands are still going strong are maybe the ones that should because they create great product. At the same time, there’s only so much activewear a girl can own! Given that how costly some pieces can be, they should last a good long while.
Personally, I’ve been trying my best to cut back on purchases and really only get what I really like and what I really feel good in while selling/purging the rest. As much as I appreciate creative design, sometimes designers can get a bit crazy and the balance between style and function leans more toward style and what’s the point of cute yoga pants that I hate actually practicing in because they aren’t comfortable?
Anyway, off to read the rest of these comments!
P.S. I still very much enjoy your content! Also, I’m still looking for good tights for general cardio/outdoor running in chillier weather, so if you have any recommendations, let a gal know :)
I run in Lululemon’s Speed Tights. My favorite are the Speed Tight III with the cute ruching at the bottom of the leg. I have a pair of the Speed Tight V (without the ugly mesh) and they are nice too. Hate the big meshy panels they put on those. If i’m in tights, it’s COLD. I do NOT want large mesh panels! Anyway, I digress. The V without the mesh is great too. I’ve tried pretty much every tight from every brand and nothing has really compared to the great compression, fit and comfort of Lulu’s speed tights. I’m buying III’s off ebay and other places to bring my winter run gear up enough so I don’t have to wash every other day to re-wear. I have not tried their new Speed Up tights (speed tight replacements) but you can try and see if they fit you well.
I think it will be very interesting to see which brands can withstand the test of time. Like you mentioned, it isn’t such a bad thing if some brands fade away if it means they didn’t have as good of a product. On the other hand, if only the super-fashion-y brands that have impractical designs for casual use (i.e., the theme of many of these comments) are the main survivors…that would be a bummer!
Re: colder weather, I’m a bit in the same boat so I don’t have a ton of suggestions. I’ve had good luck with Sweaty Betty’s thermal bottoms. They fit well, are supportive, and are quite warm. I’m considering trying Athleta’s traverse tight also.
I’m late to the party but really enjoyed this post (and the comments). You touched on quite few things I have been thinking about myself plus more. I still really enjoy the athletic blogs I follow (yours especially). but I have noticed they are disappearing or changing gears. Like many of the ladies here commented, I strictly wear my athletic wear to work out. I tend to be a more formally dressed up person (pencil skirts, shift dresses, suits,…) so athleisure never really worked for me. Not even since becoming a mom 5 years ago. I have definitely slowed down my gym wear purchases because I already have so much. I have even sold a lot of my older lulu stuff.
Anyway, keep up the good work. I always enjoy your blog especially your reviews. I have become more serious about running lately so I’m mostly looking for that type of gear. Especially for cold weather run.
Re: blogs disappearing or switching gears, it’s tough for me to tease out whether it’s a loss of reader interest or a loss of writer interest. Regardless of bloggers’ original topic of interest, it seems many fall prey to the idea of turning their focus more to “lifestyle” once they gain popularity (I can think of some fashion and food blogs that have done this, for example). So I’m not sure if that has more to do with it than the activewear trend, per se. At any rate, thanks for the positive words. I’m also looking for more cold weather options–almost all of mine are lulu, and their cold weather stuff hasn’t been that great anymore. So, if I find anything good I’ll definitely share!
I, for one, will be glad when the athleisure trend is “over”. I started wearing activewear as casual wear years before it became trendy, as I was usually at the gym and it saved me from having to do so much washing. Call it laziness, plus I value comfort over style.
I was glad when the trend took off since I had a lot more choices, but now I find I get put in the “yoga mom” category when doing the school run or out casually. I don’t like being a trend follower but all of a sudden, I found every person around me was dressed similarly.
I can’t wait for the trend followers to get off the bandwagon and leave dorky old me and my leggings in peace
Heh, that’s definitely a different way to look at it. I can definitely see how it would be annoying to get lumped into a category you didn’t quite intend to be in. :)
This post was interesting to me because I was actually giving this some thought the other day. I’m a fitness instructor and lately I actually haven’t been finding much in the way of athleisure clothing that is peaking my interest. I’m also trying to buy less. I wonder if the market became so saturated and some of us bought a lot when the trend was first becoming popular. I know I’ve ended up with a closet full of active wear that I’ve resold on Ebay. I would try new brands-some were hits, some were misses. The misses I used to resell on Ebay. I do agree with some comments regarding the resale value of athleisure items declining in the recent months. I have to be honest: I’m secretly a little glad because I think there needs to be better quality in the industry at slightly lower prices. It’s possible. I’ve paid for higher priced brands in the past only to have seams come undone and holes in fabric due to light wear. I think at the height of athleisure, some brands could command higher prices because they didn’t have competitors who were marketing similar items. That trend has changed. The market became saturated and consumers had many other options. I wonder if we’ve just overdosed a bit. Some comments mention shopping in our own closets and I’m doing that more and more. Gone are the days when I’d just buy on the spot. I try to be more savvy now. I go for quality but I refuse to pay some of the higher prices because I’ve been burned by low quality for the money in the past. I’m drawing more lines in the sand when I shop and just saying, “Not at that price!” and it actually feels good. My wallet breathes a sigh of relief and I find that I really didn’t need the item(s) when I look in my own stash of athleisure clothes that I’ve been amassing for the last couple of years.
Again, I have to wonder if we got a little burned out and as the prices sky rocketed at the height of the trend, we got a little more disenchanted when the items didn’t stand up to the test of time and/or didn’t fit us well etc. Agent Athletica had a great article about curbing impulsive shopping and ways to shop smart and I really liked it. I think we’re doing more of that these days because there are more athleisure options out there than there used to be. We know which brands work for us now and which ones produce a consistently high level of quality garments. Maybe we’re past the getting to know you stage of the athleisure trend and now we’re more comfortable with our favorites. I can actually report that I took a long break from Lululemon and have just recently returned to buy just a few items that I know work for me. I burned out on the Lulu culture and for a while, I had some quality issues with some of their items and couldn’t justify buying any more. I had more choices too in terms of other companies to try. I’ve settled on some of my favorites and I stick with those. As I mentioned, I’m an instructor so I spend a lot of time in the clothing and nothing ticks me off more than discomfort in the clothing and poor quality.
And I’ll just reiterate the importance of affordability. I want companies to be reasonable on pricing and prioritize quality. I won’t reward companies with my business if the prices aren’t good and the quality isn’t there.
I think you touch on a good point that because activewear got so popular, it meant a lot of brands could sell non-premium clothing at premium price points (especially if the designs were original and particularly fashionable). While I have absolutely no problem paying for quality, brands are all over the place in terms of quality-to-price ratio. I hope as consumers become more discerning, quality will become more of a priority.
Thanks for such a thoughtful comment!
Regarding the lifestyle postings: i think if you can identify with the poster/blogger it’s all good. But if not it’s killer.
Yes I think that’s true, at least to some extent. I’m much more likely to enjoy “off topic” content from someone who resonates with me personally in some way.
Lurker on your blog here! haha you’re still my primary go to for active wear ;) do take care and get well soon!