Athleisure Wear in a Nutshell
When you go walking down the street on your way to brunch, what are most people wearing? What are you wearing? It is probably athleisure wear. On your wrist is either a Fitbit, Garmin or an Apple watch. If our parents went walking down the street back when they were young, how people dressed was utterly different. Daily clothing used to be more formal, we now how the advantage of wearing casual and comfortable clothes. We wear gym clothes as our regular clothes and is it is deemed acceptable and encouraged by society.
Athleisure wear in a nutshell and why it became a socially accepted trend.
It all started when gymnasiums opened. At first men and women went to the gym in formal clothes. As time passed people realized that they could were more comfortable clothing to the gym as they were segregated by gender. Men and especially women could wear looser and more ‘scandalous’ clothing to the gym- you could be fined for showing your ankles in public if you were a woman. Then when athletes started to wear comfortable clothing for public games, viewers started to copy the player’s fashion on the street. Most clothing that we find comfortable now come from sports. Sweaters were used originally for sports, so you could sweat in it, turtle necks come from polo, sneakers come from croquet, etc.
Casual clothing started to take over the streets in the 1950s, especially in the younger demographic. Yet the real hype started when Run - D.M.C recorded their song My Adidas. The song became so popular that the hip-hop group got a $1.6 million dollars deal with Adidas. Since then brands have been endorsing music artists to influence the market. When rap artists started to become famous, fashion brands took notice and didn’t hesitate to dress and endorse them. Rap artists were the ‘It’ people of the 90s, so if a rap artist wore any brand on stage or on the red carpet, that brand was automatically seen as cool. Young people started to copy their heroes’ style on the street. Hence the birth of streetwear. This paved the way to dressing informally on the street and to events.
It’s no wonder that when Lululemon invented their magical leggings that fit great without revealing the crotch area (thanks to the way that they are manufactured). It became socially acceptable to wear gym clothes on the street and even to work. People already wore informal clothing all the time, now they can wear gym clothes everywhere. This opened the doors to what we now know as athleisure wear.
If you wish to learn more, there is a great documentary on Netflix called Explained, search for the episode titled ‘Athleisure Wear’.
Is there a clear relationship between athleisure wear and a healthy lifestyle? Yes. With so many gadgets and new technological advances in sportswear, it is now easier to exercise and promote eating better. People are more conscious about what goes into their body and taking good care of it...But more on that next week! Stay tuned to find out about how the health craze has opened the market for some great ideas. Do you use athleisure wear? Do you believe that ahtleisure wear and a healthy lifestyle directly relate? Leave your comments below!