Skintight leggings, crop tops and unitards have long been the workout uniform, but women’s activewear trends are expanding. Photo: The New York Times
When Deirdre Matthews was researching the broader fitness clothing landscape in preparation to launch her own label, one question kept coming to mind: “Why is it all so tight?”
Her brand Literary Sport launched in September during New York Fashion Week with an objective now shared by other clothing labels: to create better continuity between the outfits that women wear in their public lives and those worn at the gym.
For Literary Sport that means exercise clothes that are “boxy and less fitted”, said its design director, Jackie McKeown, who is based in Toronto.
Over the past year, Kirsty Godso, a personal trainer whose client roster includes Kaia Gerber, Olivia Rodrigo, Hailey Bieber and Ayo Edebiri, began observing women in cities like London, Paris and New York wearing looser workout outfits that incorporate unique apparel like vintage T-shirts – creating personalised looks that are more aesthetically unified with their day-to-day clothing choices.
For Godso, who is 36 and based in West Hollywood, the strappy cutout leotards and low-cut crop tops she has seen in gyms across Los Angeles represent a certain crescendo of the tight-tight trend.
“There is something about tomboy style, it’s effortless. It’s good to see that style translate into the gym,” she said.
Many of Literary Sport’s products such as merino wool waffle T-shirts, sleek running jackets and “slightly oversized” shorts gently trace the body’s perimeter, rather than squeezing the form with an iron grip.
Body Of Work, another independent activewear purveyor based in Toronto, calls itself “artisanal sportswear imbued with a sense of ease”, and offers similarly proportioned quarter-zip tops and T-shirts.
“Our silhouettes are wider because I think it feels awkward for people to live their life in more generously cut clothing and then switch into something super tight to be active,” said Dwayne Vatcher, a founder of Body Of Work, which sells at stores like CHCM in downtown Manhattan.
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They are joined in the trend by Norba, a Ukrainian label, and PE Nation, a company based in Australia, both of which sell track suits with details reminiscent of tactical clothing.
Everybody World, a Los Angeles label founded by former American Apparel employees, offers pants with both billowing and straight-leg profiles that while not expressly designed for fitness, are being utilised by yoga studios as in-house merchandise.
Girlfriend Collective, another Los Angeles line that offers its wares in sizes extra-extra small through six-XL, has introduced louche matching sets featuring cowl-neck tops and gently flared pants.
The looser styles have also begun filtering into nationwide retail chains from companies including Nike, which recently introduced its swishy, retro “Windrunner” pants inspired by 1970s workout gear.
Even Lululemon – a label that is rooted in North American mainstream yoga culture and known for its second skin clothing – is joining the looser trend.
“Away-from-body styles”, as Lululemon’s chief merchandising officer Elizabeth Binder referred to them in an email, comprise a sizable portion of the “new arrivals” section on the company’s website, but these new baggier designs are often styled in measured doses – pairing cargo pants with a tighter jacket, or a boxy vest with form-fitting bottoms.
The resulting look can resemble outfits worn by K-pop stars rehearsing dance routines, or the layers may echo those worn in modern and contemporary dance studios across New York City.
At FP Movement, an activewear line by retailer Free People, designers are looking to connect the dots between sweatpants and performance leggings after observing women layer the two on their way to the gym.
“People want the performance aspect of what a legging offers but maybe they don’t want that fit,” said Ana Hartl, the brand’s chief creative officer.
Leslie Andrea Williams, a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company in Manhattan, has long worn the track pants, mesh tops and carefully layered tunics associated with dancers’ style.
Company members’ favourites include mesh tops by the label Only Hearts and baggy track pants by Huaqiao, a line available for purchase on Amazon.
Recently, Williams has seen women “reclaiming how they want to look in the gym”, with roomier styles that veer closer to the outfits that she and fellow Martha Graham dancers wear in rehearsal – many of which are documented in her TikTok posts.
“I think modern dance core can become a thing,” Williams said.
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That look, however, is mostly being adopted in low-impact fitness environments like barre, pilates and yoga classes, said Girlfriend Collective’s design director Serena Tang.
As pilates and yoga continue to boom, she expects that looser shapes will also gain in popularity.
Over the past 12 months, Krissy Jones, the founder of the New York City-based yoga studio Sky Ting has observed that her members are so eager to wear looser shapes that some have worn pyjama pants and men’s boxers to class in addition to more traditional options like vintage sweatpants and soccer shorts.
“There is definitely a hole in the market,” said Jones, 36, who regularly practices yoga and takes dance classes.
“You don’t need technical apparel – you are not running a marathon where you need things to compress your legs”, she said of dressing for her preferred fitness environments. “You want to feel weightless and unbound.” – ©2024 The New York Times Company
