3 Trends Driving Athleisure

There has been talk about a bubble in the athleisure wear market since 2015, but so
far it has not shown signs of materializing. The global active wear market is expected
to reach $560 billion by 2024, representing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
of 6.8%. Much of that is driven by athleisure, a category of active wear that has been
slowly developing since the 1970s, when Mr. T popularized the track suit and women
flirted with the jumpsuit. Hip hop fashions and yoga have helped push active wear to
the front of the line culturally and financially.
Anjali clothing

This remarkable period of growth in a relatively mature market is generally reserved

for a major product innovation or the entrance of a large, new demographic
customer group into the fold. There is innovation, to be sure, with a lot of research
going into the types of fabric used as well as tweaking design elements that relate to
athletic performance or comfort. But let‟s face it, there‟s really only so much you can
do to improve the design of a pair of leggings and a lot of what is being explored
raises the price for the consumer, sometimes drastically.
Important elements that continue to drive sales are the growth of action sports and
the growing participation of women in a wider variety of sports and fitness activities.

Increasing numbers of millennial customers have also helped drive sales. Young
professionals are interested in niche workouts and activities, which points towards
areas of continued growth in this segment of the active wear business.

Athleisure has become such a potent trend that it is difficult to find a manufacturer
or retail outlet that isn‟t getting in on it. The biggest sportswear companies, including
Nike, Under Armour and Lulu Lemon have their own stores and online sales channels
as well as selling through big box stores like Walmart and Target and large sporting
goods stores like Dick‟s. The Gap owns Athleta, an established athletic wear store
which has become a significant part of the parent company‟s sales growth plans.
Other retailers like American Eagle and Forever 21 have their store lines of athleisure
pieces as well.

There has also been exponential growth among „indie‟ companies, startups that use a
different marketing approach and different sales channels. Indie companies include
brands such as Tasc Performance, Girlfriend Collective, Outdoor Voices, and Anjali, to
name but a very few. These companies tend to market their garments as lifestyle
accessories to people who want to look good in casual situations as well as
appearing healthy and active.

Anjali: Clothing for Living Yoga

“Brands such as Outdoor Voices, Athleta, Aerie, coined as “indie brands” are now

taking over traditional active wear brands. Indie active wear brands differ from sports

retailers in such that they market themselves as a lifestyle rather than a sports brand.”

Omnilytics blog, „The Evolution of theAthleisure Trend‟

Founders and marketers at these companies tend to be younger than the average
entrepreneur, so it‟s hardly surprising that social media is one of their chief
marketing strategies. Instagram is a natural channel for these clothes, obviously
because the visual element can turn them into gorgeous product catalogs, but the
best companies also forge relationships with their customers based on providing
information, talking about their charitable initiatives or talking about things their
customers care about.
An Instagram feed filled with only pretty clothes on pretty models with captions
containing descriptive/pricing info and a link to a Shopify store demonstrates a lack
of understanding of the branding and storytelling possibilities of the platform.

Companies that understand the unique space they operate in see social media as an
opportunity to get real insight and advice from their best customers, something it‟s
both difficult and undesirable for the biggest companies to do.

According to Tyler Haney, who is Founder and CEO of Outdoor Voices:

I think that‟s super powerful when thinking about Nike, Under Armour and Lulu

where product development, for example, is reserved for 15 guys in lab coats and it‟s

only brought to you once it‟s fully baked. At OV, where we‟ve found a lot of traction

and people really want to get involved in the conversation is around product

development.

One of the biggest target audiences for active wear on Instagram has been the yoga
community. That makes sense for several reasons. First, Instagram is a powerful
platform for showing beautiful photographs of people performing yoga poses in
stunning, often exotic, locales. It provides the equivalent of hundreds of outdoor
photo sessions with the ability to pick photos that show off sports or leisure wear at
their best. And some of the feeds are really great from an aesthetic standpoint. These
are people who put a lot of effort into their posts and frankly they can make the
product look amazing.