Are you familiar with the word athleisure? It blends the words athletic and leisure. See it as athletic gear that can also be worn for day-to-day activities. Especially with the Covid-19 pandemic and all the lockdowns that came with it, the athleisure style is more popular than ever. We started working from home in our pyjamas, but to feel more productive the casual clothes came back into our lives. We wanted to keep dressing in comfortable clothes, but at the same time look dressed enough for working from home.
What is athleisure clothing?
Athleisure is a special category of casual hybrid clothing. It is designed to be suitable for exercising and every-day wear. It can also be described as casualwear that features aspects of athletic-wear with casual yet fashionable street-wear. The clothing usually will have the comfort features of workout clothing like mobility, low maintenance and moisture-resistance. But on the other hand they have the style features of high fashion streetwear.
Most important elements of athleisure
- Functionality: Athleisure does not only mean comfort and style, it also adds practicality to the outfit. The athleisure clothing often comes with cell phone pockets, hidden zippers, and other multipurpose pockets. There even are specialized technical fabrics to increase utility. Examples are reflecting fabrics for in the dark or special wool that regulates temperatures. The men’s sweatsuits (in Dutch: joggingpak heren) of Joe Merino are made out of merino wool. This fabric is not only very comfortable but is also antibacterial and UV protection.
- Materials: Most of the athleisure clothing is made out of a special stretching fabric. These flexible fabrics like polyester, rayon, and nylon increase comfort. It also has good moisture-wicking qualities for when you are actually working out in the outfits. Additionally, the materials don’t crease and wrinkle very easily.
- Fitting: Something that makes athleisure different from other workout clothing is how well they fit. While the usual workout clothes are usually loose fitted and baggy, athleisure is suithing the silhouette. This makes that the clothing can also be worn in other occasions than sports.
How to style it?
Athleisure clothing is meant to be casual, but stylish, but sporty. That is why it is important to look very put together but also very chilled. The most important part is selecting high quality clothing. This might still sound like an abstract description, that is why we will give you a few tips on how to style athleisure clothing:
- Are you wearing a sweatsuit? Then swap your washed out t-shirt that you wear underneath it, for a stylish t-shirt or sweater. When you for instance wear a v neck sweater (in Dutch: v hals trui heren) underneath it, it looks more put together.
- Sweatpants, joggers, or athletic shorts can all complete your athleisure look. Just make sure to choose slim-fit styles with tapered legs in high-performance fabrics.
- Athleisure is perfect if you enjoy the comfort of sneakers but still want to look stylish. If you want to give off a more athletic vibe, go for a classic running sneaker. Do you prefer the skater boy look? Then we suggest you choose canvas low tops.
Now that you know about the athleisure clothing option, you might never go back to casual chique. Because who doesn’t want to be stylish and yet, very comfortable? We hope we have inspired you to combine leisure with athletics.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.