Gym clothes making its way to high fashion
Gym clothes are evidently making its way out of the gym and becoming a larger ingredient of people’s everyday wardrobes. Infusing prodigious amounts of spandex into modern dress has blurred the lines between yoga-and-spin-class garb and coffee-and-a- muffin clothes while rocking the fashion world.
Called Athleisure, it has become such a trend that two years ago, for the first time in history, US imports of stretchy knit pants surpassed those of blue denim jeans. Technological progress to synthetic fibre have made products like spandex more stretchy, resilient, and washable so now the ‘boring jeans-and-button-up kind of wear’ is being replaced to clothes with more function without compromising style.
From 2011-2016, the market for athletic clothing grew to be 30 per cent of the total clothing and footwear industry. It grew 7 per cent a year, compared to the slow 1 per cent growth of the general apparel sector in 2017 and according to research global sales of Athleisure are projected to hit $189 billion in 2020, up from $153 billion in 2015.
A presentation by Teejay Lanka, a subsidiary of apparel manufacturer, Brandix at the Softlogic Investor Forum recently, noted that Athleisure has replaced denim and is growing. It’s a market opportunity for Sri Lanka now that Athleisure is the defining fashion trend of the 21st century so far. Form-fitting, athletic-inspired clothes are everywhere and now it’s more about function over fashion.
So much so that Brandix is focused on sportswear brands and are working with Uniqlo, Nike and Decathlon retailers. “We are starting initial discussions with Lululemon (which fuelled the so-called Athleisure movement in the US) to start manufacturing Athleisure,” Pubudu de Silva, Deputy CEO Teejay told the Business Times.