No Sweat: 6 Indie Athleisure Brands You Need to Know Now
Yahoo Style
Updated
1 / 6
Sweat the Crew: A collaboration between model Adrienne Ho & Pac Sun
As a model and immensely popular fitness blogger, Adrianne Ho has spent the past several years pretty much living in activewear, sharing each look with her 370K Instagram followers, and on her website, Sweat the Style. So when she was approached by PacSun to create her very own line of athletic gear, Ho already had access to the kind of market research most fledgling brands could only dream of. “I live in this stuff so I know what lasts, what feels good and what details are most useful,” says Ho who also polled the numerous women she features on her blog, including models, artists and athletes. Such ingenious details include zippered pockets on leggings and shorts that can fit the iPhone 6 and won’t get in the way when doing crunches, and a longer-line silhouette that covers the bum when wearing leggings. “The whole approach to the brand is authentic and real because it comes from me and the girls we feature on Sweat The Style, which are my real friends,” Ho says. “We kind of did things backwards in that way. My lifestyle is the marketing and the clothing is simply a by-product, not the other way around, which is the way most businesses work nowadays.” She also knew what was missing from the market, style-wise. “Right now there are no other active brands out there with this aesthetic for women,” says Ho, who describes Sweat Crew as functional workout gear in “high fashion silhouettes with a street edge.” Think Supreme meets Nike—but for girls. Partnering with PacSun allowed Ho access to sophisticated manufacturing products, and support that allowed her to push the limits in terms of quality and style while keep the line affordable (prices range from $27, for a long-sleeve t-shirt, to $67, for a jacket). “Basing choices on your feelings and not necessarily on trends or the bottom line is truly liberating for a new brand,” she said. “Without PacSun as a partner that would be impossible.”
Five years ago, if you wanted to buy, say, a pair of workout leggings or a technically sophisticated sports bra, there were only a few premium brands you could go to. That’s been true for decades. Unlike any other sector of the market (besides, perhaps, lingerie) activewear has been dominated by the same mega brands pretty much since its inception. While indie labels seem to sprout up like mushrooms in every other category of womenswear, they’ve been noticeably absent from athletics. There are a few good reasons for this. For one, producing quality workout gear can get complicated: It’s not just about creating a stylish garment—items must be functional, durable, and provide support and comfort for the highly specific movements of any given sport or activity. But more importantly, up until recently, there hasn’t been that much demand.
Clearly—as anyone who has even a passing interest in fashion will know—that’s no longer the case. According to a report from retail analyst company Euromonitor, athleisure continues to be a “major trend” in womenswear, with “millennials adding activewear to their daily wardrobes.”
“With active lifestyles becoming more popular,” reads the report, “consumers increasingly want access to versatile technology in sports apparel throughout the year.”
Unsurprisingly, a handful of innovative new brands have launched to capitalize on the growing interest in activewear. Here, a primer on the best of the bunch, including who they are and what makes them different from the rest.
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