No lesser mortal than Morgan Stanley predicts a significant and ongoing increase in athleisure sales: $83 Billion by 2020. More and more people are opting for easy wear clothing that can work for athletic pursuits, dashing about doing endless chores and leisure wear. The movement towards comfort is also making inroads in the office space of formalized employment supporting “transitioning”, i.e. riding a bike to work, shedding the spandex top for a well-styled tunic and stepping into the early morning meeting looking cool.
Social Shift
Research reveals that wearing high heels produce discomfort after 1 hour, 6 minutes and 48 seconds on average! Dress codes are being modified to enable employees to retain a professional, efficient image by taking advantage of more relaxed and casual clothing.
Athleisure represents the social shift towards better awareness of health and wellness in our daily lives and the importance of comfort and practicality, as evidenced by the infographic below made by Shoe Carnival.
Supporting factors
Many factors support this change in emphasis:
- An emphasis on sports, health and fitness at schools and colleges produce graduating youngsters looking to continue the same activities in their working lives
- A general downturn in world economics has precipitated an interest in entrepreneurship and small start-up enterprises
- Increased numbers of people work from home
- The huge and increasing number of “online” workers
- Numbers of people work part-time or hold down several jobs
- Technological advances produce textiles that are odorless and wrinkle resistant
- Athleisure generally requires less maintenance
- There are a slew of iconic personalities and big brand name designers who promote athleisure…and the followers dutifully follow
However… the huge variety of new-world fabrics, innovative designs and free-spirited souls around this trend provide opportunities for individualists to fulfill themselves, inspire others and create a beautiful world.
Author Bio: Rebecca Kennedy is a contributor at ReadWrite.com, BusinessInsider.com and Cvent.com. She loves business, travelling, fashion and tech. Her life motto is: “Not all those who wander are lost“.