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Into the Luxury League by Melia Masumoto
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LUX URY LEAGUE
Activewear brands compete for designer-label status
by Melia Masumoto
Leggings on the New York Fashion Week runway. Hearing leggings and New York Fashion Week in the same sentence a decade ago would seem like an oxymoron, but with today’s consumers, it’s right on target. In September, 2022, a leading activewear brand from Los Angeles called Alo made its New York Fashion Week debut with the presentation of a 17-piece collection. Inspired by the outdoors, Alo’s “Aspen Collection” included a variety of ready-to-wear styles that included cashmere sets, full-length faux fur coats and, yes, leggings.
This was not the first time activewear garnered a spot in the high-end market. The British luxury fashion and lifestyle brand Stella McCartney has been united in a successful collaboration with sportswear giant Adidas since 2005. This collaboration increased activewear’s presence in the luxury fashion arena, but the time might now be right for activewear to compete in the luxury field all on its own.
The activewear category grew out of sportswear but has now advanced to include the athleisure category, which is defined as comfortable clothing designed for both exercise as well as everyday wear. In the 1930s and 1940s, American designers such as Claire McCardell and Bonnie Cashin were instrumental in producing practical and functional garments dubbed sportswear, such as McCardell’s day dresses and playsuits, and Cashin’s layering pieces and hooded capes. With the workout boom in the 1970s and 1980s, consumers began embracing activewear more commonly, but it wasn’t until the 2000s that workout wear started to become synonymous with everyday wear and wardrobes expanded to include garments that were intended for day, night and play.
“Think about 15 years ago, we had separate wardrobes – we had a work wardrobe, we had what we wore to go out and what we wore to exercise,” says Kristen Classi-Zummo, an apparel industry analyst at the New York City-based NPD group. “That has just been blurring over the past few years.”
Leggings are a prime example of this playwear-to-daywear duality. The leggings-aspants trend began in the early 2000s when Canadian yoga retailer Lululemon began selling its own brand of yoga pant made from its proprietary elastic knit fabric. The leggings became an instant hit, and women began wearing them outside of the context of exercise. In 2017, leggings became more popular among women consumers in America than blue jeans, according to United States Census Bureau statistics.
Consumers appreciate the versatility. McKinsey and Business of Fashion produce an annual State of Fashion Report that names the best-performing fashion companies of the year. Recent top brands include both activewear and luxury fashion companies, including Nike, Adidas and Lululemon alongside luxury’s Kering, LVMH and Hermès. Clearly, the luxury sector and the activewear market sector play well together, albeit separately. Now, however, activewear brands are challenging their market category. Through collaborations and brand participation in New York Fashion Week, they’re seeking to be considered players in the luxury league. Luxury collaborations also allow activewear brands to command luxury-level prices,
which the consumer wouldn’t otherwise be willing to pay. These high prices are the hallmark of luxury.
“Price has long served a gatekeeping function in the luxury sector,” says Jenny B. Davis, a fashion media professor at SMU. “When an athleticwear brand can command luxury-level prices, whether it’s because of the assist of a luxury collab or not, it boosts that brand’s status and yes, can even vault it to the level of a luxury good.”
This was certainly true for Adidas. A classic black track jacket from the German activewear brand jacket that bears the brand’s trademark three-stripe design costs around $80. But a similar black jacket with the three-stripe design made for the 2022 Adidas for Prada Re-Nylon collab retails for nearly $2,000. Similarly, The North Face, an athletic apparel brand for hikers and climbers, offers its classic jackets in the $100-$300 range. A comparable jacket from its 2021 collab with Italian luxury brand Gucci runs $2,450.
Price isn’t the only tactic activewear is using to leap into the luxury market. Activewear brands are treading into luxury sales and marketing territory by participating in high-fashion promotional events like New York Fashion Week, which usually have been reserved for more upscale brands specializing in ready-to-wear, not readyto-exercise wear.
Entry into fashion weeks is exclusive, but it’s activewear’s ticket into reaching luxury status. In 2016, German sportswear brand Puma scored on the NYFW runway with a collection created in collaboration with Rihanna’s Fenty brand. The collection, called Fenty X Puma, was described as sporty chic — a Fashion Network review of the show announced that Rihanna had “put the sexy into sweats.”
But not all brands possess the ability to leverage A-listers to launch their lines. Alo had set its sights on NYFW since 2021 when it became the event’s first-ever official wellness partner. The move to the runway to show its Aspen Collection seems an obvious next step. “Alo exists at the intersection of fashion and wellness, so we see showing our Aspen collection at N.Y.F.W. as the perfect venue to host our high-end line that is both studio-to-street with luxury design and fabrication,” Alo co-CEO and co-founder Danny Harris stated on the brand’s website. Will the public continue to embrace activewear as a luxury player? Larson believes the luxury category has indeed expanded to include activewear, but it will be up to the newly elevated brands to defend their title. “The pressure,” she says, “is on.”
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“Collaborations can build hype and help brands and designers build their businesses,” says Kristin Larson, a freelance writer based in Chicago and a contributor to Forbes. “They can highlight brands and designers consumers may not have discovered if it weren’t for the retailer featuring the guest designer.”
Melia Masumoto is a senior majoring league in fashion media and journalism. Photos courtesy of CHAANCE (www. chaance.com) and the Riviere Agency Winter 2022 /2023 • 37
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Alice + Olivia
Dillard’s
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Elements
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Frame
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Urban Outfitters
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