When did wearing your pajamas and sweats outside of your home become so normalized? Not so long ago, getting dressed and ready for the day before you leave your home was the standard of society, but now wearing a sweatsuit to class is the style of fashion. Where did this come from?
The answer comes from a shift that has been building over the course of time, but also seemed to happen overnight.
In the early 2010’s, athleisure began to rise due to brands like Nike and Lululemon bursting onto the scene as a wardrobe staple and redefining activewear as simply everyday wear. This shift in athleisure wear was measured and shown to have an extreme amount of growth in popularity, which caused other brands to jump on the bandwagon and create athleisure wear as well.
“Between 2011 and 2016, athletic wear grew 7 percent a year to become 30 percent of the clothing and footwear industry,” Josephine Campbell wrote for EBSCO. It is also predicted that the global market of athletic wear will grow to about $716.05 billion by 2032.
The athletic wear industry has continued to grow over the years and has gone to show that fashion is no longer just about the occasion, but more about the functionality of a garment. Now, relaxed silhouettes and fabrics made for function allow for fashion to enter an era of ease.
Then came the shift that made comfort a necessity: the COVID-19 pandemic. Overnight, dress codes disappeared. Schools and workplaces went remote, everyone was quarantined to their homes and spent a lot of time in bed. The line between comfort and everyday wear was now blurred.
At a time where the only place we traveled to was from our own bedrooms to the kitchen or virtually online, a good sweatshirt and pants combo was essential in our time of solitude.
But if comfort-wear was only to be a moment in time, we as a society should have gone back to pre-pandemic dressing norms. Instead, we are seeing the rise of comfort mixed into fashion. Comfort and workout sets are continuously seen worn by top celebrities and workout sets are often used for general errand runs.
While thinking about the rise of everyday comfort wear among celebrities, I began to think of how often I see this style around my own campus.
After pondering this, I spoke to a fellow fashion merchandising student Morgan Parker about whether she believes comfort is no longer just worn for functionality, but if it is also about self expression.
“I think comfort becomes self-expression when you are able to style a comfy outfit aligning with your personal style,” Parker said. “I love the look of a tank top, sweats and Ugg boots as it aligns with my personal 2000s-inspired looks, even being so casual.”
We each have different ideas on what comfort and fashion truly is. Personal style, boundaries and comfortability all play key factors in how we present ourselves.
The rise of comfort wear displays how we no longer just wear clothing solely for functionality or presentation, but also how we combine the factors and create our own style based on what works best for us, and what makes you feel good throughout the day.
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Hi! I’m Hannah Planey, A Magazine’s editor-in-chief. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.
