Athleisure and the Controversy of the Branded Lifestyle

Spandex leggings, cotton sweatshirts and sweatpants, well-tailored active jackets, and flattering sports bras have become staples in every girl’s closet. But not just any product will do. 

Athleisure brands often sell a lifestyle or mindset in connection with their apparel. With the brand Aerie, that mindset is self-love. Their clothing, while described as athleisure, is marketed through images of young women dancing, frolicking, and hanging out at the beach. Other brands including Athleta, GymShark, alo, and, controversially, Lululemon sell their different ideas of the best (or most profitable) lifestyle.

The trending activewear style reflects the media’s increasing obsession with health and wellness. Raising sales of athleisure wear coincides with the popularization of healthy recipes, low-fat food products, and buying organically. This has proven to be very divisive due to the price tag on these items. Like buying organically, athleisure brands are not cheap, promoting the notion that healthy living should only be available to those who can afford it. Adding further fuel to the athleisure-hating fire, brands like Lululemon are constantly berated for selling extremely expensive products that many fashion lovers call “basic” and non-inclusive for a variety of reasons

The athleisure movement may be the most controversial fashion trend since skirts over jeans, but it has allowed for conversations surrounding accessibility to clothes, health, and wellness for all. 

BRAND AWARENESS AND “CAN I WEAR THIS?”

Hazel Oluwanifemi and Chloe Gentile, both college freshmen, are constantly on the go. Though living on very different campuses, and leading very different social lives, they both love the athleisure look. 

Gentile, a biology major and volleyball player at Trinity College enjoys a laid-back approach to fashion. When it comes to the expectations of going to class and volleyball practices on top of her job and social life, Gentile hardly has time to pick out ornate outfits. “I have team lifts in the morning before classes so I don’t have time to change before class,” says Gentile. Along with the practicality of an athletic outfit, Gentile finds that these clothes make her feel more confident. 

Hazel Oluwanifemi began running as a hobby quickly into her freshman year at the University of Georgia. After getting into her dream school, Oluwanifemi wanted to find a way to stay healthy through the arduous work that comes with being a premed student. Oluwanifemi’s closet began to change and reflect her new love for movement. “Athleisure is a huge game changer for me,” says Oluwanifemi. “A lot of gym bros run in sweats and pump covers, but I can’t do that. The minute I put on a bra top and shorts, I feel like a runner.”

Athletic wear companies often preach confidence and self-love to their customers. What forms is a heavy correlation between wearing a certain brand's clothes and one’s self confidence. Gentile expresses her love toward Lululemon athleisure clothes, while Oluwanifemi is more cautious of Lululemon, preferring Aerie and Gymshark. 

Aerie, a subsidiary of American Eagle, garnered a large consumer pool of teenage girls when it rebranded in 2014 with its body image campaign, Aerie Real. With this campaign, Aerie aimed to support young girls by representing different body types and backgrounds.   

GymShark is also known as an incredibly diverse brand that has shown support for women of color of all backgrounds. “I love Gymshark,” says Oluwanifemi. “They recently came out with a sweat-protective headband for black women to protect their braids and natural afros from moisture. That's been such a struggle for me with this running journey, you have no idea.” 

Lululemon, on the other hand, has often been lauded for its undiverse marketing, prices, and sizes. Though the athletic wear company has been very successful, most people often cannot fit into or afford their clothes. Because of this, many people direct hate towards Lululemon and the adolescent girls who wear it or other brands with similar styles, completely disillusioned by the brand’s message. Since the majority of these brands are selling a lifestyle of health and wellness, the ideology surrounding Lululemon makes these things seem inaccessible to a vast majority of people.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DUPES

“I can’t stand Lululemon,” says Milan Glass, a freshman at Emerson College. “I particularly can’t stand the people who wear it like a token of wealth.” With price tags that can exceed $100 for a pair of sweatpants, it should come as no shock that the main people who wear Lululemon come from higher-class households. Associated brands like alo and prAna have similar prices. 

It is because of the ever-steepening prices of clothing that the stigma around dupes is no longer so negative. Many adolescent girls who follow the athleisure trend simply cannot afford to follow it, and often use TikTok to help each other find less expensive replicas or “dupes.” Chloe Gentile, who loves Lululemon, actually advises other girls to shop at Target or Amazon for similar pieces, seeing as wearing solely this brand is not possible.

The popularization of dupes suggests that the trend of athleisure is not emphasized by the clothing’s actual quality, but rather the ability to actually own these products. “People don’t wear [Lululemon] in a ‘just have this way,’ but in a flaunting way,” says Glass. “It just promotes the whole “clean girl” aesthetic, but that’s another can of worms.” The “clean girl” is an idolized archetype: a girl who wears clean-cut athleisure clothing fashionably, eats clean, drinks clean, and overall has a very ‘clean’ mindset. 

Alana Locke, a fashion designer and recent graduate from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, also negates the quality of athleisure as a fashionable style. Locke has focused her study on Ready to Wear designs, the clothing that any consumer can buy for everyday living. However, she considers most athletic wear extremely boring. 

“If you’re going to charge that much for basics you should definitely increase your size range and work on having more ethical manufacturing,” says Locke. “There are more sustainable alternatives to athletic fabrics like TENCEL.”  Locke’s athletic wear line was an integral addition to her portfolio, especially because the athletic style has become so popular. She also asserts that sustainability needs to be considered during the fashion production process. 

“Fashion is the second most polluting industry. We need to work on making less with more sustainable materials. Athleticwear companies are one of the main contributors to that problem along with other fast fashion brands,” says Locke. “Plus, if companies are selling a lifestyle, why are they making it so inaccessible?”