The wellness industry has been essential in the pandemic economy. With levels of stress and anxiety back on the rise around the world, using virtual spaces for wellness and tranquillity is an area where at-home communications shall continue to expand in 2021.
The buzz for lockdown home workouts over the past year has definitely blurred the lines between athleisure and loungewear, with activewear becoming much more in demand and on trend. This was recognised by the majority of retailers and gyms and they promoted that home workouts are the way forward when adjusting to this new normal. Vaccines are on their way; however, many areas have found themselves confronted with Lockdown 3.0, which has been argued to just hit different. Heightened boredom and frustration are making a return, are home workouts losing their spark?
2020’s second-most searched “when” on Google was “when will gyms reopen?”. Global searches for “home workouts” have considerably lessened since the first wave, with an uptick ahead of the New Year when activewear and exercise interest is most prevalent but has not returned to the levels it reached in Lockdown 1. While we’re all are psyching up to get outside, at-home exercise will still be a part of routine in many people’s day-to-day life, as remote working will remain a lifestyle shift to stay even in a post-pandemic future. With the outdoors as one of our limited forms of escapism, sportswear brands have been featuring different types of jackets, which we’ll look at with other trends in a future post, in their latest collections. Outerwear will be a core trend in activewear in 2021, as we look to rebuild our connection with nature.
Activewear has also been going through a substantial sustainable overtake, with cult labels and sports brands testing out material innovations and eco-friendly designs. With circularity being sustainable fashion’s pot of gold, repurposing materials are an important focus in 2021. 65% of fashion consumers have become more concerned with sustainability and environmental issues since the pandemic began, and as consumers, we have the power to choose brands that put sustainability issues first. Recycled styles accounted for 20% of total activewear arrivals from January to September vs. 10% in 2019 (Marci, 2021). Collections are ruled by recycled synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon, which considerably decreases the environmental impact of manufacturing as opposed to producing virgin materials.
However, the chaos that came at the start of COVID may be the reason focus shifted away from retailers’ sustainability targets. The significance surrounding the climate crisis makes fashion’s most important category no longer a “nice to have” for retailers, meaning they should be rethinking substitutions to improve their environmental footprint. So far, eco innovators at Adidas led the way elevating its efforts, giving their word that over 60% of products will be constructed using sustainable materials this year. As environmentally friendly activewear continues to infiltrate the mainstream, we can expect more high street brands to reconsider their offer. Marks & Spencer is the latest, launching its Goodmove range, with over 98% of products from the collection made from sustainable materials.
Activewear has become huge over the last year, and this blog is going to be telling you exactly how you can incorporate these styles in your wardrobe to stay on trend while you work on you.
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