How About Those New Year's Resolutions?

Here we are again, coming to the end of the first month of the new year. New Year’s Resolutions are, as always, the default talk of choice: the treadmills occupied and the yoga classes fully booked. Let’s not forget the no-sugar diet, the iPhone cleanse, and the all-around striving effort to ‘be better’ in 2017. So, what’s changing? The shift in consumer spending from things to experiences and health and wellness.

As stated by Business of Fashion, ‘Last year, the overall global market for health and wellness reached $701B in value and it is expected to grow by 17 percent over the next five years to $833B.’ Now how does this affect the fashion industry? You guessed it! Activewear and Athleisure. Brands and retailers all over the world are aligning their product offerings to be more in line with people’s overall lifestyle needs. We need yoga pants, funky colored spandex, and dry-fit tops for all the ClassPass classes, music festivals, and vegan/gluten-free food tastings we pay for these days. So….is the look-good, feel-good mentality driving today’s fashion trends? We say absolutely. Let’s take a look at what we found:

1. 44% of all full-priced products in the past 2 weeks have sold out across all categories of Activewear
2. Around 49% of all Activewear products are discounted (~14% on average), which signals both an increasing amount of competition, as well as a cleaning out of old inventories.
3. It appears that men’s Activewear is falling behind women’s, given that only 37% of women’s activewear products are discounted, as opposed to a whopping 57% for men.

So here’s some advice: if matcha green tea, long walks on the beach, and a month unlimited to your favorite fitness studio sound good to you, then know that you’re not alone. As these lifestyle trends progress, athleisure trends will too. So as long as you have that protein shake in hand, feel free to wear your stretchy leggings. I promise, they’re not going anywhere.