How America Became A Nation Of Yoga Pants

It used to be that style ruled over comfort. But just as with phones, 'look and feel' have become as important as function - with the help of new technology in the form of better fabrics. JL


Kim Bhasin and Gerald Porter report in Bloomberg:

Yoga pants filled a niche for (those) looking for a higher-end alternative to cotton leggings. Two decades later, they’ve conquered the closet, even for people who never see the inside of a yoga studio. In 2014, teenagers began to prefer leggings over jeans. Then people started wearing athletic clothing to run errands. Now they’re wearing yoga pants to the office. U.S. imports of women’s elastic knit pants last year surpassed those of jeans for the first time ever, plung(ing) denim into an existential crisis. Active bottoms and leggings are now a $1 billion industry
The first pairs of yoga pants Lululemon sold in 1998 were a simple item for women to wear at the studio. They were a mix of nylon and Lycra—synthetic elastic fibers that provided the stretch and softness needed to manage all those sweat-inducing contortions during a lengthy session on the mat.
Yoga, first as an exercise and later as a cultural phenomenon (or cliché, depending on your cynicism), had yet to take hold. At the turn of the century, the pants filled a niche for yogis who were simply looking for a higher-end alternative to plain cotton leggings.
Two decades later, they’ve conquered the closet, even for people who never see the inside of a yoga studio. In 2014, teenagers began to prefer leggings over jeans. Then people started wearing athletic clothing (or athleisure, but it’s mostly just yoga pants) to run errands. Now they’re wearing yoga pants to the office. U.S. imports of women’s elastic knit pants last year surpassed those of jeans for the first time ever, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Fashion trends seesaw constantly, but rarely does an entire category shift. Over four decades, rubber-soled sneakers gave way to basketball shoes, which in turn fell to trainers. Boxer briefs didn’t exist 25 years ago; drawers still were filled with plain old briefs. But now the hybrid is America’s most popular men’s underwear. Yoga pants similarly have plunged denim into an existential crisis, forcing even Levi Strauss & Co. to scramble to adapt. The company added stretch and contouring to its jeans while hoping to retain some of their rugged essence.

The popularity of yoga pants has, predictably, led to a flood of competitors as brands fill every market segment, from Old Navy’s $20 pants to Lucas Hugh’s $230 versions. Lululemon Athletica, largely credited with bringing stretchy pants to the masses, has poured money into developing new fabrics to fend off rivals — a pack that now includes the world’s biggest athletics companies.

“Consumers expect a lot more,” said Sun Choe, chief product officer at Lululemon. “They’re washing their garments more and more, and from a quality standpoint, it needs to stand up. They’re expecting some versatility in their product. They expect to be able to wear that pant or tight to Whole Foods or brunch.”

Lululemon’s original fabric, Luon, with a high proportion of nylon microfiber rather than the typical polyester blend, was trademarked in the U.S. in 2005. Many of its newer fabrics are branded and geared toward specific uses. Luxtreme is a moisture-wicking, four-way stretch fabric meant to fit like a second skin. Nulux is a compression fabric meant for sweatier workouts. Silverescent is sold as Lululemon’s “stink-conquering technology,” with silver bonded to the surface of fibers to stop bacteria from reproducing. A T-shirt made from the material costs $68.

Leggings from competitors use a similar strategy, promoting the versatile pants through branded fabric combinations. For Adidas, pants boast the firm’s sweat-wicking Climalite material or the thermal-regulating Climacool and Climawarm to accommodate training conditions. Likewise, Nike’s Dri-Fit material keeps sweat at bay and trainers dry. Even Target’s C9-branded fitness collection flexes high-functioning fabrics: Freedom Fabric is a soft blend of polyester and spandex for lifestyle or fitness, while its Embrace Fabric hugs tightly to the body for a cozy feel.

Active bottoms and leggings are now a $1 billion industry, reports NPD Group analyst Marshal Cohen. These days, more than 11,000 kinds of yoga pants — women’s and men’s — are sold by retailers worldwide, say data from retail research firm Edited.

“Now that this easy-to-fit, easy-to-find, easy-to-wear, easy-to-care-for product has emerged as a fashionable product at the same time, you’ve got the perfect storm,” Cohen said. “You have to be doing something pretty wrong to not have success in this type of product.”