Are You an Unwitting Participant in The Athleisure Market?

In an article for the Wall Street Journal called “Yoga Poseurs” (*applause*), Sara Germano reports on the growing yoga pants market, which is up 45% overall and up nearly 500% in the hyperlocal market of My Wardrobe. Although no word from Germano on whether maternity leggings from the sale rack at the Gap qualify as yoga pants.

I probably don’t need to tell you that yoga participation has not grown in equal measure: at 4.5% growth in 2013, yoga pants are growing 10x as much as yoga itself. Fair.

Here, I got you a blockquote:

Ms. Score, who also runs an adjoining yoga studio, is drawing up brochures for fall classes with the tag line: “Do you wear yoga pants? Why not try yoga?”

Lauren Wheeler-Woodburn estimates that she owns at least 25 pairs of yoga pants.

As a graduate student at the University of Southern California and social-media strategist, she says she wears them mostly every day, for class or to work, or just sitting at home lounging.

“I sound like the yoga pants version of a crazy cat lady,” said Ms. Wheeler-Woodburn, who prefers Lululemon but dons other brands too.

Of course, the athleisure market is not limited to yoga pants, which I am thinking differentiate themselves from leggings by being much more expensive. Here are some more highlights:

• “Running is free. But it shouldn’t be,” the site reads.
• Kohl’s will begin selling flashy sweatpants by Juicy Couture in the fall as a means “to capture more of the athleisure market.”
• “When you put on your workout apparel,” she said, “you think, ‘Huh, maybe I should think about working out today.’ “

Okay that last one is just real.

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