Consumers may not be in the shopping mood, but enough of them, it seems, view sweatsuits and yoga pants as essential items alongside toilet paper and sourdough starter.

 

Athleisure looks have emerged as the uniform of choice for the housebound and activewear brands are benefiting, with increased e-commerce sales helping to partially avoid the economic devastation much of the fashion industry is experiencing during the coronavirus pandemic. Sell-through rates of tracksuits are up 36 percent this year through March, compared with the same period in 2019, according to tracking firm Edited, while activewear sell outs were up 40 percent in the US and 97 percent in the UK year-on-year during the first week of April. Activewear companies like Gymshark and Bandier have seen overall business improve over the past month, Earnest Research data shows.

 

It’s no surprise that consumers are in the mood for fashion-forward comfort. Billions of people are under government-enforced stay-at-home orders. Comfy sweatshirts are dressy enough for work-related Zoom calls, while tie dye sweats and pastel-hued crop top and yoga legging co-ord sets look good in at-home workout Instagram posts and Tiktok challenge videos alike.