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17 Jul 2026
What Is Athleisure Fashion? Trendy High-Performance Materials Used in Sportswear and Recommended Apparel Supplies
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Hello! I’m Kimura from the ApparelX Trend Blog.
Lately, have you noticed more and more styles that incorporate sportswear used in active settings into everyday fashion?
This time, we’ll introduce the features of the trendy athleisure fashion that’s popular around the world, along with high-performance textiles and recommended apparel materials that are perfect for athleisure items.
What is athleisure?
Athleisure is a coined word combining athletic and leisure.
It refers to a fashion style that incorporates activewear such as sportswear, yoga wear, and running wear into everyday clothing. Traditional sportswear was intended for exercise, but in recent years, as people have recognized its high functionality and more refined designs that are easier to wear in town and don’t look too outdoorsy have increased, it has become established as a new lifestyle.
For a similar trend using outdoor items, also be sure to check out this blog about gorpcore.
The reasons athleisure fashion is becoming more popular are that it combines both the functionality unique to sportswear and the design appeal that looks great as streetwear.
Against the backdrop of recent health-consciousness, the wellness boom, and the spread of remote work, demand has grown for clothes that are comfortable to wear.
In addition, advances in high-performance materials have led to more items with features useful in everyday life, such as moisture absorption and quick drying, 4-way stretch, UV protection, and wrinkle resistance, so they are worn not only for active scenes but also for commuting, travel, and a wide range of other situations.
Brands driving athleisure’s popularity
lululemon, the brand where it originated, is known as a representative brand that led the spread of athleisure fashion by offering high-quality yoga wear. Its items, which combine functionality and design, are highly popular not only for yoga and fitness scenes but also as everyday wear.
Today, many brands, including sports brands such as Nike and adidas, offer athleisure items. In Japan, lifestyle brands such as emmi, which fuse yoga wear with Ladies fashion, are also trending. In this way, recent athleisure has been attracting attention as clothing that is easy to wear in everyday life as well as during exercise, and comfortable for daily use.
▲lululemon (Lululemon)
▲NIKE (Nike) - nike skims
▲emmi (Emmi)
Popular athleisure items and recommended ApparelX products: how to choose textiles and trims
In athleisure fashion, items that balance ease of movement for real active scenes with design appeal that can also be used as everyday wear are popular.
By category, we’ll introduce ApparelX products and keywords recommended for material selection for popular athleisure items.
Jogger pants
Featuring a tapered silhouette that narrows toward the ankles, this is a classic athleisure staple. It’s useful in a wide range of situations such as commuting and travel, so it’s recommended as a unisex item for both men and Ladies. Stretch fabric that combines lightness and ease of movement is a perfect match for jogger pants. Using a silicone cord stopper at the waist and hem can reduce discomfort caused by digging into the skin.
A 4-way stretch textile made with nylon/polyester thread in both the warp and weft, featuring supple elasticity. It is also a highly functional material with a water-repellent finish. Slightly lightweight, with a dry touch and...
It uses plenty of high-twist polyester thread, and the texture is expressed through a different thread arrangement.
Its natural wrinkled look, natural stretch, and the skin-friendly feel from its textured surface are distinctive.
In addition to quick drying, it uses an environmentally friendly fluorine-free water-repellent agent...
A staple popular item for yoga, Pilates, and gym wear. Because it fits close to the body, stretch and comfort are important, so high-gauge tricot and stretch jersey textiles are recommended.
A nylon/polyurethane tricot jersey, this is the most basic fabric in SASAKISELLM’s standard high-tension series. It is characterized by exceptionally strong stretch and a stress-free...
A material developed with an eye toward today and the society of the future. This moderately thick tricot material has antibacterial, UV-blocking, and cool...
Not only is it used as an inner layer as originally intended, but the style of wearing it as a top (a showable garment) has also become established. Since a comfortable fit is required, using power net for the lining is recommended because it also improves fit and provides stable support.
A tricot material with moisture-absorbing quick-dry properties.
It can be used both on land and in water, and can also be used for swimwear.
Uses semi-dull cationic irregular cross-section thread...
Excellent stretch and recovery
Vivid color development
Grid mesh with quick-drying properties
*When ordering by the roll, enter 50 for the quantity
Set the quantity for roll!
This item can be cut up to 5m. Same color number...
“Neo Rubber Tape, Neo Rubber Strap” uses the thermoplastic elastomer EARNESTON®SHEET, which has excellent rubber elasticity and outstanding recovery, in Topman’s proprietary technique...
Tops that are easy to incorporate into everyday wear are popular for both men and Ladies. In Ladies, cropped lengths are also popular, and choosing a fabric that prevents transparency is reassuring.
A high-performance knit with a smooth knit structure and a lustrous sheen. The texture is soft and comfortable even against bare skin, with a simple yet refined finish. In addition, UV-blocking processing cuts ultraviolet rays, and moisture-wicking quick-dry...
A sustainable material using spun thread made from EASTMAN acetate〈Naia™Renew〉. In addition to its silk-like gloss, color richness, and supple feel, it also offers excellent cool-touch and quick-drying properties...
Maker: Uni Textile (Komon Kobo) / Supplier: Okura Shoji
This double knit achieves a light, cool ventilation structure with a three-dimensional mesh construction. It has firmness, is not easily see-through, and can also express a heathered look. *When ordering by the roll, enter 30 for the quantity...
Maker: Uni Textile (Komon Kobo) / Supplier: Okura Shoji
It’s a popular item for wearing when moving from the gym or other facilities, and as one-mile wear. Light, easy-to-move-in items with a high synthetic fiber content are recommended.
A thin, wide-width double knit textile that can be used for outerwear. It offers UPF50+ high UV-blocking performance, 99% UV shielding, high stretch, and excellent rebound. Suitable for outerwear such as hoodies...
A standard autumn/winter material using anti-pilling A/W thread. It also has stretch, so it can be used for a variety of applications from tops to bottoms. *When ordering by the roll, enter 50 for the quantity...
A high-performance outer layer with lightweight, water-repellent, and windproof properties that performs well in a wide range of situations, from outdoor use to town use. If you prioritize lightness, nylon textile with an industry weight of 60–90gsm is a perfect match. A size 3 coil zipper is the basic choice and easy to coordinate, but a 4.5 size AquaGuard® zipper, which also offers thinness, lightness, and water-repellent functionality, is recommended because it brings out the full appeal of a lightweight outer layer.
A sustainable fabric made with nylon regenerated from textile waste, the ReCONHny® series. Even though it is a fine 20D, it retains nylon’s characteristic tough strength. An environmentally friendly fabric...
A thin taffeta made with nylon bright monofilament. It has a moderate sheer feel and a striking rolled sheen, with a ripstop structure. The black solution-dyed weft thread and aero washer finish create a fine texture that changes with the angle...
Coil zippers are made from resin materials such as polyester, and the elements are in a coil shape. Because they are continuous elements, they are more flexible than metal zippers or Vislon(R) zippers...
What do you think? Isn’t athleisure fashion a fashion trend that combines the functionality of sportswear with the design appeal of everyday clothing, overlapping with modern trends and lifestyles? Of course, it’s not just about design; many high-performance materials such as stretch, moisture-wicking quick-dry, and waterproof breathable are used in these items.
Athleisure fashion is expanding beyond the sportswear market into town use, outdoor wear, and travel wear, and it is likely to continue becoming a standard fashion genre in the future.
For the functional products listed on ApparelX, please take a look here.
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