14 Ways to Wear Fashion’s Comfiest Trend: the Sweatsuit

Do you ever find yourself reminiscing about the good ol’ days when you’d lay around your dorm in your favorite university-branded sweatpants and hoodie combo, feeling snug as a polar bear and attractive as a Sasquatch? Perhaps it was a light shade of gray and had your name embroidered across the right arm or printed in cap locks across the butt in a drooping, unflattering fashion. Let’s take it even further back to the 90s when you saved up all your babysitting cash to afford a last season Juicy Couture velour tracksuit in an obnoxiously pungent hue, such as banana yellow or Creamsicle orange.

As cozy and heartwarming as you may find this nostalgia, you wouldn’t be caught dead again in such attire. You know better now, but also, sweatsuits have been crazy elevated by the likes of Rihanna with her Fenty x Puma collaboration or Stella McCartney for Adidas. Heck, every major athletic wear company has a potent designer collaboration these days and many celebrities are launching their own labels, like Kanye West’s Yeezy and Beyoncé’s IVY PARK. Athleisure was, as of 2016, a $46 billion industry. The people have spoken and the people want sweats.

Needless to say, the war has been won and you can leave your house in sweats again. This time it won’t be because it’s laundry day or because, in the words of the great Karl Lagerfeld, “you lost control of your life.” Nay, it will be because the It pant du jour is by Reebok and both the Hadids wore a pair to fashion week. Or better yet, the most coveted items from Vetements’ latest collection are fitted sweats that won’t clash with your work’s dress code policy. No more pants tossing the moment you get home ladies.

[ Next: Athleisure Gets Upgraded to Glamleisure (and We Get an Excuse to Wear Tracksuits to Dinner) ]