Finding a new outfit every day for class or walking around campus can be challenging. Athleisure wear has silently become a staple in many people's closets — it's colorful, practical and effortless.
Athleisure is an active look, form-fitting and usually simple to match without much thought to it. It can include, but is not limited to, a contoured sports top with matching leggings or a sweat suit with matching styles and colors.
For many students, workout matching sets have become a default style as they offer an easy way to look presentable with minimal effort.
ASU students said a major factor in their popularity on campus is Tempe's weather, which reaches triple-digit highs most days in the summer. Wearing clothes built for sweating can be the most practical choice.
READ MORE: Rising temperatures bring greater usage to ASU's heat mitigation resources, strategies
Ava Mikell, a freshman studying finance, came from a small town in Illinois. Moving to Arizona during the summer showed her a fashion norm that wasn't common back home: the normalization of wearing athleisure wear to other places rather than the gym.
"It's like, 'Wow, I get to live this life. I get to put on a little cutie active set every day, and I get to go to class, and that's normalized,'" Mikell said.
Working out is a prominent part of the culture at ASU, and athleisure wear offers a way for students to fit into that image, she said.
"If I'm not working out, I want to make it look like I'm working out and I'm an active person," Mikell said.
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Brands well known for athleisure, such as Lululemon, Alo, Aritzia and Garage, each cater to popular demand for bright and unique designs, said Isabel Lopez, a junior studying urban planning. Colors that become extremely popular, like pastels or vibrant shades, are a part of a bigger pattern of micro-trends.
Micro-trends rapidly grow through the use of social media and the easy accessibility of these pieces, she said. For example, a TikTok video about a workout set can provide a link that leads to the promoted set on TikTok Shop.
READ MORE: Getting scrolled out of the loop: Is it possible to keep up with trends?
Lopez said people buy a workout set because it's in a trendy color that they saw online, all for the color to fall out of the trend cycle soon after — leaving the set buried in someone's closet.
These social media platforms influence outfit inspirations for many students, Lopez said. "A day in my life" vlogs often feature a matching workout set as the outfit of choice.
"Going into my freshman year, I feel like I saw things on TikTok of girls saying 'Everyone wears workout sets,'" Lopez said. "'That's kind of the normal thing to do.'"
Despite the mass popularity of athleisure wear, Lopez decided to turn away from wearing that type of clothing. This opened her up to finding her own style and what she wanted to wear rather than what everyone else was wearing.
"I love to dress up," Lopez said. "Looking around and seeing girls just wearing same color sets, it just lacks uniqueness."
Still, athleisure's popularity isn't anything new.
Brianna Walsh, a stylista junior studying fashion, said she noticed athleisure wear has not only been a recent trend but originally came from the activewear of the early 2000s and 2010s.
"It's one of those things where it's always going to be integrated in someone's personal style," Walsh said. "Even if it's not like a full workout set, someone could have an athletic headband on."
Capri leggings aren't just limited to a full athleisure aesthetic. Pairing a capri pant with a dressy top and a pair of high heels makes for a stylish look, she said.
Athleisure wear offers students the opportunity to marry form and function — looking put together and staying comfortable in the heat.
"It's just comfortable," Lopez said. "It's just an easy outfit for girls to throw on and feel good."
Edited by Sam Troester, Carsten Oyer and Senna James.
Reach the reporter at csfishe4@asu.edu.
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