How Athleisure is making its way to the top

www.businessinsider.com

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “ Do women prefer comfort or utility?”

The article published in [Business Insider] titled
“Athletic Athletic wear companies are going after these 3 types of people ”

demonstrates this economic principle by arguing/showing how athleisure wear is making its way to the top, how it is indeed possible to look cute and feel comfortable, and how athletic clothing companies realise focusing on marketing to women will be beneficial in the long run.

First, the modern look has turned from being complex to a softer, more casual wear. Women are now sporting something that the article above described as “leggings with the intent of wearing them to the gym, errands, and brunch”. Companies like lululemon and others have come to realise that in recent years, the trend of athleisure is taking off. You don’t need to look far to see that this is true; Our school is always full of girls and boys wearing sporty, comfortable clothes. But with girls in particular, you can bet your money that way more than half own a pair or three of black, sleek leggings. This and yoga pants have pushed their way to the top of the market, and along side it, sporty shoes and comfort overall.

 Second, In the article mentioned above, they go deeper into the statistics. They find that just in north america, there has been a 77% growth in “athleisure” wear for women. And in western europe, there has been a 27% increase in sales. They also make note on the fact that North America has accomplished to dominate the sportswear market, not something that is easy to do! It isn’t just statistics for adults, but also that of teen. In fact, they seem to be slowly taking over the data. In 2008 the sales of sportswear for teen was around 6%, now it is over 28%. Sport apparel firms realize this and have been slowly shifting to focus more on marketing towards what women want. An example of this is Nike, who has acted accordingly to the information and has started expanding their women's line, expecting $2 Billion to be added in sales due to this change. $2 Billion is no small number, and seeing this from just one big company shows the potential there is in providing comfortable and useful clothing for women. Not only can it be useful, but it also gives you a sleek and “put together” look, something many wish to achieve at an affordable price.


 Third, Putting all of these elements together one would be a fool to not focus their companies on expanding these areas. Even doing so by just a fraction would bring plenty of revenue, it would be a win-win situation for both the consumers and the suppliers. In the long run, by spending money on this new demographic, the companies would come out on top. Companies also realise that they need to find a new way to reach out to younger generations, and they have been doing so by now hiring female online influencers such as those present in popular instagram accounts. Hiring these people to promote what they sell has increased sales by around 33%, coming from Millennials and older Gen-Z people. Based on these numbers, thinking about the future and who will be the next in line to buy products is the way to go. By shifting to please this new demographic of what they describe as “ a 32-year-old professional single woman named Ocean who makes $100,000 a year”, the positive outcome outweighs the work put in. In my next blog post I will research why companies that used to be a big hit are now falling apart and not reaching a large enough audience.