Fashion People Podcast – Episode Summary

Podcast: Fashion People
Episode: The End of Leggings?
Date: August 26, 2025
Host: Lauren Sherman
Guest: Sarah Shapiro (Puck Retail Correspondent)

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the evolving world of activewear, exploring whether we've reached "peak leggings" and what the future holds for the category. Lauren Sherman and Sarah Shapiro break down trends across major brands like Lululemon, Alo Yoga, Vuori, and Outdoor Voices, discussing the shift away from head-to-toe spandex, material innovations, and the impact of new players and micro-trends. They also analyze how the market for leggings and activewear parallels the historic evolution of denim in fashion.

Episode Highlights & Key Discussion Points

[02:02] State of Activewear: Are Leggings Over?

• Sarah: Reports from Edited show leggings are now less than 50% of activewear assortments for the first time since their rise.
  • "For the first time, probably since leggings even came out, leggings were less than 50% of activewear assortments." [06:10]
• Brands are diversifying: trousers, dresses, exercise skirts and dresses are now part of activewear lineups.
• Outdoor Voices’ "exercise dress," launched in 2018, is cited as a tipping point, popularized by the rise of racket sports and the mainstreaming of sport-inspired daywear.

[07:19] Diversification and Rise of “Regular Clothes” in Activewear

• Lauren: Notes how activewear brands now offer button-ups, cashmere blends, and varied silhouettes, moving away from "the full activewear look."
  • "People don't wear a full activewear look anymore. It's just not the way she dresses. It's not the way she sees people walking around dressing. I think she's correct in that observation."
• Sarah: Recalls pre-2011 trends in tech fabrics for professional travel and the cyclical adoption of performance materials.

[10:54] Material and Product Innovations

• Sarah: Branding unique materials became a differentiator (e.g., Outdoor Voices’ "bubble," Lululemon’s "align," Vuori’s "dream knit," Alo’s "airlift").
  • "It’s interesting how fleece, and what is it like, the polar fleece, has a specific name... a lot of these materials did the same thing." [10:54]
• Compression, "buttery soft" textures, seamless construction, and comfort are key selling points.
• The removal of the front seam (gusset) in Lululemon’s “align” (now marketed as "align no line") is discussed as a tweak to address comfort and appearance ("camel toe").

[16:26] Lululemon: The Legacy Brand Facing Change

• Sarah: Despite controversies (sheer pants issue, founder remarks), Lululemon surpassed $10B in 2024. Still, most sales remain in the Americas, but international is growing.
  • "They surpassed $10 billion in 2024." [17:09]
  • "75% of their business is still done in Americas. But it was 79% a year prior to that." [17:09]
• The original focus on what you wore to work out has shifted as Pilates, barre, and athleisure styles became mainstream.
• Gen Z and tweens are significant drivers, often using Lululemon gear beyond workouts (e.g., "the small reusable bags as their lunch bags").
• Recent community backlash: Lululemon discontinued its professional discount for dancers, a group identified as frequent users.

[21:29] Lululemon vs. “Dupes” and New Competition

• Sarah: Points to Amazon and influencer-endorsed "dupes," challenging Lululemon’s status as the default choice for leggings.
  • "There are tons of influencers pushing dupes or Amazon, the Amazon brand of that."
• Lauren and Sarah discuss the tactile appeal of super-soft, tagless products and ASMR-like marketing, but also question the performance suitability of these materials for actual workouts.

[26:47] Brand Deep Dive: Alo Yoga

• Alo’s meteoric growth discussed in context of LA and Miami, with its image built around the "clean girl" and Hailey Bieber-led minimalist aesthetics.
  • "Alo was like taking the ease of Lululemon but adding a fashion lens... much more basic and broader than what Outdoor Voices had been." [27:26]
• Expansion into jackets, blazers, and fashion-adjacent items, sometimes dressing high-profile athletes like Joe Burrow.
• Alo’s current challenge: maintaining relevance as “set dressing” gives way to more individualized styling and as the Kardashian-minimalist look wanes.

[31:56] Brand Deep Dive: Vuori

• Lauren: Vuori’s appeal is its accessibility, comfort, and broader, less style-driven aesthetic—“the Gap for 42-year-old men.”
  • "It feels very accessible to people in almost a way even more than Lululemon or Nike." [35:13]
• Launched with men’s apparel; now resonates across genders and ages, especially parents and “sideline” types.
• Soft, compressive materials and easy fits are the norm, but the brand is making a strategic sports push:
  • Sponsorship deals with college athletes (e.g., high-profile gymnast Livvy Dunne, NCAA football’s Arch Manning).
  • Recent signing of tennis player Jack Draper away from Nike.
• Sarah: "While they aren’t investing maybe in some of the caliber that Nike is, they are definitely either... looking at that playbook or they’re saying, our customer we want to get is also more college students." [41:17]
• Vuori’s messaging is less about intensity and more about healthy movement and comfort.

[42:53] Outdoor Voices Relaunch

• Lauren: OV’s reboot (under founder Tyler Haney) targets a younger cohort, with daring designs and cheeky branding ("joggy green,” tramp stamp shorts).
  • "I keep teasing this. I do really want to have Tyler Haney on. I think the best way to do it is to wait until she has, like, the next drop of product and see how it's going." [42:53]
  • On the "tramp stamp" design: "They're very daring... But I think there is probably, like, a basic B girl who is 25 who feels similarly or is, like, a little scared to buy the tramp stamp ones to start."
• Question: Is Haney ahead of or behind the curve with her “Y2K nostalgia” (tramp stamp, Juicy Couture throwback) approach?
• OV’s “exercise dress” remains a category hit, and the brand’s new drop has extended sizing and a psychedelic 'Missoni-esque' print that’s sold out in certain sizes.

[49:42] Parallels: Activewear Now Vs. the Evolution of Denim

• Lauren: Activewear's trajectory mirrors the history of denim—starting as a niche item before becoming an everyday staple and even "dressy."
  • "It took 50 years for [jeans] to become something that people consider almost dressy. And activewear is a similar category." [50:01]

[51:26] The Rise of Niche and Micro-Community Activewear Brands

• Sarah: Predicts more boutique, niche brands will pop up—think "tennis-core," pickleball, team sports, and specialized communities:
  • "Maybe we're not talking about the next billion dollar brands, but the next, you know, 10 to $20 million brands."
• Growth of vintage/retro influences and the impact of upcoming events like the LA Olympics.
• Daily Drills is cited as an emerging youth/college favorite, popular in southern sorority rush scenes for bold, logo-banded shorts.
  • "I have seen quite a few of people wearing these Daily Drills outfits... I'm like, this is a thing." [53:10]
• “Community” remains key—be it yoga, running, volleyball, or pickleball.

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• Sarah: "Leggings were less than 50% of activewear assortments." [06:10]
• Lauren: "People don't wear a full activewear look anymore... It's not the way she dresses. It's not the way she sees people walking around dressing." [08:17]
• Lauren: "It feels very accessible to people in almost a way even more than Lululemon or Nike." [35:13]
• Sarah: “Maybe we're not talking about the next billion dollar brands, but the next, you know, 10 to $20 million brands.” [51:26]
• Lauren: "Activewear’s trajectory mirrors the history of denim—starting as a niche item before becoming an everyday staple and even 'dressy.'" [50:01]

Key Takeaways

• The era of head-to-toe black leggings as the uniform is over; activewear brands are broadening their assortments and aesthetics.
• Material innovation and branding have historically been central to differentiation, but now community, function, and style variety are more important.
• Lululemon remains a behemoth but faces new competition from both Amazon “dupes” and new brands.
• Alo Yoga and Vuori are finding unique value propositions—Alo via fashionization and influencer cache, Vuori via comfort and subtlety.
• The youth market is driving micro-trends, with brands like Daily Drills and Outdoor Voices capitalizing on niche aesthetics, TikTok virality, and retro appeal.
• The activewear category, like denim, is becoming ever more ingrained in daily life, driven by comfort, culture, and a constant churn of trends and subcommunities.

For listeners hoping to understand what’s really happening in the world of activewear—why leggings aren’t what they used to be, where the market is heading, and what the next movement could be—this episode offers the inside scoop straight from fashion industry insiders.