We know it as fitness wear or fitness apparel but way back then in 1890 they used the term leisure wear or play wear... "play wear" sounds a bit... well lets leave it there. Yes you heard right, back in 1890 women did not have the same idea as we do now about fitness wear. The "fitness wear" they had to wear looked like they where going to a mid evil dress up party. It was a full on dress with all the bells and whistles and it was heavy. Now picture this... You are playing a game of tennis(like they did back then) and you are running around with your wooden racket and its a pretty warm day.
You begin to sweat and and before you know it you are dying from the heat because breathable sports wear was a swearword. The dress already weighs double your weight and now its soaked in sweat. Just imagine the effort it must have been to move around in a dress like that. There's one more thing I want to point out... just imagine the smell a sweat soaked dress like that smelled like, no thank you, not for me!
So ladies, by the 1920's along came a British designer by the name of John Redfern. He actually was designing active wear from 1880 and by the 1920 he started to see the cry for help from the sports women in that time. Sports like cycling made designers saw the need for more light and comfortable sports wear. If you take cycling for instance a dress on a bike with moving wheels and parts was nor a good idea.
Have you ever seen those wedding videos where the guy takes his new wife into the sunset on a motorbike... lets just say someone took them to the hospital not a sunset.... Designers like John Redfern definitely started the trend that women's sports wear should be more tight fitted and breathable.
From 1920 to around 1945 the Paris fashion scene became much more sports wear/fashion aware and famous designers like Coco Chanel incorporated the clothing fashion trend with sports wear for the normal person on street to wear in their normal day to day. If you think about it... we are doing the exact same thing today a 100 years later, wearing our favorite leggings when going to do shopping or just chill in front of the TV.
From there up to 1970 compared to the French sports wear scene American designers started focusing on more practical, affordable and easy fitting sports wear. I would definitely say that this era started the sports fashion we now today. They actually started a lasting fitness wear trend and it has pushed through up to what we know today.
1970 until 2000's there was well know designers like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger that took the sports fashion scene to a next level. The focused on quality material like wool and natural linen to create the fashion/sports wear. These pieces were practical and easy to maintain. From where people started to realize that sports wear should start changing in the 1920's up until famous designers started to experiment with different fabrics and more practical styles in the 1970's it has definitely been a huge improvement towards making women feel comfortable and confident in what they wear.
Now in the 21st century the fitness wear as we know it really came a long way from then and it has without a doubt became part of our culture and who we are. Looking at the fashion side of fitness wear it has definitely became a statement and that statement is whatever you want it to be. There are a lot of fitness wear trends today and you can definitely fit into one of them. Fitness wear today caters to everyone and has a broad field to fit anyone. One of the biggest plus point that fitness wear has evolved into is that perfect fit technology that fits you body like a glove no matter your size. Fitness wear today has the perfect merge between fitness fashion and comfort technology and we are the one's benefiting from this.
When you buy your next fitness wear outfit from Gym Cat and you glide into them and suddenly feel like Wonder Women just remember it came a long long way and think about those test dummy ladies who had to sweat in a ball room dress to make you feel sexy and your experience that much better.
I'm just wondering in a 100 years from now what will our children's children say about what we are wearing today. You never know... in a 100 years from now everyone will be training in their birthday suits😂
Gym Cat
For the strong