Leggings ride wave of athleisure boom with sales rising across price range

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 28, 2018

Leggings, which were once vilified as a fashion no-go zone after their 1980s and 90s popularity faded, are now seeing a strong revival as the athleisure trend shows no signs of fading any time soon.

Pureplay e-tailer Asos said last week that sales of its branded legging styles have grown over 180% year-on-year and that so far this year, it has already sold almost double the number of leggings compared to 2017. The company has responded by offering more than 1,000 styles for sale on its website.

And it's not only happening in the mass-market. The Guardian reported that high-end search engine and shopping aggregator Lyst has also said that leggings are close to the top of the most searched-for items globally with the word being typed-in 430,000 times a month. It added that searches for men's leggings (or ‘meggings') are rising as well.

Lyst said the average spend it sees for a pair of gym-to-street women’s leggings is now £101, up from £68 a year ago.

Asos design director Vanessa Spence told the newspaper that consumers are increasingly incorporating their approach to fitness into their everyday lives and want to look good in the process, something that's helping to drive the trend at all price ranges. The retailer currently sells leggings priced from just a few pounds up to several hundred.

And with higher-end labels getting in on the act, the trend really looks like it has legs. Matchesfashion buying director Natalie Kingham told The Guardian that customers are buying leggings for their versatility and ability to go from day into evening, which is why the company is stocking items such as a £180 pair by June Watanabe in metallic stretch satin or a leather Givenchy pair that costs almost £1,400.