Women Are Dropping Denim and Dresses for Sportswear

Polyester T-shirts and spandex leggings were once inappropriate attire outside of the gym, let alone during a night out with friends. But now it's hard to spot someone on the street who doesn't look like they just came from yoga class.

Over the past few years, women's fashion has adopted such a comfortable and casual look, wearing denim can make you look overdressed. These changing attitudes towards athletic wear have made it the fastest growing segment in the fashion market. What is being called "athleisure" has helped fitness garments bring in a whooping $35.1 billion over a 12-month period ending in October 2014, and it is only expected to grow—reaching $178 billion in 2019. This means people are spending a shit ton of money to look like they just ran five miles on a treadmill.

But this newfound interest in workout wear isn't all about getting fit. Only 39 percent of the people who purchase athletic gear say they actually have the intention of hitting the gym, the look is more about functionality. Women have also been drawn to fitness clothing because it exudes the appearance of a healthy lifestyle and the spandex and lycra materials tend to be more flattering.

High-end sportswear from designers like Alexander Wang and Rick Owens have long blurred the line between gym clothing and fashion, and now it is being diluted for the masses. Brands like Nike and retailers like H&M have all amped up their active wear, specifically for women. Although both genders have taken an interest in more sporty styles, the women's market is growing the fastest and providing the most opportunities.

Since women are wearing athleisure from the office to happy hour, the offerings must be stylish enough to transition, which means more and more brands are trying to figure out how to make chic workout clothes and appeal to customers in a heavily-saturated market.

One space where the growing trend is on full display is at the Axis tradeshow, where booths are filled with asymmetrical cotton tees and sheer-paneled leggings. The newly launched biannual women's lifestyle event sits in the back of its distant cousin, Capsule, a tradeshow that displays mostly high-end ready to wear by exclusive fashion labels.

Axis was launched last year by Vanessa Chiu and Reed Exhibitions and showcases the new generation of women's casual lifestyle—with a laidback vibe, a lower price point, and new brands that represent fashion, activewear, beauty, and home accessories. Before Axis, Chiu worked in marketing and sales for almost a decade, attending dozens of tradeshows a year. This experience helped her realize there needed to be a show that catered to the new way women shop and their shift towards the athleisure.

I caught up with her to chat about how women's fashion is changing and how brands are innovating with these new trends.

VICE: When did you notice that the market for women's was changing?
Vanessa Chiu: I jumped on board with Agenda about two and half years ago to develop a women's voice within the tradeshow, and that's the very point when I realized, "Oh shit, there's actually more of a need." There needs to be a whole women's movement really embracing where we shop.

Do you see more brands in the future starting to kind of accommodate to the growing active wear market?
You can. And they have to trickle it down. They're not dumbing it down, I think they're making it more accessible and more palatable. I read a report that 32 percent of denim is going into legging sales, and that was last year.

It's not necessarily that girls are really working out, but they want to look like they are. I am seeing a lot of brands offer that, even swim brands.

Since "athleisure" is growing so quickly, have you seen anyone doing cool stuff with that?
There's a brand that I love that we're working with that's really badass and it's a little bit different, called Skin Graft. They're doing what I call luxury basics.They are very known for couture leather super-crazy stuff. They're actually developing and launching with us a price-pointed active lifestyle luxury basics line to cater towards our girls so we actually can buy it and it's also wear day to night.

What are some of the things you've seen brands doing to standout in the market?
What I've seen is more and more brands are embracing collaboration. Let's say it's a blogger that partners with a brand; that brand has an immediate sponsor. Or if it's an artist that they're bringing in, they're basically launching a collection and then that collection becomes a gallery show that ties into something tangible.

Why do you think they are turning to collaborations?
I feel like a lot of brands now are looking for a sense of meaning; there are collaborations based on emotional affiliation. It's always multi-functional without being cheesy. I think a lot more money, a lot more strength is being played towards creative output as well as marketing, so people want to tell why [a product was made] as opposed to what they made.

What did you have in mind when you were developing Axis?
It's not about ejecting us and pigeonholing us into this youth culture super show, it's about developing a show for the hustler girl that's multi-dimensional. We shop differently. We're not brand-loyal. We're always looking for what's new. We want to feel included, but it needs to feel exclusive at the same time. So that's how Axis was born. Our first show we had about 150 or so brands, now we have 200 at the cap for September.

How do you pick which brands to feature?
We do a shit ton of research. All of the retailers that we work with we actually have relationships with. We ask the retailer's feedback. What sells in your store? What sucks? We basically choose the brands based on what we ourselves buy because we are the authentic customers that these brands are selling to. We really target brands from around the world, like globally-relevant brands, that no one can get their hands on.

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