Yoga pants and other athletic bottoms are overtaking jeans as the catchall leisure gear, says a new survey of Canadian shoppers.
Sales of denim pants here declined 4.5 last year, found the online poll by The NPD Group. During the same period, 14 per cent more active bottoms were sold, along with 8 per cent more general pants.
It’s a symptom of functionality, said Sandy Silva, fashion industry analyst at The NPD Group. She believes people are pressed for time and turning to apparel suited to multiple activities.
“We see that most people are wearing active bottoms outside of the gym more so than inside the gym,” explained Silva, pointing out that, according to the survey of 23,000 consumers, just 45 per cent of active bottoms were purchased for yoga and other sporting activity. The others were bought for casual use.
“Traditionally, denim was used for industrial workwear purpose, then it became more for casual, everyday, and now it looks like active bottoms are taking over that place in terms of the active, everyday lifestyle item,” she said.
Although Ontario, the province accounting for the largest denim spend across the country (41 per cent), showed flat sales and a 7 per cent increase in women’s styles, Joel Carman, owner of longstanding Yorkville denim boutique Over the Rainbow, said his experience reflects the national average.
“What I’m finding is, it’s pretty well flat for women and maybe down 2 or 3 per cent; and my men’s business is flat to growing,” he said. “Our bottom business as a whole is stable, but it’s shifting a little bit away from denim and more over to alternate fabrics, particularly on the ladies’ side.”
With jeans ranging from $120 to $300 at his store, where high-rise, skinny and distressed styles are currently popular, Carman blames a listless economy more than the “passing fad” of unstructured pants and lighter weights.
“I think people’s net worths are higher, but their disposable income and their cash flow is tighter; particularly my younger customer, my newlyweds, my 25-to-45-year-olds who are starting a family,” he said.
“Because of interest rates they’re spending more than they would on a house, but it’s leaving them in a situation where they’re a little bit more cautious about their discretionary spending.
“I think that this is a malaise and I think that we’ll come back to denim. That’s our DNA. When there’s this perception that a fabric like denim is soft, stores that carry a little bit of denim stop carrying it, because they want to go up to trend. But stores like us, it actually doesn’t affect us as much because we have such a variety and people always need a pair of blue jeans.”
From: The Star