Just the fit feels fitter
WEARING gym gear makes women feel like they’re athletes even if they don’t work out or get regular exercise, a new study has found.
Women wearing figure-fitting leggings, shorts, T-shirts and crop tops are assumed by others to be going to or from the gym, research from Harvard University and the University of Melbourne shows.
Dr Sarah Lipson from Harvard University and her team surveyed 20 women aged 18 to 38 about gym clothes, which are known as ‘ athleisure’ wear.
They found such clothing makes women feel more athletic and more likely to exercise, or feel like exercising.
One woman said: “You’re wearing athletic clothing and you’re therefore an athlete.”
Dr Lipson said wearing athleisure wear allowed women to emulate the cultural obsession with health and fitness “without fully engaging in it, especially if they wear these clothes outside the gym”.
“Even when participants observed athleisure outside of an exercise setting, they were inclined to associate the wearer with physical activity,” she said.
But there is a downside. Researchers, which also included Dr Scott Griffiths from the University of Melbourne, also found such clothing allowed women to be judged by others on their body size.
Women are more likely to think others are fit and healthy if they are thin. Larger women were seen by 40 per cent of participants as needing to lose weight in order to access the athletic ideal.
“If the woman in athleisure lived in a larger body, participants perceived her in one of two ways: as in the process of working towards a healthy lifestyle or as simply lazy,” Dr Lipson said.
Many women interviewed concluded the fit, athletic ideal was unattainable.
Tilly Wise, 15, from Mont Albert North, wears gym gear both when she’s exercising and when she’s not. “It can be very comfortable,” she said. “I wear it a lot for rowing and also on the weekends. Sometimes I’m wondering what to wear and I put it on and it means I’m much more likely to work out.”
Athletic wear sales are worth $9.6 billion in the US and account for one-quarter of total apparel sales. Prestigious brands of leggings range in price from $120 to $600.