It is obvious. It is everywhere. It is every day and every hour. Sports has become more than just Sport. It has become expression, it has become culture, it has become part of our every day life and even if we don’t realise it; is there.
It would be impossible for a sector like Fashion not to be swept away by the sheer power of the wave! Sportswear has entered fashion and changed it forever, historic and classic athletic apparel has become fashion-standard and in the end; we all benefit (men and women) from this fashionable yet practical symbiosis of fashion and sportswear.
The beginning of the twentieth century has been characterised by the rise and creation of a new – middle – class; new habits and customs appeared. Life started changing frantically and as free time suddenly became a thing, leisure became our new wonderful moment! Social changes of the kind made it possible for spheres that before were distant, to come closer, intersect and interact.
Sport entered everyday life with impetus and re-shaped forever our social panorama! As everything got more democratised, as access to spectacle(s) became easier for the masses, stadiums and courts opened up and connected its style and heroes with all the streets and alleys.
Tennis shirts, baseball caps, football shirts and varsity jackets, puffer jackets climbed down the slopes and found their way into the urban jungle, tracksuits became… trousers, swimsuits swam from indoor pools to the sunny beaches…
Society evolved, sports evolved, fashion evolved and… everything changed!
But how does sports influence clothing fashions today? Let us discover…
5 Ways Sports Influence Men’s Fashion Today
1. From feeling light and performing on the court to feeling light and performing in your Sofa!
Athletes demand lightness, freedom of movement, garments that enable them to use their abilities to the maximum and excel when on court. But today all men benefit from these same garments to live an easier and more comfortable life. Why not feel free-er at the office or even in the sofa, watching TV or Tele-working!
2. Jordan, Stan Smith, Chuck Taylor, Tony Hawk, Kobe Bryant… Names or Sneakers?
Athlete’s sneakers are not just shoes. From the Jordans on, the right sneaker would give you street-cred apart from a unique style. Brands started designing sport shoes that could be worn while doing sports or combined with a suit and tie to attend a gala.
Did you get the new Kobies, the latest Jordans, the classic Stan Smiths? The eternal Chuck Taylors? Are they shoes? Sneakers have become an it garment and they will surely add a perfect final touch to your style. Sneakers are a world in their own right! Surely one of the clearest indicators of what sportswear means in fashion.
3. Research and Development for Top Sportswear, Fashion’s useful new tools!
All top sports brands research and investigate non-stop. Entire labs try to produce new fabrics, design new cuts and better fits, open new paths to elevate performance in sports. Boundaries must be pushed and records broken. It must be lighter, more durable, and more breathable, it must be more anatomic.
Why Fashion wouldn’t or shouldn’t benefit from all these revolutionary and innovative fibres and materials? If it is good for the gold Olympian, it is surely great for you and me!
4. Practicality is Freedom
To be able to move freely, not to think that you should sit this or that way, use clothes that do not prohibit but allow, being able to fold your puffer jacket and puff it into your backpack, to wash and wear your clothes almost instantly might seem somewhat standard today but not so long ago it wasn’t the case! Sportswear has place practicality in the centre of the conversation and has influenced all the spectre of fashion, from the formal to the Casual chic and Smart Casual.
5. Sports, Fashion and You!
Federer’s backhand, Jordan’s flights, Faldo’s relentless style, Wilkinson’s strength, Roy Keane’s power and determination, Cantona’s… everything… Athletes are artists and Fashion is an art-form. The shirt of your favourite athlete, the jersey of your favourite team, the colours of your city… are more than clothes.
All types of sportswear clothing can help you express yourself, let everybody know your dreams and desires. A logo at the height of the heart, transforms a simple T-Shirt to identity. You wear a hat but you carry your city, you wave your ideals, you say who you are with no words at all! Image has uncalculated power!
Young people (or those who feel young) have one more way to convey a message, we can change the world once again! And we know that new generation doesn’t ask just for style or buys the latest trend, it demands clothes that are sustainable and mark differences in all possible ways! It is the generation that takes a second-hand jersey and makes it a first-class garment!
“We all support different teams, have different styles but the colours we defend are two: Blue and Green!”
Time has passed! From leisure to ath-leisure, we have come a long way; several decades and a century way! Fashion and Sports walk side by side; one has found its way so deep into the core of the other that it seems difficult to say where one ends and the other begins. The catwalks of the Fashion Weeks lead to sport venues of any kind. Is it symbiosis? Is it Synergy? Is it influence? Is it the need of Practical Style? Is it the emergence of a new man and a new type of Sportswear? Be it what it may; it is stylish, it is breathable, it is a new kind of Aesthetics! But, most of all it is welcome!
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Article author: Joan Calabia
Joan Calabia operates as the Digital Lead for Dockers® International at Levi Strauss & Co. Joan’s experience spans the intricacies of marketing operations to creating immersive consumer experiences. He continues to lead the brand direction adapting to the new generation of casual consumers in our era, while maintaining the California cool lifestyle that is heritage to the brand.
Well written and presented. 👍
I can agree… the sport and fashion are interconnected these days.
Yes I can see the sport influence almost everywhere in fashion
I liked the article.
Nice read on sport & fashion
Good piece about influence of sports in men fashion.