The dress code is relatively casualin startups and new-age tech firms.Walk into a startup in Bengaluru and chances are you’ll find the founders and executives in their 20s and 30s dressed casually in track pants, sweatshirts, and sneakers.

Pahwa feels with the athleisure segment witnessing strong double-digit growth annually, the category is poised to gain a bigger market share in the apparel industry. Take sportswear companies such as Puma and Adidas, and Fila from Italy, which are ramping up their collection with new launches, tapping into the growing millennial craze for athleisure wear. For Puma,track jackets, sweatpants, and footwear are fast-growing categories in the athleisure segment. On average, the sportswear manufacturer has seen a 45% growth rate in the last two years, it says. “Athleisure will continue to be a key focus area for Puma in India. With the increasing popularity of sportswear in fashion,especially among the youth, we estimate the demand to grow by 35%this year and continue to see huge potential in the future,” says Abhishek Ganguly, managing director,Puma India.

Millennials and GenZ have transformed the way athleisure brands approach marketing. Take Fila, for instance. The Italian sportswear brand had a global reboot a few years ago to connect better with its younger audience. Last year, it signed a brand-promotion deal with Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg’s 15-year-old son Leo Borg, seen asa rising star on the junior tennis circuit. Rohan Batra, managing director of Mumbai-headquartered Cravatex Brands, which owns the licence to sell Fila products in India and other South Asian countries, says Fila in India started thereboot of the brand two years ago.Despite its presence in the country since the 1970s, Fila’s growth was muted compared to larger rivals Adidas and Puma in India, but its athleisure wear could just change its fortunes. “Our target group is the millennial customer. For us apparel is the fastest growing category, specifically women’s apparel,” says Batra. “When we launched in India we were intentionally a footwear brand but today at a store level apparel is contributing to nearly half of our sales. This is mostly a phenomenon in the last 18-24 months... Sports-wear is the new fashion.”

Is the athleisure market just a fashion fad? D’Souza sums it up succinctly. “Despite all fears that this was a trend that would fade,I do believe that the rise of more relaxed workspaces and more casual dress codes, and the need for a single day-to-night, work-to-play wardrobe is going to keep ath-leisure around for some time to come.” What is history though is the fashion commandment forbidding gym wear at work.

(This story was originally published in the July 2019 issue of the magazine.)

Jacqueline Fernandez

Athleisure: It’s Friday casual every day