Trend Alert: Athleisure

The term athleisure has been around longer than you'd think. It first appeared in an issue of Nation Business from March 1979:

““The booming popularity of fitness has given birth to a similar boom in apparel and footwear designed for those who actually participate in sports — and those who just want to look as if they do.... “ The whole athleisure (a new term that has popped up) market is in a state of tremendous growth,” says John Gehbauer, the [Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association’s] director of advertising and promotion.””

I originally resented the term "athleisure." Mainly due to the overuse of the trend in extended-size footwear. The extended-size footwear market has been quite underwhelmed with the shoe selection available for them. This is because, buyers allocated predominately flats, demi-wedges, menswear, and sneakers to its extended-size costumer. Thus, we've worn athleisure for years. We grew bored.

But, I must say, lately the fashion industry has raised our brows with recent styles. Even Chanel had to take a piece of the pie.

The great thing about athleisure footwear is you can just as easily wear feminine or masculine pieces interchangeably. Moreover, athleisure shoes speak the language of androgyny. Finally, we can embrace athleisure footwear for the boundaries it has crossed.

None of the images displayed belong to Shonchelle Shereé.