Exercise not required
If you have ever ventured into a gym or have a teenager daughter then you will be aware of the phenomenon that is Adanola, from branded hoodies and crew socks to their matching leggings and top sets they are everywhere, their recent campaign featured a model who happens to be a member of a certain incredibly famous American reality show family with a penchant for the letter K so its obvious their popularity is only heading in one direction, pretty amazing for a fairly young brand from Manchester, their price points no doubt help, with the average pair of Nike
gym leggings retailing between £54 - £99 and Adanola leggings being £39.99 its easy to see why girls made the switch from traditional sports brands, plus their colour palette is tasteful, aswell as the usual black they have softer options such as olive green and midnight blue.
The market for non sporty looking sportswear is now massive, so I’ve created a compilation to include everyone’s price point, I can’t speak for the technical competence of any these brands, for example how they would fare if you were to say run a marathon wearing them, most of them offer a 4 way stretch which would no doubt withstand a fair bit of stretching and lunging, but I would maybe check to see if they offer “sweat wicking” as that’s the tech that draws sweat away from your skin during exercise. An added benefit of these minimally branded not specifically gym leggings is that they won’t look out of place when you go straight for lunch afterwards.
At a similar price point to Adanola, there are the other A;s, Arne and Axelegro, who are also north-west based brands, both offer a similar muted palette in leggings, matching bra and sports tops etc and then there is Alo, the Los Angeles activewear brand that will set you back £118 for leggings and upwards of £70 for a top, but in their defence they have developed and patented their own legging fabrics, you can choose from matt or shine, and they are an accredited ethical business with a no-waste production model.
Next up Couture Club & Flo Fitness who both fit into the £25-40 bracket and Lilybod, Lilybod is Australian but is available on M&S which cuts out any international shipping & duty fees and their leggings are £35-45 and of course can’t miss our Lululemon whose best selling £108 Aligne leggings sell out frequently, making them even more desirable.
Then we have Nuevo (type in nuevoonline as i struggled to find their website) these guys com up cheapest at £47 for a full set, then we have Tala (wearetala) who use recycled materials in their leggings which is a more sustainable option than virgin polyester and their leggings are around £50, The Upside, another Australian brand who actually do a full clothing collection but have very cute sports pieces, this used to be expensive to order with duty but Reiss have an edit on their website and the leggings are retailing for £100.
And then finally Vuori & Varley, both premium brands who leggings retail for £110 and £88 respectively, Vuori use recycled fabrics in their leggings, a San Diego based brand worn by celebs including Kaia Gerber and Gwyneth Paltrow, they own own their own factories guaranteeing ethical production and manufacturing, while Varley founded in 2015 has won international acclaim for the fit & function of their leggings, all that’s left for you to do is pick your exercise class or coffee shop to wear them to.
