What are Athleisure Shoes?
What is Athleisure
You may have heard the term Athleisure or Activewear being thrown around recently as the trend has swept across the country. Even if you haven't heard the term you most certainly would have noticed an increase in leggings being worn as pants (whether or not they should be is an entirely different debate!). Leggings aside, the trend essentially means a cross over between athletic, sporty gym wear and casual everyday streetwear. It means your most comfortable yoga pants, runners and baggy jumper are now well and truly on trend and welcome at Sunday morning brunch. The main good point of the athleisure craze is the immense increase in comfort, everyday clothing is injected with more breathable, stretchy fabrics and uncomfortable shoes are happily replaced by foot friendly supportive sneakers. This is the hero time for footwear, say goodbye to blisters, aching feet and difficult shoes and embrace orthopedic, supportive, super comfy shoes in an increasingly expanded range of styles. Sole Integrity has an excellent range of athleisure style footwear and is currently running a competition where you can even win a pair of Kroten shoes to add to your athleisure wardrobe.
How and Where do I wear Athleisure
Athleisure is casual everyday clothing that blurs the line between exercise wear and streetwear; am I going to the gym or to meet friends for lunch ....who knows?! To pull off this style well it is important to keep it fairly simple, add layers of basic pieces in pared back, neutral or block colours. For men a pair of smart casual shorts combined with a basic tee and trainers goes well pretty much anywhere. For women leggings and a long shirt or jumper and trainers is the uniform of choice. The commonality between the sexes is definitely the comfortable sneaker style footwear, something which im sure feet the world over are very glad about. The best places to wear your athleisure get ups are numerous and include cafes for breakfast or lunch, out and about during the day running errands, to the mall or shops, to university or school and even ‘some’ modern workplaces but tread with caution wearing athletic outfits to work as this may come across as too casual, depending on your workplace culture. Athleisure also happens to be perfect for travel; comfortable, flexible outfits with plenty of layers for changing temperatures. Any type of travel or commute from trains to buses and planes is best travelled wearing activewear for optimum comfort during a largely uncomfortable activity. Next time you are in an airport take a look around and notice the comfortable, casual attire that many passengers are sporting, on their feet they are most likely to have sneakers or slip ons with a decidedly athletic appearance, airports are the ultimate hub of the athleisure movement.
Image Source: Vionic
Top picks for Athleisure shoes
When choosing footwear to partner with your athleisure wardrobe Sole Integrity has a great range to choose from that includes shoes on both ends of the scale, from very athletic to more casual footwear and all with the benefit of added comfort and support. Our top brands include Vionic, Merrell, Kroten, Orthaheel and Ecco and come in plenty of colour options. When curating your athleisure outfit choose more neutral colours to go with busy and bright clothing or a pop colour shoe to go with a more neutral clothing choice. On the more athletic end of the scale see the selection of shoes below.
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Modern athleisure keeps moving as do most technological advances and now the athletic hi-tech fabrics, orthopedic support and scientific knowledge that originally helped your most admired sportspeople get the edge is filtering down into even the more casual and dressy footwear styles. For a more sophisticated take on the athletic shoe with all the benefits of the sports tech check out the below shoes which, i'm sure you will agree would not look out of place at a nice restaurant or in the workplace.
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There’s no turning back now, athleisure is everywhere and it’s not just for athletes! Next time you are getting dressed for the day give it a go and put on your gym gear but skip the gym and head straight for the shops, no doubt it will be your most comfortable shopping trip to date!