When Deirdre Matthews was researching the broader fitness clothing landscape in preparation to launch her own label, one question kept coming to mind: “Why is it all so tight?”
Her brand Literary Sport launched in September during New York Fashion Week with an objective now shared by other clothing labels: to create better continuity between the outfits that women wear in their public lives and those worn at the gym. For Literary Sport that means exercise clothes that are “boxy and less fitted,” said its design director Jackie McKeown, who is based in Toronto.
Over the last year, Kirsty Godso, a personal trainer whose client roster includes Kaia Gerber, Olivia Rodrigo, Hailey Bieber and Ayo Edebiri, began observing women in cities like London, Paris and New York wearing looser workout outfits that incorporate unique apparel like vintage T-shirts — creating personalized looks that are more aesthetically unified with their day-to-day clothing choices.
For Ms. Godso, who is 36 and based in West Hollywood, the strappy cutout leotards and low-cut crop tops she has seen in gyms across Los Angeles represent a certain crescendo of the tight-tight trend. “There is something about tomboy style, it’s effortless. It’s good to see that style translate into the gym,” she said.
Many of Literary Sport’s products such as merino wool waffle T-shirts, sleek running jackets and “slightly oversized” shorts gently trace the body’s perimeter, rather than squeezing the form with an iron grip. Body of Work, another independent active wear purveyor based in Toronto, calls itself “artisanal sportswear imbued with a sense of ease,” and offers similarly proportioned quarter-zip tops and T-shirts.
