March 31--Kate Hudson is the co-founder of activewear company Fabletics. Rihanna has a footwear and apparel line with Puma. And now Beyonce's getting in on the "athleisure" trend with Ivy Park.
A website for Ivy Park describes it as "merging fashion-led design with technical innovation" and "creating a new kind of performance wear: modern essentials for both on and off the field."
Ivy Park apparel will be available through Topshop, Nordstrom and Net-A-Porter on April 14, according to a news release. According to Nordstorm's website, its Michigan Avenue store and stores in the Oak Brook Center mall in Oak Brook and Old Orchard Center in Skokie will carry the brand. Ivy Park is a joint venture created by Beyonce and Sir Philip Green of the Arcadia Group, the company behind Topshop.
Topshop's website says the line will include leggings, crop tops, sweatshirts and technical jackets.
The "athleisure" trend -- apparel designed to be worn for workouts, and pretty much anything else -- helped power an $43.6 billion activewear apparel market in the U.S. in 2015, up 16 percent over 2014 sales, according to market research firm The NPD Group.
That's driven partly by a shift toward class-based exercise, said Matt Powell, a sports industry analyst at The NPD Group.
"It's a workout, but it's also a social occasion. When you see the same people week after week, you're not going in a crummy college T-shirt," Powell said.
All that growth is making the space more crowded, with brands from Tory Burch to Gap introducing athletic apparel lines, on top of those from traditional sportswear retailers and workout companies like SoulCycle. Powell said he sees a shakeout coming but still expects top brands like Nike and Lululemon, as well as the celebrity lines and those launched by more upscale brands, to continue to do well.
"I think this is a trend that's still huge and growing," Powell said.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
