HISTORY OF SPORTS APPAREL

When looking back within the active wear industry, we can see how it's changed massively, in terms of fabrics and the overall development. Nowadays, activewear is it's own industry due to it being so popular and frequently used, it's become part of everyday fashion as well as it's actual function (exercise and fitness).

"In the early 20th century, women's sports clothing was not designed for them to excel, it was restrictive and affected their mobility. Donning long dresses and hats to keep the 'feminine' look intact on court or field was not only uncomfortable but also impacted women's athletic performance." However throughout the years, this issue has been solved and women's performance wear has improved and developed.

People never participated in sports until the end of the 19th century, the first ever olympics being in 1896. "Athletes playing tennis were expected to wear tennis whites, with tennis dresses for the women." This divide in what men could wear and what women could wear indicates a separation between the two genders within sports apparel. However, this didn't last very long when Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player, changed the style of a women dress when she swapped long skirts for short-sleeved pleated dresses, she also wore a bandeau to keep her hair back instead of wearing a hat, which gave her own trade mark. Moreover, 'Gertrude Ederle' was the first woman to cross the British channel achieving this in a swim suit that she designed herself; similar style to the tank swimsuit of today. During the 20s-30s there was a major development within women's sports wear.

Image of Suzanne Lenglen (left) and Gertrude Ederle (right):

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During the 1940s and 50s, new fabrics were being produced, resulting in development sportswear comfort, "the use of synthetic stretch fabrics and nylon, which enabled designers to knit pullover dresses and sports tops that had unprecedented comfort and motion." Moreover, this resulted in mass production of activewear designed for particular sports including weather-resistant clothing and concealed pockets and hoods. This production of sportswear material enabled both men and women to feel comfortable when participating in any type of sport.

"The first line of activewear was introduced in 1979 in conjunction with the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympic Games by Levi Strauss."

Even within recent times, we can see that there are still on going progressions and solutions within sports and sports apparel, "In 2014 Fifa officially allowed players to wear head coverings including hijabs, while playing football for religious reasons. The world football body had previously banned headscarves by arguing they could put players at risk of suffering a serious head or neck injury." There are still currently issues within this industry despite being improved simultaneously throughout the years.

Furthermore, nowadays sportswear is all about practicality, functionality and health. The style is also a major key factor as it's used so frequently, it needs to be kept up to date with future trends. "The sports fashion industry now focuses on introducing innovations like wicking fabrics, which are also called 'performance fabrics' that help women to work out as much as they want, without getting all sweaty, and also prevents injuries while looking great at the same time." Moreover, "Athletes are turning to compression sportswear as well since it helps to deal with blood pressure, encourages healing and prevents muscle soreness. Anti-microbial treatments to reduce or prevent bad odour of clothing are also now a pretty standard feature." Active technology is becoming increasingly developed to create amazing new elements of design, reading someone's heart rate, preventing sweat and odours, even self-healing fabrics to prevent wasting of material. Sports apparel has developed sufficiently since the begging of this era, changing the material, style, design and creating an equality for women's wear.