The tracksuit is a set of clothes that includes a sweatshirt or light jacket or hoodie and pants with an elastic or drawstring waist, worn when exercising or casual wear.
The invention of the tracksuit is understood to have happened in 1939 when French sports company Le Coq Sportif created what was then called “the Sunday suit”. In beginning, quite literally, tracksuits are designed as track wear since it is cozy and flexible. In the 1970s that tracksuits began to blend with fashion. Tracksuits first became popular around 1975. In the late 1970s, velour sweatsuits became popular. The trend of wearing athletic clothing continued from the early 1980s to now.
The tracksuit has an unshakeable position in the clothing industry. And it is also an essential part of most sports brands and high street brands. As a start-up or growing up clothing brand, you must learn more about tracksuits: From its fabric to accessories and also new trends. Today, let me guide you from the fabric first.
You may ask: what’s the best fabric for a tracksuit? How can I make sure my design stands out from the rest? Before answering this question, we need to think of some questions: What is the style of your tracksuit? In what situation will your customers wear this set?
As we all know, the application scenarios of sweatsuits are very wide. It provides everyday comfort and nice enough to wear to dating and exercising or as a lounge set to wear at home. In the magical world of fabrics, even the same fabric can be transformed into different styles of clothes by different designs. Let’s go into the world of tracksuit fabric now!
French Terry
French terry is a knit fabric similar to a jersey, with loops on one side and plain on the other. It results in a soft, comfortable fabric that can be seen frequently on your jumpers, shorts and sweatsuits. I will say it is one of the most commonly used fabric for tracksuit.
It is comfy but not as soft as your pajamas. It won’t make you feel sleepy while wearing it. So the tracksuit made of French terry fabric will be the best choice for a lounge set to wear when you are working at home.
French terry fabric’s fluffy, breathable and moisture-wicking texture is ideal for keeping you cool and dry during exercising. So terry cloth is also a favorite in the sportswear world. Tracksuit made of French terry fabric will be a nice choice when you’re exercising or after you’re done gyming.
The unique vintage character of terry cloth gives it a place in the fashion world as well. Especially when the tracksuit adds with used-look prints, it can immediately take you back to the 90s. If your brand features vintage, or if you want to add a vintage collection to your brand. Don’t miss terry cloth.
Summary:
French terry fabric is normally mid-weight and is more of a warm-weather fabric. So it is suitable all year round.
French terry fabric is suitable to make sports tracksuits, work from home loungewear sets, daily wear sweatsuits & high fashion tracksuits.
Fleece
Fleece is a fabric usually made from synthetic fibers, generally, polyester on its lining while cotton or cotton blends on the surface. And it is knitted intentionally loose, then brushed or cut to break up the loose threads and create a fuzzy look and feel. Like terry cloth, it is often used for tracksuit too.
It is super soft and the backside of the fleece fabric looks and feels like cashmere. That’s why it is called fleece fabric. Looking at its surface, it is not big different from french terry fabric. Because of its super comfy feature, it is ideal for lounge set wear at home.
Fleece fabric is normally thick enough which brings you warmth in cold weather. Not being as breathable as terry cloth also means that it does a good job of retaining the heat your body gives off.
However, fleece fabric is not suitable to make sports tracksuits as it is not wicking sweat as well as terry clothing and it will absorb sweat odors during excising.
Summary:
Fleece is normally heavy-weight and more of a cold-weather material. That’s why we usually use it to make winter clothes.
Fleece fabric is suitable to make winter tracksuit and daily wear sweatsuits and lounge sets.
Polyester
Many fashion bloggers are thinking that polyester tracksuits are out of fashion. However, I think it is more of a vintage fashion. The most outstanding feature of the tracksuit made of polyester fabric is the retro look of the 70s. And the Adidas Originals Three Stripes Polyester Tracksuit defined the look of the 70s, becoming an icon. This item signed an era: are you ready to bring it to your brand and let your customers wear it again?
Polyester fabric with a semi-shiny on both front and backside or sometimes it is brushed reverse. Its softness and stretchy bring high flexibility when you are exercising. Can be worn and washed over and over. Durable and quick dry. All these advantages determine its good performance in sportswear.
Last but not least, polyester fabric is the best fabric to do sublimation printing. Sublimation printing on the polyester fabric is always vivid and can be last forever no matter how you wash it.
Are you going to add the trendy full-printing logo tracksuit for your coming collection? Try polyester and sublimation printing, they won’t make you disappointed.
Summary:
Polyester for tracksuit is normally from light-weight to mid-weight and sometimes with brushed on its back. We can make year-round tracksuits from polyester fabric.
Polyester fabric is suitable to make sports tracksuits and high fashion tracksuits to wear every day and also tracksuit with all over printing.
Velour
Velour is the perfect alternative to velvet. Velour is an incredibly soft, plush textile, just like velvet but much cheaper price. It is normally made from cotton and polyester, sometimes mix with some rayon to make it even softer.
Velour was almost a rebellion against fashion and society in the 1960’s and 70’s, because it was a soft, comfortable and colorful alternative to the tailored clothing that was trending for men and women.
The textile was embraced with open arms. Adidas and other sportswear brands created signature tracksuits and sports gear using this super soft material. At the same time, velour is also widely used in high-street fashion clothing. Jennifer Lopez even used velvet to the fullest extent. Her first clothing line ( Juicy Couture) was a pretty much entirely velour tracksuit collection with her signature flared leg. Palm angle, an Italian brand inspired by the street skate culture of Los Angeles, is taking velvet to another boom.
Velour is generally known as a ‘comfy’ fabric. It’s used for all things cozy and super soft casual-wear – pajamas, tracksuits, slippers, leggings and dressing gowns. For the optimum lounge-wear, you can’t go wrong with this silky smooth textile.
Summary:
Velour fabric can be thin and thick. In my opinion, it is the most suitable fabric for lounge tracksuit and pajama suit. As for high-fashion tracksuit, it is a nice choice too.
So, the different fabrics are both independent and related. They are related to each other, because different fabrics can be used make the same style of clothes. They are independent, because even the style of clothing made of the same fabric, they bring you a completely different feeling.
What kind of tracksuit are you looking for? Choosing fabric can be easier than you think. Contact us to get free solutions for your tracksuit design today!