Motion Commotion

By Alice Park/New York

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN'S REFRAIN of "Let's get physical," along with the ubiquity of Lycra, started it in the 1980s. Aerobics helped push it into the '90s, and yoga certainly added an aura to the category in the new millennium. Chanel, Prada, Dior and Hugo Boss all capitalized on it a few seasons ago. Activewear has come a long way from the gym and, thanks to relaxed dress codes inaugurated by casual Fridays, it has become a uniform for more and more Americans. But it's not about cotton T shirts and sweats anymore. Today activewear can mean everything from a high performance, temperature-regulating jacket designed by a fashion star to an urban-chic hoodie created by a Hollywood hottie.

Like Scarlett Johansson. Reebok, which recently merged with Adidas, next year will launch a new line of urban activewear designed by the actress. Johansson, known more for her curves than her curveball, doesn't convey the tomboy image that a company like Reebok may want, and that's the point. Her line, Scarlett cH- Rbk, will feature such activewear staples as hooded jackets and baseball T shirts, but they will be made from the latest fabrics and infused with Johansson's love of Old World glamour. "I'm sick of spending more time shopping for a T shirt that fits than for an evening gown," she said recently in New York City. "I'm designing this for contemporary, urban young women. I'm inspired by the '80s, when women were exercising with false eyelashes and things like that."

Johansson may be onto something. To inject some vitality into its activewear offerings, Adidas last year collaborated with designer Stella McCartney, and her debut line of functional and fashionable running and tennis wear sold so well that the German apparel maker committed to working with her until 2010. Such partnerships between the worlds of sports, fashion and Hollywood are quickly making high-performance sportswear, which combines the best of technology with the latest in design trends, the newest battleground in the highly competitive athletic-apparel market. For companies like Adidas and Reebok, developing these lines not only is a smart way to address the increasing demands of the consumer but also makes economic sense as a way to compete in the overcrowded clothing market.

"What we're seeing is a movement to more technical fabrics and more innovative fabrics because the apparel market is such a commodity business," says Gregg Hartley, V.P. of the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association (SGMA). "If manufacturers want to maintain margins and brand identity, they have to have something innovative, something new to build their brand."

Adidas, Nike, Champion, Russell and Reebok have long bridged the gap between competitive sports and casual activewear. But increasingly, consumers want both function and fashion from their sportswear. Clothes need to do something--stretch, fight odor, wick moisture, regulate temperature--and look good as well. "We always saw athletic wear and style as mutually exclusive," says Julee Bean of Adidas. "And they don't need to be. You can wear our product in the gym but also wear it to get a latte and still look hot."

Since 2000, sales of performance wear have increased an average of 20% a year, making it a vibrant growth sector in the sporting-goods industry. Americans spend around $38 billion annually on sports apparel, with $12 billion going toward performance wear, and that does not include footwear. According to the SGMA, while sales in the performance sector continue to expand, those in other sectors remain flat.

Much of that spike comes from consumers like Xavier Matesanz, 53, a sales and marketing representative with USG International who discovered performance fabrics while living in Miami several years ago. "I've confined the cotton T shirts to the back of the closet," he says. "And I just wear this material all the time now."

No one appreciates that better than Adidas, which took a chance with McCartney, known more for her experience on the runway than on the running track. The line has seen a 300% jump in sales from its first to second seasons and is now sold in more than 450 stores in 40 countries. This fall McCartney will release her first collection for winter, Wintersports, which features Dri-release, a synthetic fabric that feels as soft as cotton but wicks away moisture and odor to keep the wearer comfortable, and ClimaWarm, an Adidas technology that retains body heat during cold weather.

Even industry leader Nike is constantly upping the technical quotient in its designs. This year it introduced Sphere Macro React, a two-layer panel of fabric arranged like fish scales that adjusts to body heat; as heat builds, the top layer peels away to reveal a cooler, meshlike skin.

But it's not just general sportswear manufacturers that are taking advantage of the high-tech trend. Even Speedo, a specialty maker of competitive swimwear, sees an opportunity to introduce its brand to a wider audience. Because it invests tens of millions of dollars annually on research into innovative fabrics and designs, it makes sense for the company to bring its technical expertise out of the pool. "Our consumers are demanding the fusion of function and fashion," says Sheree Waterson, president of Speedo USA.

To reach nonswimmers, Speedo introduced its activewear line for women, Axcelerate, in Nordstrom's and Marshall Field's last year. About 20 styles, ranging from basic bodywear pieces to sweaters and pants and tracksuits, are now available at those stores. Many of the design elements, construction features and fabrics--including XDSkin, a water-repellent fiber that keeps perspiration from saturating a garment--found in Speedo's new line were inspired by its FastSkin swimsuit, worn by gold-medal-winning Olympic competitors Michael Phelps and Amanda Beard. FastSkin was inspired by the slick, water-propelling features of a shark's skin.

And Speedo isn't the only niche company seeking to expand beyond its base to the growing mass market in activewear. Under Armour, which began by making tight-fitting compression shirts for football players three years ago, is also wooing the nonathlete with a broader range of shirts and shorts with a more generous fit than their pioneering products'. Founded by Kevin Plank, a college football player who was looking for a dryer, better-fitting alternative to a cotton shirt to wear under his pads, Under Armour initially produced nothing but underwear. It wasn't long before athletes began looking for the same breathability and comfort in their street clothes, pushing the company, based in Baltimore, Md., to expand its product line, which now includes looser-fitting shirts, pants and jackets designed to be worn on their own.

Although Nike still enjoys the largest market share in the athletic-apparel sector, with 17.5%, Under Armour has been catching up to the sportswear giant when it comes to performance apparel. There Nike owns 37.5% of the market, while Under Armour has 30.5%. For compression apparel, Under Armour's signature product, the company maintains its dominance, commanding 61% of the market, to Nike's 15%. And that's where Under Armour executives plan to start building market share in the larger sportswear sector: from its base of loyal fans who initially go to the brand for specialty products but then discover Under Armour's broader range of clothing options. This year it plans on expanding its women's products, which account for 24% of annual sales. Next year it will add to its footwear line with a football cleat, followed by a baseball shoe and a women's softball cleat. Speedo is working on the same philosophy, continuing to expand its out-of-pool clothing with a new spring line set to debut as well as a men's line for fall 2007.

As more labels enter this market, the good news for consumers is that they won't necessarily have to pay a high price for high-performance apparel: Nike sells its Starter line, which incorporates Dri-Star, a moisture-wicking fabric, at Wal-Mart, and Champion uses its sweat-controlling fiber DuoDry in its C9 products, sold at Target. There's only one thing those makers don't have on their agenda--yet. "I hope they start making dress shirts at some point," says Matesanz.