Is the loungewear trend here to stay?
With the successive confinements and the normalization of telecommuting, loungewear collections, which consist of comfortable pieces to wear at home, have experienced growth in 2020 and 2021. But will this trend last? And as pandemic-induced uncertainties persist, how are retailers balancing collections for the city and going out with those for staying at home? These are some of the questions that a Retviews by Lectra study seeks to answer.
According to Retwiews, which analyzes the evolution of fashion brands' offerings on their retail websites, in 2021, among the leading European brands on the market, the number of new loungewear pieces increased by 12% compared to 2020. At Zara, H&M, and Uniqlo, the loungewear offer increased from 5.8% to 6.5%.
In September 2021 was when more new items lined retailers’ shelves, followed by January and November. In December, with the arrival of the holiday season, retailers offered more occasion wear. According to Retviews, brands are now making massive use of real-time data to strike the right balance between the two categories.
In the United States, a market where loungewear has long been integrated into everyday life, loungewear lines even exceed that of collections dedicated to special occasions, representing 9.4% of the offer compared to 9% for formal wear in 2021.
This trend could even continue, if, as some American observers suggest, the loungewear trend reaches the workplace.
This differs in Europe, however, with the loungewear assortment standing at 6.4% in 2021 compared to 10% for formal wear.
According to Retviews, due in part to the volatility of the pandemic situation, the loungewear trend is expected to continue and coexist with dresswear as more social interaction returns.
Finally, it should be noted that like the rest of the ready-to-wear sector, loungewear is also affected by price increases. In Europe and the United States, the average price of a piece of loungewear increased by 3% and 4% respectively between September and December 2021, rising from €28.16 to €29 in Europe and from €40.1 to €41.64 in the United States.
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