In recent years, the emphasis on health, fitness and wellbeing has become apparent. With the expansion of health food store chains such as the Wellness Warehouse as well as the appearance of a new Virgin Active Health Club on every street corner in Johannesburg, it is clear to me that athleisure wear is the future of fashion.

Based on facts I’ve read (such as the fact that The NPD Group has predicted that athleisure should be a $350 billion market by 2020 on a global scale!), I think that South African activewear brands have the potential to penetrate the athleisure market internationally. South African brand such as Spiritgirl, Nexthetics and Move Pretty have the right idea! Unfortunately, due to the small volumes they are able to produce, their pricing strategy is all wrong for the South African markets. At nearly R1000 per pair of leggings, these brands will have a hard time selling their products locally. My advice to these brands would be to try market themselves on a global level and export their products internationally. Due to the weak Rand, they may even be able to undercut the overseas products which are of similar quality. I think that these brands would benefit from marketing their products to international social media influencers. From what I’ve seen, international fitness apparel companies such as Lorna Jane are great at creating hype around the products and building a community of loyal consumers. They often host fitness events which create a sense of community for their shoppers and this is something from which, I feel, that South African based companies could take notes.

In addition, I believe that the best way South African businesses can penetrate the foreign markets is to liase with boutiques overseas until they raise enough capital to increase the quantity of products they are able to manufacture in order to one day supply to larger chain stores.

As for local markets here, I predict that less expensive models such as Mr Price Sport and moderately priced imported brands such as Cotton On Body will continue to dominate the activewear market.

Another fun thing which South African businesses are starting to participate in would be Monthly Subscription Boxes. A company which I have recently discovered is Yoga Box, which delivers monthly subscription boxes of goodies pertaining to a healthy yogic lifestyle and includes tank tops you can wear to your favourite yoga class. This, if well executed, could potentially revolutionise the activewear industry within SA