Most articles and books - (Courtney Carver comes to mind) I've read about minimalism and clothing say that athletic wear, or the more modern term "athleisure" wear, doesn't count towards having a minimalistic closet. Which I understand. It's a separate part of our closet, really. And there can be quite a few pieces that go into having an athleisure/ athletic wardrobe.
These articles state that you should feel free to make your closet minimal, but when it comes to having all the sportswear, well, don't worry about it. It doesn't count.
But in actuality, it does count.
There's an obvious reason why that athletic drawer counts: there's a lot of stuff in there!
I just went through my drawer of athletic wear a few days ago. This drawer - a very over-stuffed drawer - is filled with clothing for golf, pickleball, running, gym, and yoga. That's a lot of clothing for a lot of different sports!
Now, I can combine some sportswear and wear the same thing for several (like golf and pickleball, or gym and yoga), but at the end of the day, that drawer is so full of clothing, I can't even find what I'm looking for.
So I decided I wanted the overflowing drawer of athletic wear to actually be a drawer that I liked to open (and didn’t dread having to close, which was always difficult with clothes spilling out of it) and shrunk the number of pieces I owned.
It's nice to have several outfits to wear for any of these activities, but I didn't need ten pairs of yoga pants. I tended to only wear four or five of them regularly (because I liked how they fit or didn't sag or pull where I didn't want them to) which left me to ponder: Why do I have the rest of these in here?
I repeatedly wear a favorite hoodie as a sweatshirt. Then why did I own five other sweatshirts if I never wore them?
It felt like I owned as much in my athletic clothing drawer as I did in my regular clothes closet. Which was odd considering I spent only a fraction of my time in them. So, my goal was to lessen the amount of clothing I owned for a part of my life that I didn't do all day.
Pro tip: If you don't like your athletic wear and know they don't fit right, don't feel bad about starting over. After going through my yoga wear, I ended up donating a pile of stuff I didn't wear (hated the color, didn't fit right, etc.) and still ended up buying a new top and pants set. These were ones that fit right and I knew I would wear them.
Side note and side rant:
I have this thing about women wearing athleisure wear in public. And it's not a positive one.
While I'm not saying one should never do this (I mean, even I have hopped into the store after yoga), I find that it's mere laziness - more than anything - for women to continually do this. The only time I strive to wear yoga pants out in public is... when I'm going to yoga.
I realize some of you don't care. You want to be comfortable. Great! Be comfortable. But for those of you who live in athleisure wear, why? Are you working out all day? I don't get it.
I think because I've sold vintage clothing for so many years and because I find value in owning and wearing quality clothing, my biggest question is this: Why would you let an opportunity to dress nicely evaporate because you'd rather be comfortable? There are plenty of comfortable clothing pieces you can wear that don’t consist of a sweatshirt and yoga pants.
Here's another big question: How often have you run into people you know looking just a bit shabbier than you wished? Were you wearing clothing that came straight from the gym?
Something to think about
Okay, this post isn't about whether or not it's right or wrong to wear athleisure out. That's up to you (it just happens to be a pet peeve of mine).
But this post is about this: That drawer of soft, comfy, gym-worthy, or court-worthy clothes doesn't do you any good if you're not wearing them (or you have too many to wear like I did.) So pare down to love and keep only what you truly like and what you actually wear.
If you're like me, go through that drawer like you mean business. Maybe these clothes don’t count in the actual number of items in your closet, but my gosh. If you can't close the drawer, or you dread opening it (like I did), something is off... especially for a minimalist.
Make owning your athletic wear a better fit for you, literally and figuratively. Make that drawer (or section in your closet) of athleisure wear count. Really love it, really like it, and really make it count for taking space.
-Heather
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