Thanks to the trend appeal of yoga and Pilates, the baggy sweatpants and unflattering spandex suits are behind us. New materials and an on the go lifestyle have combined to create yoga gear suitable for a good hard workout that won’t look out of place as a part of your normal wardrobe. They help keep you cool, provide good support, and look great doing it. It looks and feels great as an under-layer. Wear yoga gear under a nice jacket and you can go from professional to sporty with the mere use of a zipper.

Our picks for yoga gear designers:

 

 

 

One of our favorite yoga gear designers is lululemon athletica, a Vancouver company. They have some great cuts and colors and use a nlyon/lycra blend  (luon) that puts a firm stretch into a breathable, fast drying, matte finish fabric. Synthetics have improved a great deal over the years, and these are far better than their predecessors at eliminating odor and looking like new over time. They don’t fade either.

At a mere eleven bucks a share, the stock looks like as worthy a purchase as the yoga gear.

update: stock up to $45. We nailed that one.

Amazon now carries it, and is, as always, a great resource for finding what you need.

 

 

 

 

 

Another is Fit Couture, an in-house US designer and manufacturer of yoga gear. I find that sometimes the best designs come not from complete artistic freedom, but from real world constraints. The necessity for yoga gear to be able to handle a bouncy sweaty workout without becoming unflattering makes them better engineered for daily use. It’s wrinkle resistant and keeps your body temperature optimal. There is none of that cheap scratchy fabric feel that comes with typical clothing designed for the office.