Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images, Rummage Stretch
In the summer of 2024, Isabella O’Day went on a yoga retreat in the south of France. She was going through a breakup and looking to pack “cool workout wear.” “I went to Lululemon and was like, ‘I hate all of this,’” she says. “I would literally never wear it except for this retreat.” As a self-described “eBay person,” O’Day realized what she was looking for was vintage pieces. She started buying flared capris and colorful crop tops. Searching for designs with elements that aren’t exactly functional — think: netting, stray zippers, and lace-up ties — from brands like Nike, Polo Sport, Oakley, and Puma across online resale platforms, she built a small collection of vintage pieces for her trip. “While I was on the retreat, people were like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so nice,’ and my friends started asking me where to find pieces like that,” says O’Day. From there, her archival-workout-gear brand, Rummage Stretch, was born.
When I speak to O’Day, who’s based in L.A., she’s wearing a pink-striped Nike top. It’s vintage (of course). “I just look for things that have fun little details that most workout brands don’t really have in their designs anymore,” she says. “Now, it’s always so scaled back.” And O’Day isn’t alone in questioning why major activewear brands’ current offerings are often dull and lifeless. In 2025, a quiet revolt against the synthetic two-piece workout set seems to have come to a head, with people sharing their thrifted activewear finds on TikTok and wearing more colorful vintage styles to the gym.
From left: Photo: Anwar Hussein/WireImagePhoto: Jun Sato/WireImage
From top: Photo: Anwar Hussein/WireImagePhoto: Jun Sato/WireImage
While Jane Fonda’s iconic ’80s workout videos are filled with stripes, leotards, and pops of color, modern activewear culture has become increasingly stiff and sterile. The colors are muted, everything is tight and synthetic, and the styles are repetitive. For many, wearing vintage better reflects their personal style. “There’s an aesthetic of a classic Alo girl who’s going to Pilates, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I don’t see myself fitting into the box of being put together with a slicked-back bun,” says O’Day. “My workout persona was once a totally different personality than myself, and I looked like a hardo wearing spandex when I was working out maybe once a month.” The Rummage Stretch customer wants to be playful with their exercise gear and dress differently than the girl next to them in yoga, O’Day says.
According to Depop, searches for vintage activewear increased by 169 percent in October over the previous month. Searches for cotton activewear specifically have increased 244 percent this year. This could stem partly from people becoming increasingly concerned about potentially harmful chemicals found in polyester, nylon, and spandex and partly from the fact that cotton tends to be more comfortable. (Pulling tight, stretchy full-length yoga pants over your legs can feel like a mental barrier.) Liana Satenstein, writer and host of Neverworns, says she started wearing gray cotton pieces for workouts when she was pregnant. “It is super-satisfying to see yourself sweat,” says Satenstein, who started noticing people switching to vintage sportswear earlier this year. “I wear an old sweatshirt from my former colleague and any other old, nasty cotton stuff I have around the house.”
From left: Christina Kim in 2006. Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesPhoto: S. Levin/Getty Images
From top: Christina Kim in 2006. Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesPhoto: S. Levin/Getty Images
For Arbela Capas, a fashion writer based in Ohio, deciding to switch her workoutwear approach came down to the sensory issues she was experiencing with leggings after starting to exercise more last year. “I was like, ‘What if I just went to the thrift store?’” she says. “I’ve always overlooked the athleticwear section.” It’s true that long before the vintage resale boom, the vintage-sportswear section was far from the most popular. But as secondhand shopping has become not only mainstream but coveted, many are getting more comfortable thrifting pieces they would otherwise have steered clear of. “It’s just easier to grab a pair of vintage capris that are looser and comfier and can maybe serve as a cute outfit, too,” says Capas.
In recent months, when Natalia Spotts, owner of Funny Pretty Nice, has posted vintage sportswear on Instagram Stories, the pieces have been snapped up within a couple of minutes. “It is just so in demand for us,” she says. This usually includes a mix of bigger and smaller brands like Adidas, prAna, and Protokolo. And it’s only a matter of time before major sports brands start releasing more vintage-inspired designs to fill what’s become a gap in the current market. “When people come out of fitting rooms after trying on a piece of vintage activewear, one of the first things they say is how flattering it is compared to modern activewear,” says Spotts. “Vintage and nostalgia are so intertwined, and I always wanted to look like someone’s cool older sister going to Pilates in the 2000s.”
Beneath the capris and cotton tanks, there’s a deeper desire to return to a time when working out felt fun and accessible rather than expensive and unachievable. “It’s so expensive to buy workout sets, and I feel like people are going back to things that can be accessed on YouTube instead of taking a class,” says Satenstein. (We’ve seen that this year with young people resurfacing old Billy Blanks Tae Bo at-home workouts.) Wearing vintage activewear then becomes a symbol that you work out, but you’re not taking it too seriously — that your gym persona and your regular persona are aligned. As Satenstein puts it: “I do think the Alo Yoga concept is very West Village girlie, and I think a lot of people don’t want that anymore.”
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