Arabella Guide | 2 Activewear Macro-trends Identified at Intertextile 2025 & Their Applications in the Market

Another week passed, but fashion trends never rest. After Arabella’s journey at Intertextile 2025, our R&D team never stops getting inspiration from what we saw. Combining with recent new drops from top brands last week, the trend of activewear is showing its path clearly for us. Thus, here is another blog to share with you more of the trends we noticed from Intertextile as well as designs.

Trend 1: Sustainability

d785a8ad-ca13-4cd7-aaba-bbac82c82ac1

Based on the previous trends we noticed before, sustainable fabrics like natural, bio-based and recycled materials might replace traditional synthetic fabrics in the activewear market. Here are several sustainable fabric types that might lead the industry.

Natural Fabrics: Organic Cotton, Hemp/linen, Bamboo Fiber, Merino Wool

Among all of them, merino wool catches all the attention especially after its outstanding performance in activewear has been demonstrated by North Carolina University’s 4-year research. (Previous Blog: Will Merino Wool Take Place of Traditional Activewear Material?)At ISPO Munich last year, its experimental performance has been compelled by a few pioneering teams through ISPO Award creations. But it seems that it is being taken seriously on the market this year. However, it might still take some time to be popularized due to its costs.

Still, at Intertextile 2025, Arabella has found parts of pioneer activewear brands started their exploration in merino wool. Icebreaker, a historical clothing brand from New Zealand that insists on merino wool, creatively adopted them to activewear.

Besides merino wool, the other fabrics like pima cotton or linen are worth focusing on even some of them have already been adopted in the activewear market for a while. For example, Lululemon‘s new drop during Sept 8-14 used pima cotton on their short sleeve shirts.

Bio-based or Bio-degradable Fabrics: Lyocell, Modal, Tencel

Fabrics made with natural wood, seaweed or protein, bio-based and bio-degradable fabrics are open-armed in the market. They have already been qualified and adopted by most of top brands such as Lululemon, Nike and ASRV. Benefiting from our forward-looking perspective in this type of fabrics, Arabella has successfully developed some athletic clothing lines with it and we are looking forward to seeing its feedback.

Nike‘s new drop during Sept 8-14 used modal for their women’s joggers.

Recycled Synthetic Fabric

Recycled polyester and nylon have been used in massive activewear brands. They are still the top choices for most startups who want to start a sustainable clothing line, even though their contribution to environmental-friendliness is being challenged in recent years. ON is one of representatives among these sustainable brands.

Recycled synthetic fabrics are now very common. Among the sports brands we focus on, ON seems to adopt them most frequently into their performance wear like tank tops, shorts or jackets. Gymshark increases the applications of recycled fabrics, too.

Arabella’s sourcing team have already collected parts of possible trending options of these fabrics. Feel free to contact our sales team to get more information.

Trend 2: Effortless Activewear

Along with people’s longing for unburdening stress, moving freely and casually is becoming more popular. Sportswear like running wear, hiking wear and daily outdoor wear are undoubtedly dominating right now. Anti-UV, ultra-light and relax fit are 3 radical functions required on them.

From Arabella’s perspective, tops and shorts for running, even marathon and cycling, as well as lightweight jackets and trackpants are worth focusing on. Here are some of the trendy products that match these types from Arabella for your reference:

MSL008 100% Recycled Polyester Premium Shirts Muscle T-shirt

MJ001 Men’s Custom Breathable Tracksuits Zip Up Hoodie

WT008 High Neck Side-slit Cropped Training Tank Top

WS002 Woman Tennis Essential Mesh Track Shorts

Spotlight on the Latest Activewear Brand Launches (Sept 1^st-Sept 14^th)

Arabella found that the recent new drops are matching the trends we mentioned and previous institutions we have checked(Previous Blog on Sept 9th: WGSN:12 Key Trends of Activewear Fabrics for AW26/27). Wide-leg or barrel-leg woven trackpants and trousers are matching people’s pursuit for relaxed and roomy silhouette, while sleek and soft fabrics with light grams and slight textured hand-feel become radical. For essential wear like sweatsuits, contrast seams and solid color still lead. For performance wear, slight sublimated patterns or color blocks can bring out their dynamic aesthetics to catch consumers’eyes.

Lululemon

Theme: Daily Wear

Color: Black/Brown/White

Fabric: Recycled Polyester Blend/Pima Cotton Blend

Product Types: Jackets, Trackpants

*Craftsmanship & Design Details: Colored Seams, Wide-leg

Alo Yoga

Theme: Essential Wear/Performance Wear

Color: Olive Green

Fabric: Cotton Blend Twill/Polyester Woven

Product Types: Jackets, Shorts, Trackpants

*Craftsmanship & Design Details: Slight Cargo