If you’re a retailer who sells athleisure clothing, you can optimize your product listings with athleisure-inspired attributes in anticipation of the 2024 Summer Games. As the world gets ready for the event, we’ve added specially-themed tags to our taxonomy, in addition to our classic athleisure product attributes.
Athleisure is a consistent fashion staple. We consistently see new twists on it, each season, and this summer is no different. From being influenced by movies, to runway looks, and pro athletes stepping up their style game at major events, athleisure has swept the season as top athletes prepare to compete on the world stage.
Here, Melanie Rodriguez, Lily AI’s Senior Merchandise Analyst will take you through some of the summer’s hottest athleisure and athletic-inspired trends. Melanie has acquired a specialty in athleisure fashion, from studying at The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and from her time serving as an Authenticator at The Real Real. Additionally, she has years of retail experience, specializing in visual merchandising, and she spent time working in athleisure styling and sales.
How Does Lily AI Track Athleisure & Americana Trends?
With the countdown to July 26th when the games begin,, the Lily AI team has been tracking trends inspired by their athletic events and Americana. Our team of fashion, home, and beauty experts have deep knowledge of their respective verticals, and ensure that our AI models and growing product taxonomy always include the latest trends.
These product attributes can describe tangible, physical aspects of a product, including embellishments, fits, fabrics, colors, materials, patterns, closures, and more . . . AND they can also describe intangible and often subjective aspects of a product, such as perceived value, quality, or occasions a garment can be associated with, like any of the events listed above.
Our team has been tracking these components of athleisure and loungewear trends, such as Comfort, Gorpcore, and Balletcore, for several years now. The 2024 Summer Games bring a new level of excitement to the category, however. With that in mind, let’s look at exactly what these trends are.
Patriotic Athleisure Clothing
Of course, both Summer and Winter games inspire a renewed sense of patriotism, as each country sees its most elite athletes compete. Many national teams have released their official uniforms, which has been of great interest on social media.
With that in mind, Lily AI is tracking trends that are particularly focused on American team aesthetics. The countdown to the Games has begun and the hype is huge on TikTok, with hundreds of thousands of people counting down and showing support to their teams.
Across this trend category, we see stars, stripes, American flag prints, and other patriotic patterns, and colors. We also see red, white, and blue swimwear and cover-ups surging in popularity this year.
Stand-Out Retailer Selling Patriotic Fashion: One retailer that stands out in carrying items that fit this trend is Fanatics. They carry officially licensed team gear that consumers can wear as they tune into the events in Paris.
Americana-Inspired Fashion
While more on the loungewear and casual clothing side, we are tracking Americana-inspired fashion that can be worn anywhere, from watch parties to barbecues, to fireworks shows.
The Americana trend includes light fabrics like linen and seersucker, cutoff denim shorts, linen sundresses, and white crochet. In terms of menswear, we see straw fedoras and linen tops.
In addition to these trends being popular as we lead up to the Summer Games, we are seeing them pop up in popular culture as well. For example, searches for “Lana Del Rey core” spiked 300% on Pinterest leading up to Coachella, driven by her vintage, Americana style. Celebrity street style—being worn by fashion It Girls like Sidney Sweeney and Sienna Miller—include classic American staples, like denim, gingham, and leather jackets.
Stand-Out Retailer Selling Americana Fashion: Dick’s Sporting Goods carries a massive mix of athletic and athleisure clothing. One look in their women’s dresses section, and you’ll see everything represented—from casual dresses you can wear to a cookout, to skirts made for when you want to break a sweat.
Coquette Cowgirl and Coastal Cowgirl
Although rodeo isn’t a sport that will be played in Paris, we can’t ignore the popularity of another American-inspired trend. The light and summery Coastal Cowgirl—and its sultry cousin Coquette Cowgirl—is all the rage this year. While both are Western wear in their nature, the Coastal Cowgirl look is softer in its color palette, with breezy fabric, lace, and flowy silhouettes. Meanwhile, Coquette Cowgirl brings the vamp with a darker palette, fitted pieces, hourglass silhouettes, and garments that are perfect to wear for a date night.
With its straw cowboy hats and festival-inspired pieces, this trend was fueled by Beyoncé’s release of Cowboy Carter. Fashion saw subsequent interest in boots, fringe, and everything Western-wear, which is known for its durability and movement. After all, being a cowboy or cowgirl is an American sport of its own accord!
According to a recent CNBC report, Beyoncé’s impact on fashion is substantial, with sales of western boots alone soaring over 20% week over week since the release of Cowboy Carter. TikTok videos with the #WesternFashion hashtag accumulated over 2 billion views, with many crediting Beyoncé for the trend’s popularity.
Stand-Out Brand Selling Coastal/Coquette Cowgirl Fashion: They partnered with Queen B herself on a Western wear-inspired line, back in 2021, so it’s no wonder that we see Adidas as a trendsetting brand for this trend. While the Adidas x Ivy Park collection has since sold out, Adidas still offers breezy skirts and denim rompers that’d pair perfectly with cowgirl boots.
Tenniscore
We’ll see both women’s and men’s tennis being played in Paris, but we’ve already witnessed a tenniscore craze this spring. Notably, tennis-themed fashion trends have seen much buzz, brought on by Zendaya’s method dressing for her film Challengers. Influencers like Paige Lorenze and Morgan Riddle are fueling this trend as well, bringing preppy, bright, and breezy sets to the forefront of their Instagram presence.
Tenniscore trends have been live for Lily AI customers for some time. They include tennis skirts and dresses, biker shorts, and breezy, cropped items. Additionally, a trend that almost feels like a close relative to Tenniscore is Quiet Luxury. This summer, we’ll continue to see the Quiet Luxury trend boom, with a bit of a courtside twist.
Stand-Out Brand Selling Tenniscore Fashion: Beyond Yoga’s Tennis & Pickleball Shop is too cute for words! And beyond the variety of clothing they feature here, they sell accessories like bags and paddles to use at your next match.
Explore More Fashion Product Attributes!
There are so many more trends that Lily AI tracks and attributes to our customers’ products. With an extensive taxonomy of 20k+ terms, and a team of experts analyzing and accounting for the latest trend cycles, fashion trends are easier than ever for brands to capitalize on.
Once these trends are added to products via AI-powered attribution, brands and retailers see enhanced performance across Google Search, site search, product recommendations, and more.
You can learn more about how Lily AI connects people to the hottest trends via customer-centric language in our Product Attribution 101 guide. And if you’re a brand or retailer who specializes in athleisure—or you want to hop on the Summer Games hype—schedule a demo to capitalize on these trends today!
