Jockcore - The New Normcore? A Conversation on Tech Fashion

There is a recent trend in fashion that I’m sure most people are well aware of, which is sporty or ‘tech’, as in technology advancements in fashion. Starting out on the high street — this tech trend has been well on its way to the mainstream for quite some time. So when I started to notice the unacceptable fashion tendencies of my tomboy childhood as ‘trending’ aspects of street style, I started to pay more attention for two reasons: this is awesome, but also what the hell is going on? 

The rise of interest in sportswear is not a revolutionary concept. Most notably, the '80s birthed a massive market for sports gear that was designed to be versatile for casual wear as well. Reflecting a push in society for a shift toward an active lifestyle, '80s trends catalog a lot of spandex, leg warmer, and tracksuit benchmarks in fashion history. Most of the sportswear trends of the '80s were constructed of fabrics containing 100% polyester or a poly/cotton (heavy on the poly) blend. Whether or not you pay attention to the fabric content, this is a very identifiable feature of the era’s fashion trends. 

Nowadays, polyester doesn’t shine next to natural fibers such as silk and wool, which largely dominate the luxury market. But when reviewing polyester stats, it makes sense why the textile was so prominent in the athletic rush of the '80s. Retaining its shape better than most fabrics, meaning no wrinkles, polyester is great for dirt bags or gym bag fanatics alike. It’s lightweight and resistant to sweat, so it makes sense for exercising but also for transitioning from a workout to everyday life. It also has a high melting point, meaning that transfers are possible, which pretty much explains the all-over print insanity and bright, neon motifs of those classic windbreakers or full tracksuits that, to an extent, defined '80s athletic wear. 

Beyond the 100% polyester count of our staple '80s athletic apparel, there was the equally favored cotton/poly blend most predominant in such gym gear staples of the era as sweatpants or gym socks. 

Ah, sweatpants. Originally designed to optimize an athlete’s warm-up routine, sweats have been slowly appropriated into various different regions of style and functionality since the '80s. Whether it be the garment of choice for the domestic wind down of a 9-5er or the preferred fashion statement of a university girl on exam day, sweatpants have transgressed a whole spectrum of function, comfort, and style since the '80s. Let’s not forget (or rather, let’s try to forget) the butt script trend —an era where it seemed like if you had ‘sexy’ or ‘golddigger’ written on your ass it was somehow more acceptable to wear sweats out in public. We can probably singlehandedly thank Victoria's Secret's Pink collection for the introduction of that. Anyway, it’s safe to say that regardless of a script embellished ass, it is now totally acceptable to walk further than just your corner convenience store in sweatpants.

White gym socks (or what I fondly call, ‘Dad socks’), like sweatpants, are significant in their representation of early sportswear trends that currently are being redefined. During S/S 2013 fashion week, two emerging London-based designers, Shaun Samson and Astrid Anderson presented menswear collections that featured a hybrid of responsive street style and sophisticated jock fashion. 

Shaun Samson styled his runway models with calf-high, ribbed white gym socks and rhinestone-embellished (Adidas-esque) slides whereas Anderson juxtaposed luxury materials such as a techno satin blend, mink, lace, and organza onto athletic staples such as basketball shorts, jerseys, and track pants. Anderson is praised in the industry for her determination to fuse both the world of luxury and sport, assisting in the birth of what has now become a hashtag term ‘sportsluxe’. 

In more recent seasons, Anderson continues her references to sport. Her S/S15 collection was full of variations on track pants with elastic waistbands and ankle cuffs, features that are a more traditional reference to the original sweatpant design. However, elastic may be the only familiar reference as Anderson’s sweats represent a very current shift into this ‘sportsluxe’ market. For example, one jogging pant from the collection is constructed entirely of faux fur, while another style from the collection features a layered track pant in a spandex/cotton blend. The snap closure detail along the side alludes to those familiar Adidas tearaway track pants of the '90s, an updated version of a classic design still rocked by loveable lowlife, Ricky in Trailer Park Boys.

Beyond the runway styling and sportsluxe hashtags, ultimately the textiles that define ‘high-performance gear’ are what identify the breakthrough in contemporary sportswear. Several of these textiles, such as polypropylene or polyamide, may be more familiar to the field of science than to fashion, yet these materials play an important role in launching advanced sportswear into a mainstream market. An upgrade to the versatility of 80’s polyester has been one of the most important and most identifiable adjustments to textiles. Designers have begun experimenting in order to optimize polyester to its utmost ability — whether that being a textile ratio of elastane, polyamide, and polypropylene or appropriating what was most commonly used in scuba or surfer garments, neoprene.

Although they are technically synthetic fibers, which are normally used to imitate a natural product, instead these fibers are re-envisioned as ‘techno textiles’ that represent a reflection of the future of fabric technology. Instead of relying solely on rapidly fading natural resources, it’s popular even in high design to culture fabrics with the intention of maintaining the same value as their natural counterpart. As many raw materials have become rarer and more expensive to produce, mills are responding by either mixing synthetic compositions with natural fibers or using new textile treatments. 

Neoprene has an easily recognizable futuristic quality both in its chemical makeup and sculptural potential. Although it has been used for quite some time in the industry, most notably by high fashion houses like Balenciaga or concept retailer, Opening Ceremony, it seems to truly stand out in an athletic or performance setting on account of its chemical stability. Essentially a jelly that firms into an elastic compound, neoprene is then produced into foam that can be transformed into a wearable textile. Originating from a family of synthetic rubbers, it is resistant to oil, heat, and weathering but also malleable, making it a highly functional textile resource.

Yet, neoprene represents just one material in a sea of updated synthetic fiber blends, all possessing features similar to the polyester trend of the '80s — resistance and durability. Like polyester’s ability to retain its shape and its resistance to sweat, Polyamide has one of the highest resistance values of all raw textile materials and allows optimum stretchability. Although artificial, it can also occur naturally in textiles like wool and silk — giving it an organic value that is desirable when producing luxury apparel. Polystyrene, a synthetic resin that is also the composition of plastic, is completely non-biodegradable representing the hard fact that not all ‘techno textiles’ are necessarily also positive advancements toward eco-friendly tactics in fashion. Polypropylene is yet another desirable resin for active wear as it wicks sweat away from the skin, although watch out for high percentages on labels because it retains body odor more than other poly resins. However, when developed with a proper ratio, this is one fiber that helps create a much more ‘techy’ vibe than just straight-up polyester.

Some of these polyresins are significant to the success of Nike’s Dri-Fit line. By using the microfiber polyester blends along with their ‘heat-mapping technology’, Nike has essentially patented the emergence of ‘high-performance' in sportswear. Both Nike and Adidas apply these poly-blends to the most essential parts of an athletic garment so that their qualities of stretch and breathability are used to their full advantage. Therefore, although similar in composition, these polyresins result in a more sophisticated garment than the 100% polyester or cotton/poly blend of 80’s activewear. 

This updated textile performance code translates to not only comfort while you work out but also optimum wearability in everyday life. Both Nike and Adidas have similar philosophies on their new performance technologies. Adidas’s website contains a stand-out motto — “Live your style,” and Nike’s most recent collaboration with Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenço markets the collection as “a seamless blend of femininity and functionality.” Since both companies have a massive outreach within a diverse audience index, this “wear your active lifestyle” message makes a significant impact on trending fashions. 

Yes, we get it — basically, these are clothes we can wear during our run and then out to brunch. These technologies essentially promise to make every aspect of our lifestyle more comfortable, while encouraging consumers to bridge the division between working out to look good and just plain looking good. 

However, it’s not just sportswear giants that are making an impact on mainstream fashion. Looking back just a couple of months, the media’s most favored broadcast was the hyper-athletic styles of the Alexander Wang X H&M collaboration. The collection’s extensive marketing campaign basically encouraged consumers to be badass sports stars. Selling out online (and in most stores) within hours of its premiere. . .clearly, a lot of people decided they should look more fit, and probably more badass too. 

The Wangx H&M campaign's accompanying video lookbook, if it had subtitles, could very easily be saying, “Kick winter’s ass! (In this windproof, water repellent, functional fabric jacket”’, or “Break through cement walls! (In these laser-cut running shorts).” The runway styling is arguably more SWAT team than gym all-star but ultimately the fusion of performance gear and luxury trend status is clear. 

Wang’s collaboration isn’t promising any air-fit, clima-whatever technologies but the form is in place. The use of elastic and poly-blends throughout the collection both aesthetically define and create structure. Whether or not consumers genuinely wanted the digs or intended to capitalize on eBay profit — the campaign worked and despite the lack of patented technologies, Wang’s collection with H&M confirms that ‘sport’ is becoming mainstream.

The desire to exercise and be more health conscious was reflected in the style of the '80s, which the fashion industry is currently capitalizing on and revisiting by bringing luxury into the mix. Notice that many of these ‘technical couture’ breakthroughs are associated with leading multi-national retail bosses of the industry, which means that the ready-to-wear and fast-fashion market consists of a pretty high percentage of trendy sportswear. 

This active lifestyle philosophy, in addition to new technology and textile usage, reaching such mainstream status may mean that the age of tech in fashion is very much the age of now. But will it be a long-lasting impact? One ongoing extension of the trend, the 'Health Goth', can potentially be viewed as the black-and-white, rebellious counterpart to the mainstream, sportsluxe trend. Well, according to Marie Claire, which leaked Health Goth’s online style community to the glossy public last fall, these sports trends “are very now, and something we can expect to trend for the next 4-6 months.” Ok cool. That’s almost like a 6-month guarantee that your Wang X H&M purchases will sustain value. But are people actually influenced to work out more? Are gym memberships harder to come by? Or is it just another fleeting trend? 

Personally, I’m into it. If I can wear things that were most comfortable to me as an awkward preteen and pass them off as fashionable, then that’s pretty cool. But is “sportswear” just an extension of the recently observed ‘normcore’ trend? Are we entering an era of ‘jockcore’? Since the umbrella term, "normcore", can pretty much apply to any sector of the general fashion-forward public at this point, is high-performance gear really a means of the normcore crew saying — "hey, seriously, our clothing is just a reflection of our active lifestyle — my fashion choices are both tasteful and highly functional" or is our interest just a mindless grab for what is truly the hottest thing right now?

Ultimately, it’s not just about being able to tell who is a jock, a sporty Goth, or a stylish couch potato. If developments in fabric technology and an interest in sportswear aesthetics can influence people on both a street and mainstream level to pursue, or at least represent, an active and wardrobe-efficient lifestyle...that’s not such a bad thing.

Published in Packet Biweekly's Fashion Edition Vol II. February 2015