Fabletics launches denim line as activewear sales slow

Sportswear maker Fabletics has launched its first line of denim products, a sign that the once-popular activewear category is slowing down, the company announced Tuesday.

The collection, which launches online and in select stores on Thursday, will include 11 styles and seven layers for both women and men. Items will be priced between $79.95 and $174.95, depending on whether shoppers are members of Fabletics’ subscription program.

“We’ve had over a million of our customers tell us that if Fabletics offered denim, they would be very interested in it, and that’s really what got us started on our journey to expand into the denim category,” Adam Goldenberg, co-founder and CEO of Fabletics, told CNBC in an interview. “We think denim is on the rise. We’ve seen that, you know, we’ve started.” [looking into denim] “For more than two years, this is the right time.”

Fabletics, which generated more than $1 billion in revenue last year, is expanding into denim as consumer preferences change. The type of “soft” clothing that became popular during the pandemic, characterized by comfortable joggers, sports bras and jackets, is no longer popular with some shoppers.

Instead, as hybrid work begins to fade, many consumers are choosing to dress smartly again and are opting for jeans over leggings as their casual staple that works on weekends and in the office.

While the athleisure market is still expanding, the growth rate in North America has fluctuated, data from market intelligence firm Euromonitor International shows.

The sportswear market is expected to grow by 2.3% in North America in 2026 compared to 2025, down from 3.1% between 2023 and 2024. Meanwhile, the denim market is expected to grow by 2.1% this year, up from 0.7% between 2023 and 2024.

Globally, the sportswear market grew by 2% last year, while the denim market grew by 4%, according to separate figures from GlobalData.

“What we found after the pandemic was over is that amenities became king,” Goldenberg said. “So, even now, as consumers are, as I say, dressing more, they still want to do it in a way that feels good and is more comfortable, right? And we heard that very loudly from our customers when we were developing denim.”

The United States has fallen in love with denim for decades, something that has plagued fashion and driven major clothing companies like it Levi Strauss, American eagle and gap To organize their business so that they are not exposed to changing patterns. Each company is a market leader in denim, but they also have their own brands, which protect them from shifts in fashion.

Changing trends has proven more difficult for niche players like Lululemon, which thrived during the pandemic and is now falling behind as denim takes over again.

Lululemon For several years, it has been expanding beyond its core assortment of yoga pants to include more lifestyle categories, including outerwear and shirts and pants made for work, as fashion preferences change. The move allowed Lululemon to increase its total addressable market, but some critics said it alienated Lululemon’s core customers and contributed to slower growth in the retailer’s core Americas market.

NikeFormer CEO John Donahoe grew the retailer into a nearly $50 billion brand by focusing on lifestyle and streetwear styles. While this strategy briefly led to growth, it ultimately contributed to declining market share because it distracted the company from its core performance set. Now, Nike’s new CEO, Elliot Hill, is working to refocus the brand on sports to win back this core athletic consumer.

Goldenberg disagreed that Lululemon’s challenges came from expanding into new categories, saying instead that Fabletics, along with up and coming private sports brands Alo Yoga and Vuori, are taking market share from incumbents. He also said that Fabletics’ expansion doesn’t come at the expense of innovation in its core sports products either.

“All these category expansions should be ‘and’ and not ‘and’ or ‘right?’” Goldenberg said. “So we need to triple our innovations and our sportswear, while making sure we’re launching denim in a way that makes it, like, the best product out there.”

He added that Fabletics has already proven its ability to successfully expand into new categories, helping the company move forward on schedule two years ago on its five-year plan to double revenues and quadruple profits. In 2020, it launched the men’s category, which is now worth more than $300 million, and its clothing line, which has grown to $75 million in just over two years.

Goldenberg said activewear remains Fabletics’ main priority, but expanding the category will be crucial in gaining more sales from its existing customers and gaining new shoppers.

“I’ll give you scrubs as an example,” Goldenberg said. “We are now attracting thousands of new customers a month to the Fabletics family through them. First they purchase scrubs, but within 90 days, more than 50% of them have also purchased activewear.”