When it comes to your athletic apparel, you’ve probably heard of the best brands. Whether you’re a man or a woman, it’s hard to escape the global appeal of many of these brands. It’s impressive to walk into any of these brand’s stores. The balance between items for men and women is quite apparently. Athletic apparel for women went from an afterthought to a huge business! These huge brands can typically create any item that’s needed in any size. This includes niche items that may just be used for one small sport or activity. Despite that, there’s also a commitment to quality that is unmatched by many lesser brands. The remainder of this article will focus on many of the best brands for athletic apparel aimed at both men and women.
1 - Nike
There’s no other brand that could be the first in this list. Nike is immense. Their apparel stretches through every sport and their influence is everywhere. Nike sponsors a huge list of popular athletes from around the globe in almost every sport. Everyone knows Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James for their nike sponsored deals, but there are a huge number of athletes in both mens and womens sports including Alex Morgan, Sloane Stephens, Rafael Nadal and so many more! Nike also sponsors various sporting leagues and teams, providing the equipment and apparel for all of them. Walking into any Nike store will show off their huge variety of apparel. Moving past the sponsored sporting equipment will lead straight to a wide variety of apparel perfect for yoga, workouts or casual days at home.
2 - UnderArmour
UnderArmour took on the established brands and offered up something a little different. They proved incredibly popular and UnderArmour is now one of the most popular brands for athletic apparel in the world. Their footwear brands continue to improve and were one of the first to offer their celebrity signature shoes (The Steph Curry models for example) in both mens and womens shoes. UnderArmour creates all standard apparel like t shirts, jackets, pants, leggings, hoodies, athletic socks and more. UnderArmour started with a youth oriented approach and as they have grown, have stayed loyal to the brand!
3 - Reebok
Reebok is a brand that has seemingly shrunk from where it once was. Seemingly poised to compete with Nike in the early 90s, Reebok never quite got there. These days, reebok focuses on apparel for people, including great equipment for running. Their cross training and exercise gear is comfortable and affordable. While it’s not as popular as Nike, that’s not a knock on the brand. Reebok is still popular and many of the people who love Reebok are true die hard fans!
4 - Adidas
Adidas is well known for their apparel and their distinctive three stripes motif found on everything they create. Their athletic apparel of course has all the naturals like jackets, leggings, hoodies, t-shirts and other exercise apparel. Adidas is especially strong in athletic apparel for soccer. This makes sense considering they sponsor soccer uber-stars like Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba. A fun thing about the adidas brand is their continued expansion into other aspects of the world. In addition to their extensive athletic apparel options, they have branched off into other worlds like skateboarding, street art and music.
5 - Puma
It’s odd how many popular fitness apparel companies come from Germany. Puma was also founded in Germany (along with Adidas) and was actually founded by the brother of the man who founded Adidas. Puma has eschewed a lot of the expensive sponsorships of athletes, and often focuses on making excellent products for fitness, running and lifestyle. The one exception to their sponsorships has mostly been in European soccer, where they have several athletes and create the kits for several big clubs.
