Will We Continue to Embrace Casual Clothing and Loungewear After Lockdown Ends?

It’s been reported that lockdown has caused us to turn our backs on fast fashion and instead, we’ve focused on buying less and buying well. But is this just a temporary blip and as soon as fashion retailers once again open their doors, will we see a return to old buying habits? When we do start buying clothing again, will lockdown change the type of clothes we seek to buy, with comfort continuing to play a key role in what we choose to wear?

Whilst working from home, furloughed or isolating, many of us have turned our back on the types of clothes we’d usually wear to the office and even the usual casual wear we choose for going out and about or knocking around at home in, instead favouring comfort, leading to a massive 433% surge in loungewear sales during lockdown.

To be fair, when you’ve got no Zoom meetings to attend and know that you aren’t going to be leaving the house all day, or perhaps for several days on end, spending time planning an outfit is largely a waste of time. Some may still find the ritual of maintaining their usual levels of personal grooming and appearance helpful to their wellbeing, but for many of us, we’ve relished the opportunity to wear what we want, and wearing what we want, largely means putting comfort rather than style first!

Will more of us embrace casual clothing after lockdown ends?

That’s not to say lockdown clothing doesn't have a certain sense of style and a charm of its own. As well as a drop in fast fashion sales and a rise in premium label sales, we’ve seen a massive move towards loungewear. Think leggings and fitted jogging bottoms paired with slouchy t-shirts and over-sized sweaters and hoodies with hair swept back into a rough pony.

Perhaps many of us have embraced the opportunity to dress in a way that we secretly really wanted to dress in all along, putting the simple joy of comfort first instead of appearance.

Could lockdown style lead to a boost in confidence and more people realising that they don’t need to conform to a certain look or way of dressing, and will more of us be ditching our usual casual-wear in favour of loungewear even after lockdown comes to an end?

"Whilst hanging quietly in our wardrobes, or folded neatly away in our drawers, our jeans have somehow shrunk at least half a size during lockdown."

Maybe our new relaxed attitude to clothing could even extend to that wardrobe stalwart, jeans. With many of us ditching jeans throughout most of lockdown, pulling them back on for some, has come with an unwelcome shock. Whilst hanging quietly in our wardrobes, or folded neatly away in our drawers, our jeans have somehow shrunk at least half a size during lockdown.

I mean, who knew that jeans would shrink when not worn for several weeks during a high-stress time that has promoted mass comfort eating and inactivity of epic proportions?!

Will lockdown impact the style of jeans we wear?

In all seriousness though, despite more of us happily kicking back in loungewear day after day, pulling on a favourite pair of jeans does give you a bit of a lift. Wearing jeans feels like a signifier of normality.

So if we do remain inclined to shop more sustainably and choose clothes that provide greater levels of comfort once this is all over, does that mean we might see changes in the style of jeans we favour? Could we move away from more restrictive skinny jeans, and find instead people opting more relaxed ‘mom’ and ‘boyfriend’ style jeans, or stretchier jeans with a high lycra content?

Possibly once lockdown fully lifts we’ll relish the opportunity to dress up and once again express ourselves through our clothing, loungewear all but forgotten until the next time we have a lazy duvet day.

Either way, it feels like jeans have become a somewhat unexpected signifier of normality, and I for one am looking forward to getting back to dressing normally, though I must admit, I probably won’t be quite as militant about not leaving the house in loungewear as I was before lockdown started. How about you?

When it’s time to welcome your jeans back into your life, don’t forget that Hole button covers are easy to pop over your jean buttons and will help keep your tops free of tiny holes!