Activewear sets to get you moving again in September Here are some shopping tips to help you tackle the new season with a little more motivation (and style)
September is the month when we suddenly decide to become new people. We wake up early, drink lemon water, mentally file away our holidays and promise ourselves that this time will be different. From September onwards, we read more, eat better, stop going to bed with our make-up on, answer our emails and, above all, start working out again. Then September 17 arrives, it’s raining, we’re tired and the most strenuous movement of the day is moving the mouse. There is, however, a little trick that might help. Buying a new workout set. It doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll exercise more, but at least we’ll feel like people who do. And in an era when the line between technical clothing and everyday wardrobes has practically disappeared, that comfortable set might even become our favourite outfit. Activewear, in fact, is no longer just for running, lifting weights or assuming unlikely positions on the Reformer. Leggings, bras, shorts, tennis skirts, sweatshirts and track jackets have become a real social uniform, worn to class, at the supermarket or at the café. What should we remember before shopping? Whether it’s for an intense workout or a post-Pilates brunch with a protein shake and cinnamon roll, good sportswear should move with the body, support without constricting, let the skin breathe, stay in place and survive sweat. Fashion can take care of the rest. Also because dressing well for something at least increases the chances of convincing ourselves to actually do it. Dopamine dressing, after all, can work with a pair of leggings too.
Activewear sets to get you moving again in September
Triumph
September means back to sport, but before thinking about the colour of the set, it would be useful to remember that a sports bra is not a decorative accessory. It is the infrastructure everything else is built on. Triumph knows this well and, with Triaction, has created a collection designed around the different needs of the body during physical activity. The line includes models designed for different levels of movement, from Triaction Wellness to Free Motion, from Energy Lite to Extreme Lite, all the way to more structured options such as Control Lite and Cardio Flow. The point, then, is not to find “the sports bra” in absolute terms, but the one suited to the type of sport we practise. Pilates requires one thing, while running requires another. It sounds like an obvious distinction, but it is actually quite revolutionary, especially in a market where for years we thought it was enough to put on an elastic crop top and hope everything stayed where it was supposed to. Triaction instead starts with support and freedom of movement and turns them into a question of fit. The result is activewear that is less performative in theory and more practical in real life. Because yes, we might want to look like a Pilates girl, but first and foremost we want to be able to breathe. And if we want to complete our new bra, all we need to do is add a pair of Triaction Cardio Air high-waisted leggings designed to offer comfort, support and freedom of movement to the cart.
Nike
Nike is the brand that does the best job of bridging real sport and fashion. If the classic gym wardrobe consists of leggings, technical tops and performance sneakers, the brand’s contemporary offering expands the conversation towards pieces that can leave the gym without looking out of place. One example is the NikeSKIMS Studio Stretch line, created for yoga and Pilates and built around a soft, lightweight, stretchy fabric, with gentle compression and plenty of freedom of movement. The collection includes bras, tops, shorts, leggings and a bodysuit, all designed to be paired with looser pieces and worn beyond the workout. Nike 24.7 also works precisely on the boundary between performance and everyday life. The result is a wardrobe that feels less “I’ve just left the gym” and more “I might have been to the gym, but we’ll never know”. For anyone who wants to start moving again without completely changing their aesthetic identity, it’s probably the most convincing compromise.
Alo
If there is one brand that has transformed the concept of the Pilates girl into an entire cultural universe, it is Alo. Born in yoga and gradually becoming a lifestyle brand loved by Gigi and Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and Candice Swanepoel, it now lives precisely where activewear, wellness and fashion meet. The Airlift leggings remain one of the brand’s signatures, but for 2026 the offering has expanded to bras, shorts and, above all, matching sets such as the Amp It Up Bra and leggings, and the Better Together Bra and Skirt. Pieces designed for movement, but also for that post-Pilates moment when we’re still dressed in workout clothes and decide that, actually, we can just go straight to lunch like this. Alo understood something before many others. We don’t necessarily need an outfit that looks sporty. We need an outfit that makes us feel like the person we would like to be when we work out.
New Balance
New Balance is the brand to choose when our September sports fantasy starts becoming slightly more serious and we decide that maybe, after all, we could start running again. The brand’s running division works with pieces such as leggings, shorts, vests, jackets and technical tops, while the aesthetic remains clean enough to wear outside of training too. It is precisely this balance between performance and everyday life that makes New Balance interesting for contemporary activewear. The RC Collection is the one to look at if running is genuinely part of the plan, while for those who simply want the illusion of being an international runner, all it takes is a pair of leggings, a lightweight jacket and New Balance sneakers.
lululemon
There are leggings we forget about in a drawer immediately after buying them and others that become an essential part of our outfits. lululemon’s Align belongs to the second category. The line, originally created for yoga, has become one of the symbols of contemporary activewear thanks to its soft fabric, high waist and second-skin feel, turning leggings into something like the official trousers of leisure time. Alongside Align, the brand continues to offer more performance-focused styles such as Wunder Train and Fast and Free, designed for more intense activities or running and made from durable, quick-drying fabric with pockets for your phone, keys and cards. The strength of lululemon lies precisely in its ability to build an entire vocabulary around movement. And to make everything look elegant enough to wear even when the workout is actually working from the sofa.
Uniqlo
Uniqlo brings the same functional approach it applies to the rest of its wardrobe to sportswear, with the Sport Utility Wear line designed for working out without making things unnecessarily complicated. Leggings, sports bras, tops and gym sets are made from technical, breathable fabrics, with particular attention to comfort and freedom of movement. Among the pieces worth keeping an eye on are the Ultra Stretch Sport Leggings, AIRism Cotton T-shirts, sweatshirts and UV-protection parkas. The result is sportswear that is less interested in the “gym girl” aesthetic and closer to Uniqlo’s philosophy, where every piece should be practical, versatile and ideally useful even when we’re not exercising. A T-shirt, a pair of leggings, a sweatshirt and done. So maybe the first step in our back to sport journey could be stopping to think that walking for half an hour requires the equipment of a Himalayan expedition.
Adanola
Adanola built an empire around one very simple question: what if the gym set were also what we wore all day? The new collection continues to move between sweatshirts, hoodies, bras, leggings and unitards, with the explicit idea of creating a new everyday uniform that can go from workout to everyday errands. The Ultimate line remains at the heart of the brand. The leggings are available in different lengths and use a medium-compression fabric with a smoothing effect and four-way stretch, as well as a high waist and no front seam. Meanwhile, Classic Seamless focuses on soft, breathable and easy-to-layer pieces. Sports bras and tanks become essentials to wear under fitted tops, leggings and shorts, with new shades including navy blue, chocolate brown, thyme green, washed lime and white. The appeal of Adanola is precisely here. It doesn’t want to look like luxury, it doesn’t want to look like professional sportswear and it doesn’t simply want to be loungewear either. It’s a sort of uniform for an imaginary life in which we do Pilates at nine, work at ten, grab a coffee at eleven and maybe answer a few emails before lunch. The best part is that even if we do none of those things, the set still works..
On
On was born in the Swiss Alps as a running brand and running remains its centre of gravity. But in recent years it has built an entire wardrobe around its sneakers, moving from running into training, studio and lifestyle. The current offering clearly distinguishes between the Training Collection, for high-intensity workouts, the Studio Collection, for low-impact activities, and the Focus Collection, designed for recovery and time spent away from training. New arrivals include Train Tights, Train Bra, Studio Long-T and Studio Leggings, while the running section features Performance Crop, Performance Bra, Performance Tights and Zero Crop. It is the Studio Collection that interests us most for September. Because if the first step towards a new sporty life is signing up for Pilates, the second is having a set that doesn’t look like it came out of a biomechanics laboratory. On manages to maintain its technical aesthetic without giving up a certain fashion polish. Then, of course, we can always buy the Performance Tights and tell everyone that from Monday onwards we’re running ten kilometres.
Ernest Leoty
Ernest Leoty is what happens when corsetry meets dance and decides to go to Pilates. The Parisian Maison builds its language around the concept of movement wear, blending ready-to-wear, activewear, lingerie and loungewear. This approach is particularly evident in the Fall-Winter 2026 collection, where we find soft cotton leggings, corset-constructed bodysuits, flares, knitwear, fleece and more sensual silhouettes. The colours are often neutral, the cuts clean and the result feels closer to a Parisian dance studio than a gym. It is probably the brand that demonstrates most clearly just how much the meaning of sportswear has changed. Here, the point is no longer to make leggings fashionable. It is to completely erase the distinction between what we wear to move and what we wear to live.
Licia Florio
With Licia Florio, activewear becomes more colourful, personal and less interested in looking like a gym uniform. The Activewear collection includes Classic High-Rise Legging, Classic Bra, Mini Legging, Tutina and Aria Pants, with a palette ranging from Carbon to Pistachio, passing through Terracotta, Ocean, Mediterraneo and Tonic Water. The most interesting piece for September is probably the High-Rise Flared Legging, also available in Pistachio, Marzipan, Incense and Futura. It is leggings, of course, but the flared leg immediately moves them away from the idea of a technical uniform and towards a more fashion-oriented aesthetic. The result is exactly what we ask of activewear today, which is to work even when the sport is over.
