Smart Tracksuits – From Sofa to Street

Short answer: A neat tracksuit set is plain, fits well and is made in a material with good drape. With the right shoes and a simple bag, a set in bamboo viscose can easily be worn into town, to a café and on journeys, and not only on the sofa at home.

Plain is the whole prerequisite

A set with prints, stripes or large logos reads as sportswear or house clothes, however well it fits. A plain set in a dark tone, by contrast, reads as clothing. See bamboo tracksuit sets for women in the quiet colours.

The drape is what makes it neat

A cheap sweat fabric stands stiffly away from the body and folds into hard creases. A heavier fabric with long fibres falls straight down and follows the body calmly. It is the drape and not the cut that decides whether a set looks like something you can go out in.

The fit has to be close enough

The trousers should taper at the bottom, and the top should end at the hip and no lower. A set that is too big looks like borrowed clothes whatever the material. Try the set with the shoes you intend to wear, because shoes change where the trousers should end.

The shoes decide the rest

A tracksuit set with slides is house clothes. The same set with clean, low trainers or a pair of simple boots is clothing. It is the cheapest change there is, and it matters more to the look than any detail on the set itself.

A layer over it

A denim jacket, a coat or a blazer over a plain set lifts the whole thing one level. It works because the outer layer is clothing, and the set becomes what lies underneath. Without a layer over it, the set is the only thing people see.

The top matters most

A sweatshirt without a hood looks neater than a hoodie, because the hood gathers at the neck under a jacket and signals leisure. See bamboo sweatshirts for women and choose a model without a drawstring at the neck if the set is to be worn out.

When it does not work

For a meeting, a dinner or an event with a dress code, a tracksuit set is not the answer, however neat it is. It belongs at the relaxed end of the scale, and there it is the most comfortable choice there is.

The line towards loungewear

If the set is to be worn out several times a week, there is a category cut for exactly that. See bamboo loungewear for women, where the cuts are slightly neater and the fabrics slightly heavier than in an ordinary tracksuit set. See also loungewear you can also wear out.