Athleisure has been a major trend for the past few seasons, with brands creating their own versions of leggings, sweatshirts, sneakers, and more. A main appeal of this movement was the leisure aspect — you don’t need to be athletic to rock athleisure.
So this Spring season, there’s a new kind of athleisure: tenniscore.
More and more brands are creating collections which lean into retro designs and 80’s health club aesthetics, drawing from the signature style of wealthy preppy universitarians. To understand where the tenniscore trend came from, and where it’s headed, our trend forecasters analyzed the US market and its consumers with the help of social media. We’ve collected a few trends which are unmissable for brands’ Spring 2022 collections.
Tennis skirts: The top Spring 2022 trend
Tennis mini skirts are creating quite the buzz across social media, particularly among younger consumers. And according to our trend forecasts, tennis skirts will rise by +20% in visibility come Spring 2022 compared to last Spring in the US. Their success can be chalked up to their old-fashioned, yet flirty aesthetic, representing the cornerstone of the tenniscore movement.
On TikTok, thousands of videos explain how to style them or even how to make them, and on Instagram, celebrities and influencers are promoting their favorite branded tennis skirts. From sports specialists to Depop models, there’s enough iterations to please everyone. Tennis skirts can now be worn on the courts, or outside for city outings.
A reliable trend: The forecast for white sneakers
White sneakers are everyone’s trusty pair of shoes — nearly every brand makes them, there’s new versions every season, and they match with every outfit. More specifically, “tennis shoes” are commonly referred to in the US to describe any white, low top sneakers. This is essentially every fashionable white sneaker, from Common Projects, to Converse, to Veja. So this Spring 2022 in the US, we predict white sneakers to rise by +3% compared to last year, signalling a steady rate, and thus a reliable piece to include in next Spring’s collections.
While white sneakers are an ideal pairing for nearly every outfit in one’s closet, they’re also emblematic of tenniscore, as players — male and female — often wear them on the court. Since, they’ve become a common coupling with tenniscore outfits, of course including the tennis skirt.
Tenniscore is Spring’s next trend
In a statement from Adidas, “You can be a sports enthusiast without ever playing (…), You could have never seen a match in your life, (…) but no one has to know the truth. Your secret’s safe.” If a sportswear giant like Adidas is giving the green light, it may be safe to say that athleisure is in full swing.
Tenniscore is a subculture of this widespread movement, and our trend forecasters predict more of the genre in seasons to come.
For now, we can look to the symbol of the tenniscore movement, the tennis skirt, to rest assured of its success in Spring 2022: the piece crystallizes passions with over 70M views for the #tennisskirts hashtag on TikTok and more than 200K on Instagram. For brands with US Gen Z and Millennial audiences, our trend forecasts indicate that it may be time to include tenniscore clothing in upcoming collections.
