From Y3‘s luxurious take on casual fashion to Hommebody making sweatshirt fabric appropriate for working out or for work, designer sport clothes is showing no signs of a slow down as a trend to rival the denim craze seen in the last few years. Here’s a listing of the some of the players and their activities in the sector. Nuala from Christy Turlington and Puma is yoga strong after three years of brisk business, and Puma recently signed new deals with Neil Barrett and Yasuhiro Mihara. Umbro, the iconic British football label, produced two capsule collections with Kim Jones and has just signed with Dirk Bikkembergs to develop a full-fledged collection for spring 2005. Comme des Garcons and Fred Perry are creating buzz for their new partnership. Lacoste is seeing healthy business under Christophe Lemaire’s trendy take on tennis and golf inspired wear. Gaspard Yurkievich’s men’s collection was all about the gym, as was Bikkemberg’s, and many other collections were laced with sporty active pieces. Bernhard Willhelm looked to American football for the inspiration that found his beefy models in padding and helmets. And using sport stars to endorse their product lines are Vivienne Westwood, who sought Chelsea footballer Carlo Cudicini for her Man line, and Calvin Klein, who have hired Arsenal’s midfielder Freddie Ljungberg as the new hunk for underwear. What are the design features of the movement? How will this trend play out? Read what Selfridges casual wear buyer Anna Berkeley has to say on the subject.

-James Whitely

Photos: Y3 spring 2004
Kim Jones for Umbro spring 2003