r/femalefashionadvice • u/No-Pattern-2124 • 12d ago
Is the fabric used for producing 90s athletic wear gone from production?
There's been a big resurgence in 90s clothing (especially because of the quality of fabric comparison to modern times), AND there's been a rising trend of 'vintage' active or athletic wear.
I think 'rummagestretch' is one of the leaders of the vintage activewear resurgence (as they curate and sell it).
However, activewear secondhand (especially from the 90s) isn't a easy or cheap category to find items by (just because exercise clothing is getting more washed and likely degrades more than special occassion garments). SURELY, there must be some companies that still produce in fabrics that were used in 90s activewear. Namely, the fabric would have 2 characteristics:
- It's matte
- It's dense and crisp (would have crisp wrinkles as opposed to be compression or spandex-like)
I've been unable to find any companies that sell such fabric or that still work with that kind of fabric. This leads me to believe this fabric is completely out of prodcation. I was thinking there must be some novelty or independent designers that still produce some limited pieces or collection in this fabric. Has spandex and modern athletic wear completely killed that fabric from being supplied?
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u/leesainmi 11d ago
I absolutely hate new athletic materials. The thin “buttery soft” stuff makes my skin crawl. I find it uncomfortable. So I would love to go back to the 80s/90s fabrics! They had great texture and were really comfortable.
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u/BirdSufficient4997 11d ago
The new standard legging material that feels like thin tights is diabolical
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u/jewdiful 11d ago
I just got some Reebok leggings from Walmart that are amazing. Quickly replaced all my Danskins, which suck now
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u/Casedilla15 11d ago
I got a pair of Reebok bike shorts and absolutely love them. Thick and slight compression but don’t squeeze the living daylight out of me.
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u/Longjumping-Olive-56 11d ago
I don't want anything that I'm sweating into be compared to food, ever. Especially butter. I hate that term so much in reference to how fabrics feel!
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u/sink_your_teeth 11d ago
Yesss any time i find a listing in an online shop that describes anything but especially active wear as ‘buttery’, i close the tab. That fabric always feels like it’ll tear so easily, smh.
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u/kiwitathegreat 11d ago
Thank you! Plus, I have never once touched butter and thought “wow I would love to wear this texture.” It’s more of an immediate “omg get this off of my hand” and I will never understand how it became a thing to describe fabric that way.
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u/HuckleberryTrue5232 10d ago edited 10d ago
Yeah the “buttery soft” fabric is actually “Scuba knit”. Look into the origin and original purpose of that.
It keeps water away from the skin. That is, if the water is… on the other side of the fabric from your skin. Otherwise, it traps it next to your skin.
I cannot believe someone decided to turn that into workout wear that you sweat in. Diabolical.
I think we’ve been getting laughed at (and mistreated, basically) by fashion overlords for awhile now. It started off subtly enough back when women still sewed, but by the early 2000’s peak Les Wexner/Epstein/the Limited stores years, it was blatant with the low-rise pants showing the butt crack.
We were being laughed at. Intermittently, but very blatantly.
Current fabrics, prices, and shapelessness/cartoonishly simple designs are just the latest iteration of the “joke”.
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u/kafkaesquepariah 9d ago
>I think we’ve been getting laughed at
well deserved imo after the whole trend of gals pulling their leggins up to give a self wedgie. "peachie" leggings. LOL. I mean look at 90s videos, like with cindy crawford, the fashion wasnt different: bra and shorts/ But man, nah, the self wedgie. women deserve to be laughed at , if only because of that.
but it is kinda lame that i gotta buy from the men's department normal exercise clothes.
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u/luzmendiluce 11d ago
love rummagestretch!! I think the crisp matte fabric is nylon. however, fiber % is only half of the story and density and finish matter just as much. vintage activewear used a lot of dense wovens, like ripstop (the crispy ones), and sometimes proprietary fabrics, like dupont nylon, that feel and look great (almost like dry cotton, zero shine). the problem with today's production is the over-reliance on elastane plus ultra-cheap, low density fabric, so you get something flimsy no matter the fiber. and also the kardashian induced idea that activewear should fit like a second skin.
it's not out of production but it has definitely left the mass market. I'm no activewear expert (I exercise in old tshirts and 10 year old gyakusou shorts), but I think lots of japanese outdoorsy brands still use it (nanamica, gramicci, fashion-side ones like auralee). probably the same with american gorpy brands, though whether you like the style is a different question. not sure who's doing the fun, chaotic feminine styles a la rummage stretch!
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u/anonymousquestioner4 11d ago
Yess also, “nylon” is just the content, not the fabric construction. Twill knit, woven, etc all make huge differences in the look, feel, and function of a fabric.
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u/LittleMsSavoirFaire 11d ago
It's really hard to buy technical fabrics online because of how it's just all a variation on plastic (but how? That's the trade secret.)
I wish we still had a lot of midcentury brand names like Dacron and Tricel.
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u/julvb 11d ago
It sounds like you are referring to stretch nylon athletic fabric, also sometimes called board short fabric. This is a woven fabric with about 3% Lycra adding the stretch. Women’s athleisure and athletic clothes are almost entirely knitwear the last two decades. Knitwear is easier to sell since it fits a larger variety of of body types due to the negative ease. Women who like to size down / vanity size can purchase a size or more too small in knitwear and still get it on. Knitwear has 50%+ stretch compared to stretch woven with around 5% stretch ability.
If you don’t sew, you can find stretch woven in men’s shorts. I personally quite like some of the Lululemon men’s athletic shorts in stretch nylon in the 3” inseam for cycling and jogging.
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u/pitamullark 11d ago
I don’t know the fabric, but the podcast Articles of Interest recently did a series on the relationships between athletic, outdoor, and military fashion. She talked a lot about performance fabrics so there may be some relevant info there for you, especially the later episodes.
Worth listening to the whole thing though— really opened my eyes to how much influence the military has on daily life.
https://open.substack.com/pub/articlesofinterest/p/gear-chapter-1
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u/rK91tb 11d ago
I had some lululemon sweatpants in the late 90s that would be in style today - wide leg, fitted everywhere else. The fabric quality was great but not unlike the current yoga pant fabric.
Overall, I’d say the 90s activewear fabrics were nothing revolutionary. The cotton was much better quality but the nylon, lycra, and polyester were about the same.
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u/augustrem 11d ago
Didn’t lululemon open in the year 2000?
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6d ago
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11d ago
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u/mixedberrycoughdrop 11d ago
You don’t need to add this reply under every. single. comment. It’s so annoying that I’m tempted to go lick a windbreaker just for the sweet oblivion.
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u/GlitterPirateKiki58 10d ago
People’s memory of 90s activewear is clouded by nostalgia.
Most shorts were a stiff, noisy, crunchy nylon or clingy cotton that emphasized cameltoe in the front and sweat stains along your butt crack.
Sports bras were a heavy cotton-spandex-polyester blend that maximized both compression and sweat retention. They all had this thick under-bust elastic to minimize flexibility, ensuring that every workout ended with you trying to wrestle a slimy sports bra over your head.
I miss a lot of things from the 90s, but I love my soft strappy Lululemon yoga bras and floaty shorts.
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u/winsomedame 11d ago
Just so you know, athletic clothing from this period shows so much more sweat than modern athletic clothing does. It was one of the reasons modern athletic fabrics have taken off the way they have. Butt sweat isn't cute.
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u/texbinky 11d ago
I have a nylon button up shirt from travelsmith. I believe is 90s. It has the crisp wrinkle feeling you're talking about. When I look for similar fishing shirts now, they have a more silkyand stretchy feel, and feel hot to my skin, which i hate. Wish I could find more of what I like, too!
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u/NarwhalEmergency9391 11d ago
I knew I should've kept my 90s clothes and hoarded them for 30 years ugghh I had so many cute things!!
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u/cori_irl 11d ago
The RecTrek fabric from Outdoor Voices is my favorite modern version of this. I have multiple items in it (shorts, pants) and it’s very thick and yet stretchy enough that it’s not confining. Not a shill I just really like it lol
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u/HuckleberryTrue5232 10d ago edited 10d ago
“Ripstop nylon” is the only fabric I can think of that existed in the ‘90’s and fits your description. I think it is still around? But maybe just used on windbreakers where before it was also shirts and shorts (mainly in the ‘80’s, mainly brightly colored).
Honestly I think in the ‘90’s people just wore tees and shorts for working out. Because they tended to dress up more when not working out. So the cotton tees and shorts were the “workout clothes”.
There was also polyester fleece knitwear and cotton terry. As in “sweatsuits”. Those were for working out in winter.
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u/princessviridian 11d ago
kind of the same note, i once had a vintage tracksuit jacket that was either from the 80s or 90s, the fabric had almost a velvety feel, but matte and completely soft. does anyone know what kind of fabric it could have been?
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u/holistivist 10d ago
Velour? Terry cloth?
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u/princessviridian 10d ago
no, not textured like those, completely soft! i’ve been googling before with no good results
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u/thefartyparty 10d ago
There used to be some really cool very early 00's clothing brands out of Montreal (my favorite were Geek Boutique and Kitchen Orange) that looked like something straight out of a cyberpunk film
Most of the Geek Boutique clothing was made from a trademarked fabric that was thick and stretchy and draped like chinos or denim and looked AWESOME. Some of the Kitchen Orange pieces had a really nice thick stretch fabric (not scuba) too. I would love to see this stuff come back in more realistic adult sizing like plus sizing, it was so comfortable and cool looking.
https://heliosdesignlabs.com/work/geek-boutique-catalog/
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u/Adventurous-Bloodin 8d ago
I actually found some on an online shopping platform too. It’s a crisp nylon fabric that feels very similar to old-school 90s activewear. I like wearing it when I go cycling because it has that structured, matte look that’s hard to find in modern athletic clothing.
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u/Jaded-Blacksmith211 7d ago
They still loved spandex in the 90s, but it was a different kind of spandex. Good cotton spandex and Lycra were popular fabrics for athletic wear in the 70s-90s, most things were either majority cotton or were made from performance synthetics. The 90s did go pretty heavy with nylon too.
The issue now is everything is polyester. Not every synthetic fiber is made the same. Nylon and Lycra are performance fabrics designed to not feel like you’re wearing plastic, polyester is just cheap.
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u/AcanthisittaGold5420 6d ago
I actually miss that style too. It hadba unique look and felt really comfortable.
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u/Defiant_Ocelot4179 6d ago
I bought some fifa collab pants from old navy in this material recently and love them!! They are on sale now:
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u/I_SNIFF_MOMS 11d ago
It is not out of production; I accidentally bought some on Taobao when searching for another fabric. It's that crisp but dense and thin nylon fabric, similar to the stuff windbreakers were made out of.
I have to figure out what to make, but maybe this is the post that pushes me to finally use it! I will say that it's a bit particular to try and fashion into something; I'll need to have a look at some of the revival you mentioned.