Business Finance Media Technology Policy Wealth Insights Interviews

Art Art Fairs Art Market Art Reviews Auctions Galleries Museums Interviews

Lifestyle Nightlife & Dining Style Travel Interviews

Power Lists Nightlife & Dining Art A.I. PR

About About Observer Advertise With Us Reprints

The Best Men’s Workout Brands You’re Not Already Wearing

These labels make sharper gear for running, lifting and everything in between.

Guys have long granted workout clothes a strange exemption from the rest of the wardrobe. A jacket could be judged by the roll of its lapel, while the shirt worn five mornings a week only needed to wick sweat and survive the dryer. The default athleisure uniform followed: black polyester shorts, a synthetic tee and one of a few familiar logos. It was purchased quickly and replaced when the waistband stretched to the point of surrender.

That indifference no longer matches how men train or how long they remain dressed for it. A morning run often leads straight to coffee. Run clubs have turned exercise into part of the social calendar, while hybrid competitions have collapsed the old boundary between endurance and strength. Hyrox expects more than 100 global events in 2026, with running broken up by functional workout stations. Strava’s 2025 Year in Sport report found running and racing booming, while younger athletes kept weight training and lower-impact movement in the rotation. 

Now the clothes have more work to do. On a humid summer morning, heat management starts before the first rep. A phone needs to stay still through a sprint. Waistbands have to hold under load without digging into the stomach, and a tank should release heat without looking like an old practice jersey. Even the inseam has become a personal matter for the man comfortable running in five-inch shorts who may want nine inches for deadlifts, and maybe something presentable enough for the hour on either side.

That pressure has made activewear one of the more technically intriguing corners of menswear.........

© Observer