I love how many shops are jumping onto the fitness fashion bandwagon and are bringing out their own gorgeous ranges of fit kit. A few years ago there were only a few shops to buy good value fitness gear, like LilyWhites/Sports Direct and JD Sports for branded kit like Adidas, Nike, Reebok or you could find terrible knock-offs (2 stripes were seen everywhere). Nowadays, most clothing shops seem to have their own fitness ranges of varying quality and price. Here are some of my budget favourites;
The old high street favourite, New Look, has launched a range of fitness wear that includes patterned leggings, slogan tees, bright trainers and some black/grey staples. A lot of the range has a sports luxe look and feel to it, although for me the leggings don’t fit as well as some other more expensive brands. Starting at 7.99, there are prices and outfits to suit everyone, plus I can imagine many of the tops, leggings and jumpers working well with non-fitness kit too.
The higher end of the budget range, M&S kit features a lot of quality in it’s functional staples, and a little fashion in some of the more fun pieces. The sports bras are top notch, offering snazzy designs as well as basic black and white. Comfy jumpers that would rival Sweaty Betty, patterned leggings, and great value accessories – I’m seriously impressed!
The newly launched Souluxe range at Matalan for women, men and children is sure to be popular, especially the patterned leggings and matching sports bras at low prices. Although it’s not currently available online it is in stores across the UK. I might need to track down my closest shop to try some out!
Green Juice in the AM, Champagne in the PM…
…And other slogan tanks, mesh leggings, matching bras and leggings, and leather panels make the Boohoo FIT range very fashion forward but a lot more affordable than the high end labels. You can bag an absolute bargain gym outfit, perfect for showing off on Instagram!
A word of warning, whilst cheaper leggings can seem like great value, I would do the underwear test in the mirror before purchasing. Similarly, they might not be the best to wear on long runs, or classes where you may sweat a lot! I’d also go for support and quality when it comes to sports bras and trainers.
What are the pieces of kit that you spend money on and what do you prefer to buy budget? Ever shopped at any of these stores for workout wear?
I refuse to spend stupid money on kit – so most of mine is from budget brands (or free event shirts). I bought a heap of the Matalan kit the other week – just haven’t had time to blog my verdict yet. It’s actually pretty good – although the sports bras are definitely crop tops rather than anything supportive and it’s cut for people taller than my 5ft4 – I wanted the reflective running leggings but they were about 2 inches too long and so bunched at the ankles, but the capris are pretty good. Nothing has rubbed or fallen down when I’ve run so far. They are very warm though and I hate having warm legs when I workout. I’ve also got an Aldi sports bra right now which is really good – I wish I’d bought more. The Lidl one however was dreadful. And I’m not sure if I should confess that my ‘race’ shorts are from M&S and about 15 years old – they still fit and are in perfect shape.
The other good places are supermarkets- Tesco and ASDA have fitness ranges! TKMaxx too, I really love MPG which is sold at TKMaxx.
Leggings, I’d go pricey, vests I go cheap. H&M has great vests so that’s a good shout too.
Although I spend money on sports bras (Shock Absorber!) and trainers, most of my other kit is from high street shops. My favourite running pants are from Primark! I love the H&M sports stuff and think it’s great value for money, I’ll also have to check out the New Look kit when I’m in the UK at Christmas.
Oh I MISS Marks and Sparks 🙂
I lived in Oxford for a while and that was my fave places.
Where are your leggings from in the top photo? I’d like some like that! For leggings and capris I use Karrimor range from Sports Direct but they only have plain black. Their t-shirts are a bit shapeless though so I normally wear free race t-shirts (I’m not going to buy a £20 when I can get a good one included in a £30 race fee!). I’m still wearing the same running clothes as several yrs ago, I’m really not bothered about fashion. Just need some new leggings so I’m not head to toe in black when I wear my 100 parkrun top! ????
I like Asda’s stuff, cheap but feels nice & fits well. Also recently bought some full length leggings in m&s as I could only find capris elsewhere & though they cost a little more they fit me so well it was completely worth it! Prior to that most kit I’ve had has come from sports direct.
H&M gets my vote! Great patterns and colours, I work in the garment manufacturing industry and personally I think the quality is pretty good. I do find it comes up quiet small though!
I’ve actually been surprisingly impressed by both New Look & H&M – when previously I would have discounted them immediately as not being particularly functional, I’ve taken a chance and they’ve been pretty good. Can’t bring myself to wear anything that isn’t sweat-wicking fabric though so a lot of things are out of the question. Also have a couple of decent cycling tops from Lidl but it’s totally hit and miss whether you actually can get your hands on them when they are in stock.
And I have to obviously mention my old fave of Decathlon – their £4 gym tops are AMAZING and I have one in pretty much every colour.
Oh I love Decathlon too! So great! I’ve tried Aldi cycling and running gear which I found great, but never Lidl. Will have to check them out!
OO are these only British brands? BooHoo looks so cute, I’ve never heard of it. I always try to get not-Lulu pants, and I can pull it off for spin/yoga but for running the only pants that don’t fall down are Lulu ones. Thanks for sharing this. Can’t wait to peruse.
I think they have BooHoo in the US too. You’re right, lulu are awesome for staying put!!
Love all of these!! Printed leggings are my favorite!
Mine too, although lately I’m loving some sleek black too!
Great!They look so comfortable and the colors are beautiful!
http://www.2activelab.com
I’ve never tried these brands, but I do like to get kit from Decathlon and Aldi. I also find some brand name bargains on Sport Pursuit from time to time. Recently I was eyeing up some patterned leggings in New Look so I might try them on and some point, and have quite liked the look of H&M stuff too.
For me, the most important things to spend on are sports bra and trainers. Everything else just needs to fit properly and feel comfortable then I’m happy.