The old fitness binary was simple: train hard or rest. Contemporary wellness behavior is becoming more layered.
THE SIGNAL
ClassPass’s 2025 global booking data showed Pilates remaining the most-booked workout for the third consecutive year, with bookings up 66% year over year. Strength training rose 27%, yoga 28%, and low-impact training more than doubled. Sports recovery was the fastest-growing category in the report, rising 155%.
The data is global rather than New York-specific, but the pattern is highly visible in a city where customers can assemble a week across multiple specialized studios: strength on one day, Pilates on another, recovery in between, and walking or running as social movement.
Why this matters for activewear
When movement becomes multimodal, the idea of a single “gym uniform” becomes less relevant. Clothing is increasingly expected to cross training types and sometimes the boundary between exercise and the rest of the day.
That raises the design standard. A garment may need enough support for movement without feeling overly technical, enough comfort for lower-intensity work, and enough visual clarity to remain wearable after the session.
NEW YORK REPORT — KEY SIGNALS
- Pilates continued to dominate ClassPass bookings in 2025.
- Recovery and low-impact categories grew faster than many traditional workout formats.
- Customers are building mixed movement routines rather than identifying with only one modality.
THE PALM POINT OF VIEW
The future of activewear is not simply more performance. It is more range. The most useful pieces will understand that a modern active life includes effort, recovery, commuting, walking and social time—sometimes in the same day.