‘We’re living through an era of casualisation’: Lockdown love of loungewear here to stay, says SKIMS co-founder

Britons might have spent the last 18 months swaddled in comfortable(and comforting) clothing, but as SKIMS co-founder Jens Grede tells Olivia Petter, loungewear is more than just a lockdown fashion trend

(SKIMS)

Wherever and however you spent lockdown, chances are you wore a variation on the same outfit throughout: comfortable trousers, a loose-fitting top, and soft, high-coverage underwear. It’s an aesthetic known as loungewear, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it has become increasingly popular in the past 18 months.

Throughout 2020, global fashion search platform Lyst identified numerous loungewear items in its quarterly “hottest items” indexes, which list the most popular fashion items across the web and social media. Among those included was a Calvin Klein sports bra, a Jacquemus knitted bralette, UGG boots, Birkenstock sandals, and Sleeper feather trimmed pyjamas.

All of these items had one thing in common: they prioritised comfort over style alone. It made sense given that Britons spent much of the last year at home due to the pandemic. But amid the lockdown loungewear hype, one brand continually stood out. Enter SKIMS, the shapewear label-turned-cult loungewear must-have founded by Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede.