Yoga pants combine comfort, confidence and performance in one garment. They are also budget-friendly and made with soft, sustainable fabrics.
Leggings are skin-tight with a thin, soft fabric that covers legs from hip to ankle or shorter for cropped leggings. Yoga pants typically have slightly thicker fabric than leggings and are less see-through.
Comfort
While many people associate yoga pants with yoga classes, they’re also great for other routines that require gripping the mat, like barre workouts or Pilates sessions. Longer yoga pants can even provide a performance advantage, as they cover your legs and calves from the cold and may help prevent you from taking a fall when changing position or going upside down in a pose.
Most yoga pants are made of soft, stretchy fabric that’s thin and relatively skin-tight, similar to leggings. But they often flare slightly at the bottom, adding a bit of length to the look.
High-waisted yoga pants in particular flatter almost any body shape, smoothing the stomach area, defining the waistline, and elongating the legs. They’re an especially good option for curvy women, as they showcase natural body curves while helping to slim the tummy area and reduce a double chin.
Flexibility
Whether you’re looking for cooling yoga shorts for hot yoga, comfortable stretchy leggings for flexibility training or cosy joggers for restorative yoga, our extensive collection has the styles you need. Choose from a variety of different sizes to suit all body shapes, as well as materials that are sweat-wicking, offer support and compression, or help reduce the appearance of cellulite.
The difference between leggings and yoga pants is mainly in the fit and material of the waist and crotch area. Leggings tend to be baggy and made from cotton blends allowing a relaxed fit around the knees, calves and ankles, while yoga pants are tight fitting and cuffed at the ankles and have a snug waist and crotch.
The seams in yoga pants are also important for comfort, and flat lock seams that don’t overlap are commonly used to minimise bulk and avoid chafing or irritation. You should also look for fabrics that resist pilling, the occurrence of tiny balls or threads that form from friction as you move in your clothes, as this can ruin their looks and feel.
Breathability
Breathable fabrics wick away moisture from the skin, keeping you cool and dry. This is especially important on warm days and during vigorous exercise.
A fabric’s breathability is often expressed as its MVP (moisture vapor transmission rate) value or MVTR (moisture vapour transfer rate). A higher MVP means a fabric is more breathable.
Yoga pants are usually made from soft, stretchy materials designed for comfort and a snug fit to allow movement and enable others to examine your form. The most common are cotton blends with Lycra added for flexibility.
Sweatpants are thicker, heavier materials designed for warmth and made with a baggy fit. They aren’t as breathable and don’t have the same benefits of a stretchy, lightweight material with good breathability. A breathable garment can also help prevent chafing and skin irritation.
Compression
Compression yoga pants can help you get more out of your workout. The tight fit helps increase blood flow from your legs to your heart, which can improve performance and reduce fatigue. They can also help you stay steady in balance poses by continuously stimulating sensory receptors on your leg muscles to boost proprioceptive function.
Leggings typically cover the legs from hip to ankle, although some have a slight flare at the bottom. They’re a bit thicker than sweatpants and usually made of soft fabric that breathes well. They’re great for exercise, bike riding, or sitting all day at work, and they make comfortable casual wear.
While sweatpants are baggy and made of cotton blends, yoga pants are tighter fitting with a lycra blend that allows the wearer to stretch and move without restriction. They’re also often designed with mesh inlays to maximize breathability and odor-resistant fabrics to keep you cool and dry during your workout.