Flare Leggings or Yoga Pants?

Audrey Perrault

The debate recently has been whether the new trend of flare leggings is just a new name for the popular yoga pants or whether they are a new style of pants in themselves. The popular brand Aerie, by American Eagle, has recently come out with new pants called flare leggings. People have seen similarities between the new pants and the oh-so-popular yoga pants.  Yoga pants were created for women to have a stretchy pant to practice Yoga in. Now the stretchy pants are worn as everyday pants. Yoga pants are stretchy, have a flare at the bottom of the leg, and lastly what makes them yoga pants a fold at the top in the stomach area. There are some slight differences between the two.  Flare leggings are leggings made of stretchy material and are flared at the bottom. Unlike yoga pants, flare leggings do not have a folded waistband at the top.

Whether you believe the new pants are called flare leggings or yoga pants, they are becoming widely popular again. Yoga pants were originally popular in the early 2000s and were only worn for exercise and lounging.  Aerie sells a pair of flared leggings for $49.95 and also sells a pair of original high-waisted foldover leggings for $49.95 as well. The original high-waisted fold-over leggings are essentially the traditional yoga pants. Back in the days that yoga pants were popular they were not as expensive as they are now. Leggings in themselves are normally known as stretchy pants that are form-fitted and have a skinny ankle at the bottom. 

Now for the debate whether flare leggings should be called as their original name of yoga pants. The name of flare leggings was given to market the product to a younger demographic who didn’t wear yoga pants when they were most popular. In the past five years leggings have been more popularly worn by students at school. This being said Aerie changed the name of the pants to market to a younger crowd. This was a risky marketing strategy for pants that were out of style for the past couple of years. But Aerie did it; their pants are more popular than ever. These leggings are going out of stock as they are being put out. A review straight from the Aerie website on the pants, “I am in love with all the super flared yoga pants at aerie. I’m so glad I discovered them. I now have four different pairs!” said Becky from Illinois.