The Top 27 Fashion & Apparel Trends of 2025

Athleisure and comfort wear on the rise

Athleisure, the mix of sportswear into everyday fashion, owes itself to the decline of formality in American fashion and the desire to be seen as healthy. Yoga pants, tights, sneakers, leggings, gym shorts, and so on.

A century ago, there'd be separate clothing for the restaurant, clothing for the gallery, clothing for the street - all different categories of dress. Those barriers have come down in a big way and athleisure is the poster child of that movement.

Style on the rise: mini dress

As some demographics increasingly demand more modest fashion choices, others are going the other direction. The resurgence of the mini dress highlights a shift towards bold, expressive fashion choices that challenge conventional modesty norms.

Clothing rental and subscription platforms

Amidst rising environmental concerns, clothing rental platforms offer a rotating wardrobe without the waste associated with fast fashion. This model is especially popular among millennials and Gen Z, who prioritize access over ownership, aligning with their transient lifestyles and commitment to reducing their carbon footprint.

AI-driven style recommendations

There’s a growing consumer expectation for personalized shopping solutions. Some brands are even starting to let consumers upload selfies and then see their clothing catalogue projected onto the shopper themselves. This trend is particularly potent as e-commerce increasingly dominates the retail landscape and AI continues to rapidly evolve.

Style on the rise: bows on clothing

Bamboo as a clothing material

Bamboo sheets first became popular in the early 2000s, but bamboo clothing, like bamboo pajamas, has more recently started growing in popularity. They’re a cheaper solution: enough bamboo fabric to cover a person once instead of a bed twice.

45% of couples report arguing over sleeping temperature so products that let individuals choose their own preferred temperature help resolve the issue. Given its unique property of wicking moisture, bamboo clothing can help keep body temperatures stable throughout the night. Bamboo pajama brands are leaning into this and running ads promising to help reduce sleep-related conflict.

Bamboo fabric is also pitched as environmentally friendly compared to cotton. Bamboo requires little water, the plants grow back after getting cut down, and they don’t need pesticides. As more consumers start making environmentally conscious decisions, existing products can be rebuilt using more eco-friendly materials.

Medical workers increasingly buying their own scrubs, and spending more

While it may seem like a niche business from the outside, medical apparel is a huge industry that underwent a fundamental shift from B2B to B2C, opening it up to the direct-to-consumer model for companies like FIGS and Mandala Scrubs, DTC scrubs brand.

Not only do a staggering one in seven U.S. workers wear scrubs, according to Bloomberg Business, but the outfit is a workplace requirement and once a worker is part of the medical industry, leaving is less common given the high initial barrier, in terms of both money and time. All in all, the medical apparel business represents a $60B opportunity globally.

Originally, the hospitals were the ones buying scrubs and supplying them freely to their staff. However, the incentives were not aligned between the customers (hospitals), who wanted to pay less, and the users (medical workers), who wanted higher quality clothing. As hospitals' budgets constricted, the burden of paying for scrubs shifted to doctors and nurses. This meant that the users and the customers were finally the same after decades of misaligned priorities.

Another interesting dynamic that works in Mandala’s favor is the desire for standardization across the medical industry, in contrast to most other fashion contexts where consumers want to be marginally unique.

Second-hand clothing marketplaces

As a backlash to the growing fast-fashion movement, many consumers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, now prioritize buying second-hand.

Style on the rise: halter