What's New in Activewear This Week? Fabric Innovations & New Launch Designs Apr 20–26
Even though the activewear market is still emerging, it has been saturated gradually and is reaching a bottleneck, which is evident through the recent positions transfer news through top sports brands like Lululemon and Puma. Sports giants are seeking a new strategy to extend the longevity of their business. From Arabella Clothing's perspective, activewear brands need to go back to a deeper activewear product development, such as material performance, craftsmanship and technology--this is what we are doing. At FIBO, Arabella team has presented more new fabrics and designs that match our clients'needs.
And today, our theme is the same--to share you more trends of activewear in April.
Activewear Manufacturer Insights & News | Arabella Clothing
Fibers
(April 6th)
Tenjin has successfully developed a polyester yarn that delivers high-stretch, softness and shape-retention, which is closer to elastane. Apart from these, it also features excellent quick evaporation and water-resistance. The yarn is recyclable in polymers, ensuring its sustainability in T2T ecosystem.
(April 10th)
The polymer technical company Americhem has launched nDryve™, a PFAS-free in-melt technology platform for functional fibers. It aims to reduce the use of conventional chemical treatments through melting process when modifying their surface functionalities.
(April 23rd)
Sorona® has collaborated with WGSN to debut a white paper of bio-based fabrics on the Earth Day, indicating that bio-based fabrics are becoming the core momentum of the textile industry. They can not only meet the soaring demand for sustainability globally but also empower competitiveness to eco-friendly and functional products.
The white paper stated that the bio-based material market scale may reach 285.3 billion dollars. Also, bio-based material is rapidly saturating the sportswear, outdoor and home decor markets during 2026-2028.
Fabrics
(April 19th)
German Technical Company Outlast has launched a smart bio-based fabric, Bailey, with the function of thermal regulation. Made with Lyocell™ fiber, it can bring an instantaneous cooling feel to wearers. At the same time, it can manage human body temperature during high-intensity training.
Accessories
(April 9th)
YKK has launched its latest aluminium alloy YZiP® Light zippers, capable of reducing by 50% weight compared to conventional zippers. Designed for sweatsuits, the zipper is designed with recyclable material, balancing sustainability and functions of products.
What’s Trending in New Activewear Collections? (April, 2026)
In April, Arabella Clothing sees more activewear collections showing some latest trends that differ in colors, silhouettes, fits and garment designing details. We made a summary of these recent details for you.
Themes: Running Wear
In the past 3 weeks, running wear still hits due to the marathon seasons. Every week, we can find a newly launched running collection from different activewear brands. As an emerging market in activewear, running clothes are prone to minimize stitching and seams, replacing them with seamless bonding and free-cut, a garment technique that can merge garment panels together without any seams, to reduce abrasion generated from running. Also, perforating starts reducing and only shows up in some corners on the running garments. Brands are back to mesh, but smaller and finer, also utilizing them only on some corners like the back of the tank top and side panels on pants.
Fabrics: Recyclable, Lighter and Sun-proof
Brands are still using conventional synthetic fabrics, but the portion of recyclable synthetic fabrics is increasing. Brands like NIKE, Lululemon keep reducing the use of conventional polyester or polyamide. But middle-range activewear brands still need to rely on synthetic fabrics. Apart from this, weightlessness is still a trending characteristic that the market is in pursuit of. They add finer mesh or sheer fabrics on some corners like side panels, outer layers, even the entire pants to create a gauzy look. Also, UV-protection is required for fabrics used on running outfits.
UA Velociti: Lesser perforations
ON: Finer mesh holes
Lululemon: Gauzy sleeves
Nike ACG: UV-protection fabrics
Colors: Mid-to-high saturated & Earthy tone with Color blocking
As Arabella summarized through various trend forecasting news, new activewear collections in April are showing a dopamine-like series and earthy tones such as sky blue and light green, while timeless colors like black and white still exist. But brands need more dynamic combinations to incite athletes. So they are using more color blocking. Last year, they showed off stripes. But now they have been showing up on layers, logos, armpits, waistbands and pleats on skirts.
Designs: Contrast panels
Contrast panels have been popular in activewear for a while. In the past few weeks, we can see contrast panels hidden in sports bras, crop tops, leggings, etc. These eye-catching designs add dimension to these outfits to create a playful vibe for wearers.
Gymshark: Layers in Sports Bra
Alo Yoga: Layers on Waistbands
ON: Contrast Longline on Top
Lululemon: Layers on Bodysuits
As one of premium athletic clothing manufacturers, it is important to share more of insights in activewear market with our clients. Arabella Clothing will keep updating more new information to help you build a comprehensive landscape for your clothing business.
Looking to Develop Your Own Activewear Line?
At Arabella Clothing, we specialize in high-end activewear manufacturing, from fabric sourcing to sampling and bulk production. Whether you're building a new brand or expanding your collection, our team is ready to support your next launch.
Contact us today to start your sampling:
https://linktr.ee/arabellaclothing.com
info@arabellaclothing.com
Post time: Apr-28-2026