Sexy lingerie is being replaced by comfortable 'leisuree'
The trend toward more comfortable underwear - like the non-padded, wireless bralette - is now being called "leisurée," according to the wellness blog Well + Good. Leisurée is the lingerie equivalent of activewear, Well + Good writes. In other words, it's underwear that's comfortable to hang out in.
The term, according to Well + Good, was coined by Michelle Cordeiro Grant, who founded Lively, a comfortable underwear company.
"Today's woman is busy and running around and there's no expectation to wear a push-up bra or show off your chest," Grant told Well + Good.
Brands that sell this kind of apparel are taking off.
Aerie, American Eagle's brand that sells comfortable lingerie, has seen quarter after quarter of skyrocketing sales. Most recently, comparable sales soared 24% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. In tandem with comfortable lingerie, Aerie sells a body positive message with its Photoshop-free advertising campaigns.
Victoria's Secret has been riding this trend with bralettes and sports bras, though its teen brand Pink arguably sells leisurée more than its older counterpart does.
One factor feeding the rise in leisurée is that the entire notion of what's sexy has changed. Victoria's Secret, for instance, historically made lingerie for men to buy for their wives. Much of their advertising is therefore overtly sexy.
The new sexy narrative is something that's owned by women - and that stems from the body positivity movement, which celebrates being sexy as one is.
"There's this sense that the body-love influencers are really getting their own and doing it for each other and themselves, and [that] it's about ... making themselves feel more confident versus what Victoria's Secret tends to do, which makes it feel like it's for men," Kristy Sammis, founder, chief operating officer, and chief creative officer of influencer marketing agency Clever Girls, told Business Insider earlier this summer.