Problem

The majority of athletic leggings offerings are black or in solid colors. Companies like Constantly Varied Gear and Zany Leggings offer dinosaur, skeleton head, and animal print patterned leggings but few brands offer floral designs. Occasionally, I find a floral-themed legging and I buy two pairs knowing it will be a while before I find another. 

Floral-themed leggings seem to be a gap in the activewear market. Is this a problem worth solving? For me, yes. So I will do it. But for perspective, let’s look at the market to see if it’s a problem worth solving for others. 

According to Straits Research, the TAM for activewear was valued at $317.38 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $509.50 billion by 2031. If a company captured 1% of the 2022 market it would result in $3.17 billion in revenue. For comparison, Lululemon, a famous activewear brand, announced net revenue for 2022 of $8.1B with a gross margin of around 55%.

Sportswear and activewear have such a large Total Addressable Market (TAM) that even a tiny bite of the market is big money. Whether floral designs would sell in the activewear or sportwear market and what type of floral designs would sell are separate questions that need investigation. For now, I’ll focus on fixing the lack of floral patterned leggings for a market of one. 

Solution

To address the lack of floral-themed leggings, at least for myself, I decided to:

• Design my own textile pattern
• List my pattern on Spoonflower, a print-on-demand textile company
• Order the design printed on Sport Lycra®, a wicking performance fabric
• Sew my own leggings from this fabric

Results

DIY Floral Textile

I designed my first textile pattern in horizontal and vertical versions. 

The next steps for improvement are to increase the complexity and layers of a design while maintaining simplicity. 

DIY Leggings

I sewed my own leggings made from my own textile design! 

The next steps for improvement are to adjust the fit and to alter the gusset design to improve design lines.  And figure out how to take a better picture with better color balance!

Bonus Results

More Than Sport Lycra®

I am able to offer this design on 23 other fabrics:

Belgian Linen, Celosia Velvet, Chiffon, Cotton Lawn, Cotton Poplin, Cotton Spandex Jersey, Cypress Cotton Canvas, Dogwood Denim, Lightweight Cotton Twill, Linen Cotton Canvas, Minky, Modern Jersey, Organic Cotton Knit, Organic Cotton Sateen, Organic Sweet Pea Gauze, Performance Linen, Performance Piqué, Performance Velvet, Petal Signature Cotton, Polartec® Fleece, Poly Crepe de Chine, Recycled Canvas, Satin, and Sport Lycra® sex

The next steps for improvement are to investigate other textile print-on-demand such as Contrado and Little Cocalico. 

More Than Fabric

I offer this design on more than just fabric. Through Spoonflower you can also preview and order this design on many home products including:

4 different types of wallpaper, dining napkins, placemats, and table cloths, tea towels, shower curtains, wall hangings, bedding duvet covers, sheet sets, shams, throw pillows, throw blankets, and curtains.

More than One Design

I designed not just one but six floral textile fabrics in both horizontal and vertical versions!

Here’s a snapshot of my shop:

The next steps for improvement are to design a fall-themed collection of fabrics. I can’t wait!