The Best Australian Activewear Brands to Know Right Now
From technical performance gear to loungewear built for the cafe (or the couch) — Australian activewear has never had more range.
Why do Aussies do athleisure so well? I mean, it's kind of obvious: our famously laidback charm tends to translate to how we dress, we love the great outdoors, and we spend more time than most at our local café. Local activewear brands now run the gamut from high-performance, sport-specific styles to loungewear that's as feasible on your yoga mat as it is at the office. Think technical, fashion-forward, comfy and sustainable — we're spoilt for choice. Here are the best Australian activewear brands to have on your radar now.
Want to get a little less active in style? Here are the best places to buy sheets and bedding in Australia.
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Other Normal
Other Normal keeps things pared back — no logos, no fuss, just a tight edit of signature pants, capris and knit layers in a muted, monochrome palette. It reads less like activewear and more like a uniform for the in-between hours, at home on a Pilates mat or a work-from-home day. Pieces sit in the $79 to $149 range, part of a run of newer labels treating loungewear as its own considered category.
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CSB
Personal trainer Rachel Dillon started Crop Shop Boutique — now known simply as CSB — with just two crop-top styles before the label's Invisible Scrunch legging turned it into one of the fastest-growing names in the category, posting 113 percent growth in the year to July 2025. Creative partner Isabelle Mathers co-designs capsule drops, and CSB opened its first US pop-up on Melrose Avenue the same year.
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Nimble Activewear
Bondi natives Vera Yan and Katia Santilli started Nimble as a side hustle before opening their first store in 2016, building the label around a "second skin" fit and CompressLuxe Eco fabric spun from recycled plastic bottles. A decade in, it's grown at roughly 50 percent a year and is stocked at David Jones — proof a good compression legging never really goes out of demand.
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Pinky and Kamal
Melbourne designer Nat Carusi started Pinky and Kamal — named for two friends' nicknames — after growing tired of shiny lycra that didn't suit her own yoga practice. The label works almost entirely in GOTS-certified organic cotton, bamboo and hemp, dyed with OEKO-TEX-certified pigments and made in Bali. It's less about performance numbers and more about pieces that feel as good off the mat as on it.
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Maap
Melbourne cycling label Maap was started in 2014 by Jarrad Smith and former Stussy design director Oliver Cousins, growing from a garage operation with 14 pieces into Australia's biggest cycling apparel company. Its AARTERO Flyte fabric is developed with an Italian mill working toward fully recycled yarns, and in 2025 Maap became official technical supplier to WorldTour team Jayco-AlUla — about as serious as activewear credentials get.
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Nagnata
Sisters Laura May and Hannah Gibbs build Nagnata's pieces from merino wool and organic cotton using a fully-fashioned knitting process designed to leave no yarn wasted — work recognised by the Woolmark Prize for its zero-waste approach. Based between Byron Bay and Paddington, the label calls its output "movement knitwear" rather than activewear, and it's landed on Net-a-Porter, Ssense and Bergdorf Goodman shelves as proof the category can go genuinely luxury.
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PE Nation
Founded by PE Nation's Pip Edwards and Claire Tregoning, both alumni of Sass & Bide, the label set out to reject "flower-print yoga pants" in favour of something with more edge. About 90 percent of its Active fabrics are recycled or regenerated — polyester, nylon, organic cotton, hemp — sourced through Italian mill Carvico. Edwards picked up the National Designer Award in 2018, and the label now sits in more than 250 stockists worldwide, from Net-a-Porter to Nordstrom, without losing its Sydney streetwear DNA.
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Aje Athletica
Aje's activewear arm grew out of the fashion label founded by childhood friends Adrian Norris and Edwina Forest, launching as a standalone capsule in 2021. About 70 percent of its fabrics are "conscious" — recycled polyester and nylon, organic cotton — worked into pieces that look as at home post-Pilates as they do at brunch. Mainline Aje has dressed Kate Moss and Beyoncé; Athletica brings that same fashion pedigree down onto the mat.
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The Upside
Former model and Tigerlily founder Jodhi Meares started The Upside from a Surry Hills studio, applying the same instinct that built a swimwear label to leggings and hoodies. Signature fabrics like Matte Tech and Form Seamless bridge fashion and function, and the label has landed on the racks at Net-a-Porter, Harrods and Selfridges alongside David Jones at home — proof Sydney-designed activewear travels.
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Muki
Brisbane label Muki skips lycra blends altogether in favour of what it calls "buttery soft, air-brushed" fabrics, with its seamless Sculpt range machine-knitted to cut down on both seams and wastage. It's a newer name in the category — only launched in 2020 — but the fit-first approach has built a loyal following among those after something gentler on the skin than the usual compression gear.
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Upstate Sport
Upstate Sport grew directly out of Upstate Studios, the reformer Pilates studio it sits beneath on Chapel Street — its Air Sculpt and Contour+ fabrics were developed with actual class-goers in mind rather than a marketing brief. Expect high-energy colour and matching sets built to move between a reformer session and the rest of the day, now stocked at THE ICONIC and rebel alongside its own Melbourne store.
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Stax
Perth-founded Stax started life as a supplements business before Don Robertson and his wife Matilda pivoted it into apparel built around NANDEX, a compressive, sculpting fabric that became the label's calling card. Stax was also the first Australian activewear brand to offer sizing from XXS to 4XL, and its leggings have shown up on Jennifer Lopez, Lizzo and Hailey Bieber. Worth noting: the brand entered receivership in June 2026, so check current stock and store status before you shop.
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SWT Active
Gold Coast label SWT — pronounced "sweat" — has built a big following on the strength of its FLX fabric, all wide-leg bottoms, bike shorts and bustier tanks designed for a gym-to-street transition. It's a newer, social-first name in the category, with a following that's grown largely through TikTok and Instagram rather than traditional press — worth watching if you like your activewear a little louder.
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Elite Eleven
Best friends Benn Martiniello and Lisandro Paz started Elite Eleven out of a Melbourne bedroom in 2014, packing their own orders before landing wholesale deals with soccer clubs the following year. The label has since grown into 11 stores across the country and collections spanning Airweave, Omni Fleece and Elite Seamless — a reminder that some of the best activewear still starts with two mates and a spreadsheet.
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Echt
Jeremy Lay built Echt — German for "authentic" — out of a single Melbourne bedroom in 2014, and the label now ships to more than 50 countries. Its scrunch-bum leggings and shorts, built from proprietary Arise and Rise fabric ranges, became such a lockdown staple that production hit 400,000 pieces a month at its 2021 peak — a fair sign the gym-wear crowd found what it was looking for.
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Ryderwear
Adelaide bodybuilder David Lukic started Ryderwear with his wife Natalie in 2009 after he couldn't find gym wear built for a lifter's frame, growing the label from two staff to around 300 within six years. The fabrics are engineered to mould to a muscular physique — scrunch-bum leggings, compression fits — and the brand counts Mr Olympia champion Big Ramy among its athletes.
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LSKD
LSKD traces back to Loose Kid Industries, a Logan-founded label started by carpenter and BMX rider Jason Daniel in 2002, rebranded into its current name in 2018. Its Loganholme, Queensland HQ now backs a "Project Earth" sustainability push, including a 10-year deal with biotech Samsara Eco to shift key lines to recycled nylon by 2028 — and an exclusive apparel partnership with Life Time's 5,000-plus US trainers.
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REC GEN
Sydney label REC GEN is the work of Luke Scott, who spent years as head designer at Zanerobe before spinning a functional sport-lifestyle offshoot into its own brand. Expect proprietary fabrics like OXY-GEN and ULTRA-WICK built for genuine performance rather than just the look of it, backed by a RECycle sustainability program and its own bricks-and-mortar shop at Manly's The Bower.
Top image: Pinky & Kamal | Supplied
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