These Crazy-Soft Leggings Changed My Mind About Expensive Activewear

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Spending a lot of money on activewear has always been hard for me — partially because of the inevitable guilt I know I’ll feel when I don’t actually work out, but mostly because I don’t want (or need) reflective mesh stripes on my leggings that call attention to me barely moving on the elliptical while I watch Grey’s Anatomy on my phone.

And because I’ve always been a strong proponent of old high school T-shirts as the best gym clothes, you can only imagine how weak I felt when I fell for a pair of $97 Beyond Yoga leggings that hit my desk as a gift from a publicist. I was excited to get them, sure, but I didn’t think they’d convert me enough to have me running out and spending my own money on a pair. (Spoiler, I did! Twice!)

Hear me out: They feel like literal clouds. The exact style, the Take Me Higher Long Legging, has a really high waist that actually stays up, so I’m not constantly pulling at them (which was the downfall of all of my other, cheaper leggings, on top of them being ridiculously see-through). They give a really generous stretch but retain their shape and color after every wash, and they make my stomach look a lot stronger and more toned than it actually is.

I wear them when I get home from work, to the gym (obviously), and on bodega runs. They feel like a second skin and are surprisingly so warm. I picked up my first pair on my own dime in the spring — which, for the record, stung a bit — and another just last week. There are a lot of color options, okay?!

It’s hard to explain why I stan so hard for these leggings without sounding like an Instagram ad, but I promise they’re worth giving up a few Seamless meals for, even if you’re just going to lay around the house in them like me.

Racked occasionally accepts products for research and reviewing purposes. For more information, see our ethics policy here.