Thank you to adidas for sponsoring today’s post on tights vs leggings! As always, all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
Tights, leggings, yoga pants…I think there are more styles of pants these days than there ever has been!
I pretty much live in a combination of leggings and tights, but I’ll be the first to admit that it’s tricky to distinguish the difference between all of the different styles of athleisure wear.
Which is the best for working out, versus which is the best for lounging at home?
What materials do these different styles of pants usually come in?
These are all questions we’re going to cover in today’s post on tights vs leggings.
Keep reading to find out more about the difference between tights vs leggings (and even yoga pants vs leggings), so you can choose the absolute best style of athletic wear for you and your lifestyle.
Tights vs Leggings: The Difference Between Tights and Leggings
Though they’re similar in appearance and the words are oftentimes used interchangeably, leggings and tights aren’t necessarily one in the same.
Being an adidas ambassador though, I’m lucky to have the opportunity to test out all kinds of different performance clothing.
The grey adidas tights I’m wearing in this post, for example, are specifically designed for training.
It’s the Aeroknit technology in these tights that help to absorb water and wick away sweat, making them the perfect pants for both high intensity and outdoor workouts.
The below leopard print adidas leggings though are actually designed for post-training comfort.
The stretchy, cotton jersey fabric makes these leggings ideal for cozying up in after a workout, but the fun print still makes them pants I could dress up a bit if I wanted a casual (and more importantly comfy) going out look.
While the terms can get confusing, most of the tights I own are made for training (though you can still find loungewear tights, too).
Tights generally are more compressive than leggings though, since they’re designed to keep your muscles tight.
While you can certainly wear leggings for workouts, too, they’re more of a versatile pant that can take you from the gym, to running errands, to lounging at home watching Netflix.
Most of the tights I own however, are my choice of attire for workouts since they’re really designed for high performance activities.
Related: Staying Motivated With adidas
Yoga Pants vs Leggings: The Difference Between Leggings and Yoga Pants
Because the materials can sometimes feel similar, you may also wondering about the difference between leggings and yoga pants as well.
The biggest difference between yoga pants and leggings is that yoga pants are specifically designed for working out, but not all leggings are made for this purpose.
For example, some leggings brands are considered “fashion leggings”.
The material may be thinner, and these pants may be designed to be worn under a tunic or a skirt.
Other pairs of leggings are still thick like yoga pants, but they’re designed for relaxing and not necessarily for working out.
Overall, the best thing you can do if you’re confused about the design of a specific pair of leggings/tights/yoga pants though is to just read the description and learn more about the technology that the pants use.
I like shopping at adidas for my leggings and tights the best, because they always have great descriptions of their products and what type of activities they’re intended for.
The Best Workout Tights
Tights are my favorite pants to workout in!
Here are a few of my favorite options:
The Best Running Leggings
Though tights are usually my preferred workout pants, there are also some really great running leggings out there, too.
Check out these best running leggings for some of my favorite options:
The Best Loungewear Leggings
Last but not least is of course loungewear leggings (my personal favorite category of pants).
Check out some of these comfy options below:
What’s your opinion on the leggings vs tights debate? Do you think there is a difference?
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