Your Leggings Are Made of Plastic

Here's a sentence I'd like you to sit with: most workout clothes are made of the same material as a water bottle.

Polyester, nylon, “performance fabric,” and “moisture wicking technology.” Strip away the marketing, and you're looking at petroleum derived plastic spun into thread. That sleek legging drawer? Mostly plastic. The “buttery soft” fabric everyone raves about? Plastic, with excellent PR.

I'm not saying this to make anyone feel bad. My drawer looked exactly the same for years, and to be frank, it is still a work in progress, especially after years of wearing leggings as a staple of any trainer's wardrobe. But I'm saying it because once you see it, three problems come into focus. And because the alternatives have gotten so good that this might be the easiest closet swap you'll ever make.

Problem One: The Wash

Every time synthetic fabric goes through the laundry, it sheds microplastic fibers. Thousands upon thousands of them per wash, too small for treatment plants to fully catch. They flow into rivers and oceans, into fish, into the water cycle, and, as researchers keep finding, back into us. Microplastics have now been detected in human blood, lungs, and placentas. Textiles are one of the largest sources of the microplastics in the ocean, and the rise of athleisure means we're washing more synthetics, more often, than any generation before us.

The cruel twist: activewear gets washed constantly. It's the hardest-working, most laundered category in your closet, which makes it the heaviest shedder.

Problem Two: What's Touching Your Skin

This is where the nurse in me leans in, because the trainer in me practically lives in this fabric. As an exercise physiologist, I spend more hours in activewear than any other clothing I own, and so do my clients. Your skin is your largest organ. During a workout it's warm, flushed, and pores open, often with damp fabric pressed against it for an hour or more. That's a fairly intimate relationship to have with a material, so it's worth asking what's in it.

Beyond the plastic itself, performance fabrics are frequently treated with chemical finishes, and independent testing has found PFAS, the “forever chemicals” from my nonstick pan article, in some big-brand leggings and sports bras. Testing has also turned up BPA in sports bras and leggings from major athleisure brands, in some cases at many times the recommended safe exposure levels.

So what does living and sweating in these materials potentially do to us over time? Here's what the research is pointing toward and why I'd rather not wait for the final verdict:

The honest caveat, because you deserve it: much of this research measures overall exposure, not leggings specifically, and dose matters. The science on skin absorption is still evolving, and I won't overstate it. But my position is simple: for something pressed against my sweating skin nearly every day, I'd rather not be part of the experiment.

Problem Three: The Churn

Fast fashion activewear is built for the trend cycle, not for years of squats. It pills, bags out, loses its stretch, and off to the landfill it goes, where synthetic fabric does its forever chemical, five-hundred-year thing. Cheap leggings aren't cheap. They're just billed in installments, to you and to the planet.

What I Sweat in Instead

Here's the good news: this category has quietly been solved. Three brands in The Sustainable Edit cover the whole spectrum, and each earns its place differently.

For real workouts: Tripulse. This is the one that amazed me, because performance is where everyone assumes you need plastic. Tripulse builds activewear from Tencel, a silky botanical fiber made from sustainably grown wood, and their pieces are explicitly free from PFAS, BPA, toxins, and microplastic shedding. The Original Tencel Leggings 2.0 are squat- and fully opaque-proof, with a waistband that stays put without digging and hidden pockets. The Pro Shorts and the featherlight AER Tanks are naturally cooling and my preferred summertime uniform. Tencel breathes in a way plastic never will, which means less of that overheated, clammy feeling and less post-workout smell. Odor clings to synthetics; it washes out of botanical fibers.

For tested, affordable basics: Definite Articles. If the swap feels financially daunting, start here. This is proof that clean doesn't have to mean precious. Every piece is independently tested free from PFAS and BPA, and the prices undercut the big athleisure brands: the Ayre Racerback Tank is $39, the Riverline Strappy Bra is $54, and the Trimline Capri Legging, high rise and core supporting with actual pockets, is $78. Those are prices I can get behind.

For low-impact days and everything after: MATE The Label. GOTS-certified organic cotton, made for the yoga, walk, errands, and couch continuum of real life. The Stretch Scoop Bra ($58) and Contrast Unitard ($108) are 92% organic cotton with just enough stretch, soft in a way plastic fabric imitates but never quite achieves. And the Organic Linen Oversized Button Down ($158) is the perfect throw-over layer, breathable French linen that only gets better with age. Linen can often feel stiff and uncomfortable, but MATE's version makes you feel like you're living your best life at the beach, even when you're trapped in a landlocked state dreaming of your next waterfront vacation.

Ever since I transitioned to at-home workouts during the pandemic, as most of us did in order to not go too crazy, my love of the One-Piece arrived. I've purchased and researched multiples over the years, long and short, which brings me to the point of MATE's Contrast Unitard: it truly takes the cake. It doesn't ride up when I move, it stays in place no matter what shape I contort my body into, and it keeps me cool even when I start sweating like a pig in a blanket. On days when I need to be in a public workout setting, teaching strength classes at Studio Shira in Boulder or personal training my wise elder friends, I reach for my Tripulse tanks and biker shorts. The material feels like butter, and knowing it's good for my body and the Earth would be enough to keep me coming back, but the reality is that it simply outperforms most brands. Mostly, I'm grateful I discovered these pieces, because I think we'll all live a little longer and a little better with the help of our friends.

Editorial independence means precision, so here it is: truly stretchy clothing still requires a small percentage of elastane. MATE's stretch pieces are 8% spandex, and they say so plainly. I'll take a transparent 8% over a fabric that's 90% plastic pretending otherwise. This is about dramatically shrinking the synthetic load against your skin and in your wash. Progress, honestly labeled, over purity theater.

An honest note on stretch

Start where you are

You don't need to purge your drawer this weekend. The most sustainable legging is often the one you already own, worn until it's done. But when a piece wears out, replace it with one of these. In the meantime, wash your synthetics less often, cold and inside out; a microfiber catching laundry bag helps too. Swap as things retire, and within a year or two the hardest-working drawer in your closet is mostly plants.

Your skin spends more time with your clothes than with anything else on earth. They should be on your side.

Every product in The Sustainable Edit is vetted against The Standard — clean materials, honest manufacturing, durability, and editorial independence. I only recommend what I'd put in my own home. Some links are affiliate links, which support the Journal at no cost to you.