International Sweatpants Day Date in the current year: January 21, 2024

Sweatpants are soft trousers originally intended for athletic or comfort purposes. Outside of the United States, they are known as tracksuit bottoms (the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), joggers, trackpants, tracky dacks or trackies (Australia and New Zealand), and jogging pants (the Philippines).

The person credited with introducing sweatpants is Émile Camuset, the founder of Le Coq Sportif. He wanted to create pants that would allow athletes to run and stretch comfortably. In the decades that followed, sweatpants became extremely popular among both professional and amateur athletes. In the last quarter of the 20th century, sweatpants also gained popularity as loungewear and even streetwear due to the emergence of fitness culture and rising popularity of hip hop.

Typical sweatpants are pull-on style pants made from stretchy knitted jersey fabric. Originally gray, they are now available in a variety of colors and patterns, although gray sweatpants still are one of the popular types of sweatpants. Sweatpants usually have an elastic waistband with a drawstring; they may or may not have elastic cuffs at the ankles, pockets, and a fly.

Like we’ve already mentioned above, sweatpants were originally intended to be worn by athletes at sporting events. However, they eventually became a popular type of loungewear due to their comfort. Moreover, some fashion brands produce styles of sweatpants that can be worn in public. Such sweatpants are called fashion pants; they can be made from materials like satin or velvet and usually lack elastic cuffs at the ankles. Fashion pants are classified as a type of athleisure wear.

It is unclear who created International Sweatpants Day, but a number of sources claim that the holiday was founded in 2009 and celebrated for the first time on January 21, 2010. Since its inception, thousands of people around the globe have participated by wearing their favorite sweatpants, taking photos, and posting them on social media with the hashtag #InternationalSweatpantsDay.

Of course, the best way to celebrate International Sweatpants Day is to put on your favorite pair of sweatpants and do something relaxing, be it reading a book or watching Netflix on the couch, doing yoga, baking a batch of cookies, walking your dog, or going for a run. If you own a pair of fancy sweatpants, you can wear them to work (of course, if your office dress code is relaxed enough and allows athletic wear).

Other ways to celebrate International Sweatpants Day include shopping for new sweatpants (because you cannot own too many sweatpants), throwing an athletic wear party for your friends where you all wear comfortable clothes and do fun and silly things, and spreading the word about the holiday on social media to encourage anyone who sees your post to lounge in their favorite sweatpants.