It’s usually one or the other: either you’re an obsessed, young Lululemon yoga pant wearer, or you cannot for the life of you understand the fashion active wear movement that is plaguing our generation. What happened to the days when an ensemble of cheap shorts and a T-shirt was acceptable gym and workout attire? How have we evolved into the mentality that the gym is just another place to strut around and show off our fashionable (or non-fashionable) expensive taste?

I like to think that I am in the dead center, and therefore as unbiased as possible. At the gym, I sport Target shorts and comfy sorority T-shirts from past events. Acceptable, no? Even looking decent, I am surrounded by college-age females who have made the treadmill their new runway.

I used to marvel at the girls plastered and sucked into head-to-toe designer workout clothing, and wonder how on God’s green earth they could justify spending more than $100 dollars on a pair of yoga pants that are less than an inch thick.

Then it hit me: the designer active wear industry is GENIUS! Where else can a designer use a design that has literally been around for about 30 years (hello,'80s leggings!) and sell them for ridiculous amounts of cash? There is a giant profit to be gained by slapping on a tiny logo halfway down one leg.

Of course, where there is a designer fad, there are the knockoffs waiting close by in the wings to appeal to the realistic masses. And thank goodness for these copycats, or working girls like myself might have to resort to (gasp!) unfashionable gym wear.

Upon a simple Google search, I discovered that Old Navy and Target have similar, complete lines. If I can get some cute, quality yoga leggings from Old Navy for $15, why do Lululemon and the likes still have a clientele?

It appears that it’s not enough to already prove that you can afford “better” clothes than your peers during the day, but it also has to be when you are sweating and trying to be healthy. Now, there are perfectly nice people who do enjoy a good pricy yoga pant every now and then, and the beauty is that it is your right to clothe yourself in any fabric you deem fit. But I challenge those who are Lululemon obsessed to really, really think about their motivations for wearing these clothes: is it for maximum performance or to prove something else?

When Lululemon recently had to recall their most popular selling yoga pant because it was see through, I thought for sure this would show that an expensive price tag does NOT equal high quality. But as the summer progresses, more and more designer yoga short-clad girls are spotted in my university’s gym.

I no longer blame these girls. It is not their fault. They are victims to some genius marketing ploys that continually convince women more money somehow equals better. In reality, I’m greatly impressed with companies like Lululemon for sustaining such a successful business venture without more people calling bullcrap on them.

The discussion of the designer active wear fad will just be another topic we shelve to hopefully one day understand like those of other retail mysteries such as designer baby clothes and designer dog accessories.

What are your thoughts on designer yoga pants? Leave your comments below!