We’ll see more of pajamas in 2016

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016. This is the time for predictions and resolutions. One prediction from the fashion world is that we’ll be seeing more pajamas in 2016. Many retailers have reported a surge in loungewear sales over the Christmas period and this seems sure to continue with fashion sites reporting on how to get away with wearing pajamas in 2016 to the office or perhaps as evening wear. If you’re assuming “loungewear” is fashion speak for “slob-out gear,” nothing could be further from the truth. Soozie Jenkinson, head of lingerie design at UK retailer Marks and Spencer, defines the concept as “super-soft fabrics layered in contemporary yet easy silhouettes.” Marketing specialist Elijah Clark Ginsberg told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year, “You feel more put together (in pajamas) than when you’re hopping out of bed in gym shorts and a tank top.” Bruce Pask, the men’s fashion director for Bergdork Goodman in New York agrees, “Pajamas heighten that demarcation between work and personal time. I think that’s a good way of easing into that transition.” Sales prove that the demand for high-quality, stylish loungewear has grown. Sacha Rose, of designer sleepwear label Derek Rose, told The Financial Times earlier, “The younger generation want to be comfy to enjoy downtime and are drawn to a more relaxed look.” The relaxed trend for pajamas in 2016 will continue into more everyday life situations. At one end of the spectrum, it’s less of a surprise now to see moms in pajamas on the school run. At the other end, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has taken loungewear into the boardroom with his hoodie look.

Simply Be, which sells plus-sized womenswear, said sales of their pajamas were up 63 per cent in 2015. Their spokesperson Laura Costin explained: “Famous faces including Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Cara Delevingne, regularly share selfies of themselves wearing pajama-style clothing.” Some say this may also partly be explained by the rise in people working from home where they can choose pajamas to wear all day long. According to Global Workplace Analytics regular work-at-home, among the non-self-employed population, has grown by 103% since 2005 and 6.5% in 2014. This represents the largest year over year increase since before the recession. 3.7 million employees (2.5% of the workforce) now work from home at least half the time.

And what about resolutions? Google compiled a list of popular aspirational searches that trended last year. They analysed the 10 “how-to” questions that trended the most in U.S. searches conducted in the week before and the week after New Year’s Day 2015. You are expecting it to be about giving up smoking and drinking right? Well the top five were:

how to get rid of stress
how to make kale chips
how much water should I drink to lose weight
how to write a resignation letter
how to cook lentils

Katy Perry, who is a big adult onesie fan and has designed her own range in the past, said of resolutions “Next year I just want to let go a little bit more and – how can I say this as elegantly as possible – give less f***s about outside commentary. I want to experiment with being creative and artistic.” She also wants to design more loungewear so look out for her pajamas in 2016.