- As a yoga teacher and decades-long practitioner, I've been living in yoga pants — on and off of the mat — since long before COVID-19.
- After years of informal testing, I went on a proper search for the best yoga pants and tried eight of the top choices on the market.
- To cover my bases, I determined not only a best overall yoga pant, but also the best for hot yoga, outdoor yoga, a high-waist fit, and for a non-legging look.
Over the past decade, yoga pants have become a staple in women's wardrobes. And since the pandemic moved many of us to work from home, even more people are wearing these comfy leggings daily — as long as the Zoom camera only needs to be from the waist up. But all yoga pants aren't created equal. And the difference between poorly and expertly-made leggings can determine whether your yoga practice is distracted and fidgety or calm and blissful.
As a yoga teacher and decades-long practitioner, I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of yoga pants with my fair share of ill fits and too-thin see-through fabric. These years of informal testing led me to know exactly what to look for when formally sampling the yoga-pant market. Specifically, the comfort of the fabric and the cut are the two most important factors.
As a yogi watches their breath and tackles challenging physical postures, a nagging fold of fabric that needs to be adjusted (and readjusted) takes them right out of the peaceful moment that they were working so hard to achieve. The best yoga pants are the kind that you don't notice you're wearing.
The ideal fabric, on the other hand, can vary based on what you want your yoga pants for. For example, the ideal hot yoga pants won't be made from the same material as those for a winter outdoor class. With those considerations in mind, we tested some of the most popular and newest pants on the market.
How we tested
To assess how the cut and fabric felt and moved in different situations, I wore each for a diverse range of activities. I sported each pant for three yoga sessions and one non-yoga workout. Each pant was also my attire for one full day of varied activities, from running errands to watching Netflix. Each bottom was washed twice.
The best yoga pants in 2021:
- Best yoga pant overall: Everlane's Perform Legging
- Best pant for outdoor yoga: Alo High-Waist Lounge Legging
- Best pant for hot yoga: adidas x Karlie Kloss Primeblue High-Waist Long Tights
- Best non-legging yoga pant: Sweaty Betty Gary Yoga Pants
- Best high-waisted yoga pant: Alo High-Waist Airlift Legging
SEE ALSO: The best yoga mats you can buy
The best yoga pant overall
Everlane's Perform Legging is comfortable for all-day wear, yoga, and other workouts. Its high quality and relatively low price distinguishes it from comparable pants.
Pros: Comfortable, ethically made, affordable
Cons: Thin material, so these aren't great for outdoor yoga (or wear) in cold weather.
Sizing: XXS — XXL
When most people think of yoga pants, Everlane isn't among the first brands that come to mind. But since discovering this legging, I have been recommending it widely.
As a nod to their focus on ethical production, the bag that housed the leggings announced that it "is made from recycled plastic," and the tag on the pants invited me to visit their website to learn more about the "ethical manufacturing process." I took them up on the offer and the site took me to a factory in Sri Lanka and told their story. Yoga is more than a physical practice. It's also a philosophy and way of life, which has a strong focus on ahimsa, or non-harming. It felt good to know that the pants' production was aligned.
But it wasn't just the backstory that made me fall in love with these pants. They're thin and sleek with few seams and made from recycled nylon and elastane. The light compression from the extra-high waist, reminded me to use my ab muscles, even in simple poses like tadasana (mountain pose). And, most importantly, when I put them on, they felt so good that they made me want to get on my mat and practice yoga. Not all pants can inspire a workout.
During my yoga practice, the leggings checked all the boxes. They were flexible, so easy to move in, and they were comfortable. They lived up to the hype of being made from a "premium performance fabric from a renowned Italian mill."
I also appreciated that these pants have no visible logo. My yoga practice is a time to step away from the material world, and the absence of a small symbol of consumer culture was a nice touch. They're also well below the $100+ yoga pant price point at $58 per pair, leaving more cash to fit in the cute pocket in the waistband.
The best outdoor yoga pant
The Alo High-Waist Lounge Leggingis ideal for outdoor yoga classes in cooler climates, or for indoor low-intensity yoga classes and workouts.
Pros: Warm, soft
Cons: Not great for indoor high-intensity yoga or exercise
Sizing: XXS (00-0) — XL (16-18)
As the pandemic has shuttered studios, many teachers have moved classes to parks and parking lots with socially distanced mats. This has been great for those of us who need to practice with others so can't just Zoom a class. But what do we wear? Thin yoga pants are great for feeling free and agile during practice, but they're not great for winter walks or outdoor classes in cooler weather.
Of all of the pants that I tested, the Alo High-Waist Lounge Legging was the only one that had a level of thickness to provide strong protection from the wind chill of cold days. They're still flexible, though, with Alo's signature four-way stretch.
When I wore these outside, they were perfect, and for lounging indoors or doing light movement, like restorative yoga or stretching, they were also great. But when I wore them indoors for more intense workouts, they were too hot for my comfort.
Overall, these pants with Alo's "velvety" Alosoft fabric are a dream. As the name would suggest, they feel incredibly soft against your skin, and the ribbing at the waist and ankles make them even cozier and more flattering.
The best non-legging yoga pant
The Sweaty Betty Gary Yoga Pants are a great alternative to leggings on days when you don't want to feel constricted.
Pros: Comfortable, great for modesty
Cons: The thin material is not great for outdoor classes or colder climates
Sizing: XXS — XXL
While you may be questioning your decision to ever wear skin tight jeans after months of quarantine, the question about why we wear tight pants is especially relevant in yoga. When I went to India to study with my yoga school, they warned us Americans that our idea of "yoga pants" wouldn't be acceptable attire there. Looser pants were the norm.
But the problem with baggy yoga pants can sometimes be that the fabric flies all around and makes movements clunkier. And in inversions, loose trousers may even succumb to gravity and fall down from your ankles to your hips.
I love Sweaty Betty's Gary Yoga Pant because they've thought of all of that. These pants are loose, comfortable, and lightweight, but they also work well for practice. They're tapered at the ankles, so they didn't fall when I was upside down. Plus, the polyester/elastane blend fabric was roomy and stretchy enough that I could move into deep poses carefree. As Sweaty Betty advertises, they're "100% squat proof."
When in-person yoga becomes the norm again, I'll probably mostly wear traditional leggings, but on days when I want to feel less constricted, these would be my go-to pants.
The best pant for hot yoga
The adidas x Karlie Kloss Primeblue High-Waist Long Tights' thin and airy design make them perfect for sweaty sessions.
Pros: Light weight, affordable price, sustainably crafted
Cons: Prominent branding, too thin and airy for cold weather, can't be tumble dried
Sizing: XS — 2XL
Even with most hot yoga studios temporarily closed, many aficionados find ways to get in a heated practice at home by blasting space heaters and shoving blankets underneath doors. For these steamy classes, the right yoga pants can make a big difference. When drenched, certain fabrics' compression and thickness leads to too much weight and cling to be comfortable. The adidas x Karlie Kloss Primeblue High-Waist Long Tights are a great thin option that avoids those pitfalls.
The pants are great for any workout, but especially good for sweaty activities like runs and heated classes. They're made from primeblue, a material partially made of upcycled plastic, which would have otherwise ended up in oceans. They also have elastane.
These pants were comfortable for cardio workouts and unheated yoga as well. But they were less ideal for outside wear, at least in the fall and winter. Each leg has six small holes about half way down, and there's a thinner, ribbed fabric interspersed with the main material. These touches made the leggings ideal when my heart was pumping but less so for running errands on a windy day.
Also, the branding made these pants feel less able to switch from a workout to a dressier engagement. The branding, a small "Aeroready" on the back waist, and 10 inches of "Karlie Kloss" and the Adidas logo down the hip make it clear that these are exercise leggings.
The best high-waisted yoga pant
If you love high-waisted yoga pants, the Alo High-Waist Airlift Legging is a great pick for comfort and style.
Pros: Versatile, comfortable
Cons: Have to be hand washed separately
Sizing: XXS (00-0) — XL (16-18)
When I first tried on the Alo High-Waist Airlift Legging, I felt like I was getting dressed up. The double-knit Airlift fabric's silky sheen and high waist made them feel more sophisticated than the yoga pants I had been wearing every other day.
High waists vary. Some land below my belly button while others nearly reach the bottom of my sports bra. I appreciated that these pants were of the higher variety. Having a higher waist supports my yoga practice because the touch of pressure on my stomach nudges me to engage my core. I'm not sure if it was that engagement, the micro-performance fabric, or both, but the pants did smooth my mid-section. And with the higher high waist, I didn't have to worry about the pants rolling down during forward-folding poses like uttanasana or paschimottanasana.
Another advantage of these pants is that they're thin, but not too thin. The light fabric and its four-way stretch is great for postures that call for deep stretches, like split pose, but they're not so light that they expose what's under them — in other words, no visible underwear lines. The front smoothing panel is great for that protection or, as Alo says, "commando comfort."
What else we considered:
- Lululemon Groove Pant Flare Super HR ($98, sizes 0-14): As expected from Lululemon, these pant's Nulu™ fabric is light and soft. They're great for all day wear, and the high waist adds to their comfort. They weren't a top choice, though, because their flare cut makes them less ideal for a fast-paced yoga practice. In inversions and seated forward folds, the excess fabric was a bit distracting.
- Outdoor Voices Springs 7/8 Legging ($78, sizes XXS to XXXL): These were the only yoga pants that I got compliments on. Outdoor Voices' signature color block design helps these leggings to stand out from competitors and is a creative way to have their pants be immediately recognizable as Outdoor Voices without needing a logo. I was comfortable in these leggings working out, running errands, and practicing yoga, and I also loved how they looked. But they didn't make the top list, because I found the textured polyester and spandex fabric less comfortable than that of the other pants.
- Beyond Yoga Heather Rib Jogger ($110, sizes XS to XL): These are another great option for a non-legging yoga pant. They're very comfortable, and when I put them on I didn't want to take them off for days. That said, they didn't make the top choices, because they're more fitted than I would like when I'm looking for a non-legging pant. A large part of the appeal of the non-legging pant to me is to not have a form-fitting shape, and these felt a little too close to leggings for me.