Urban techwear, or techwear for short, is one of the most notable trends. Most of your favourite celebs are rocking this aesthetic on their Instagram and Tiktok to taste its cool edginess.
Techwear is inspired by many interesting things, including technology, mountaineering, and the military. These varied inspiration sources have given rise to sub-genres in the techwear styles, including war core, cyberpunk, and urban ninja, all of which appeal to cool kids across all genders. Additionally, the ability of tech to feature in the fashion world has given rise to these futuristic creations discussed here.
What Is Techwear?
Techwear is a fashion genre that includes garments made with special fabrics and advanced technologies that go beyond traditional expectations and promote maximum mobility. Garments in this genre typically include trench coats, techwear jackets, hoods, sneakers, pants, and t-shirts.
The techwear aesthetic items are inspired by futuristic art, such as cyberpunk (as in Ghost in the Shell). They also tend to have darker hues, mostly grey, black, or dark green. The war core subgenre is more camouflage or striking black. These fabrics, already having a lot of bold features, have little branding. Instead, their designers prefer sleek, streamlined looks that offer function and minimalism.
Where Did Techwear Come From?
Hard to believe, techwear has its beginnings in the 70s. Techwear back then was designed exclusively for extreme sports athletes to provide maximum functionality and mobility while braving the harsh elements.
Later, techniques and creativity in making techwear clothing kept evolving. For instance, the need to 'wax' a fabric during the making of swimsuits brought forth the concept of waterproof garments, a prominent feature in techwear. Today, there are plenty of waterproof boots and sneakers. Extreme sports athletes also choose lighter, more breathable jackets, while normal athletics runners choose breathable t-shirts.
The Techwear Aesthetic
This aesthetic prioritizes functionality, ensuring that its fans wear durable, high-quality material garments from head to toe. In addition, these garments aim for minimalism without looking drab by using sleek, seamless designs that allow for maximum utility.
The techwear fashion aesthetic is inspired by urban style features and fabrics, making it famous among the younger generations. Since it also features more neutral colours, the pallet is easy to accessorize and put together in less than two minutes. One brand you might know about techwear is Gore-Tex, which makes super durable, breathable, and waterproof pieces.
Techwear pieces tend to be costly. Garments tend to be costlier when the fabrics used to make them are high quality and possess all the highlighted features. However, some popular brands have developed technologies to make cost-effective techwear pieces that are still durable, breathable, and waterproof. You can reduce the cost impact by investing in a few catchy pieces to accessorize your daily outfits.
Most people who don full techwear look mysterious, often sporting faux masks, hoodies, scarves, cargo pants, and sneakers. To tone things down, you can complement your usual gothic outfits with one techwear piece or throw on a techwear hardshell over your work outfit on a colder day.
Techwear Subgenres
Techwear is probably too versatile for anyone to place all it has to offer into one bracket, so here are a few subgenres or fashion trends within it that you may find appealing:
Casual Techwear
This subgenre has also been dubbed 'performance menswear.' This simpler but still edgy category is the most popular. Since the outfits in this style are not too extreme, you can wear them daily, even to work. Some pieces in this category may include casual pure softshells, chinos made with water-repellent fabric, or an ultra-formal blazer made with waterproof material. In addition, this style is more discreet, with fashionistas opting to choose one techwear accessory on their outfit.
Urban Techwear
This subcategory is a little more daring and is suited for dressers looking to let out their inner urban ninja. The garments' designs are bolder in aesthetics and technology and look futuristic.
Some items in urban techwear can also be minimalist, only sporting a few bold detailing and done in neutral hues like black, olive, jungle green, grey, midnight blue, or white. On the other hand, they can be super eccentric, with features such as asymmetry. Pieces in this category include joggers, faux masks, kimonos, hoodies, sneakers, and technical t-shirts.
Cyberpunk Techwear
The cyberpunk subgenre screams futuristic in all its designs. Its pieces allow you to enjoy living in your favourite videogame, anime movie, or cybernetics show. The accessories include faux masks with embedded LEDs, coloured lenses, and neon fabrics.
Black Tech
Also called war core, 'black ops inspire the name black tech.' You can thus expect bolder, more intense pieces inspired by outdoor activity and military gear. The most popular example of war core would be cargo pants. Highly adapted for functionality and freedom of movement, cargo pants, with many pockets, are undoubtedly the most famous black tech piece.
Outdoor Techwear
This subgenre is more like sportswear and comprises all the features required to make extreme sports, sailing, running, hiking, and mountaineering possible and comfortable. Plenty of brands offer high-quality jumpers, t-shirts, pants, and sneakers in this category at a cost-effective price. They have also ensured that these pieces suit the outdoors and daily activities such as school or work.
Conclusion
Thanks to techwear, you now have garments that are both super fashionable and cool but also functional. Today's fashionista has a lot to do during the day, meaning that pointless flamboyance with little utility has no place. If you are looking for flexible, comfortable, trendy techwear pieces, please visit Clotech Now to shop. They have a wide range of amazing pieces at affordable costs to start you off on the right footing.