A few months ago I was with my great friend (which I mean both in the sense that she’s a great friend and she’s great) Sandy Hernandez.

We met in London and, as ever, got stuck into retail visits and conversations. Today, the focus was on the athleisure and sportswear cluster that has emerged in and around Regent Street.

A revamped Lululemon, Gymshark, On Running and Alo Yoga were all in touching distance – and fighting for our attention. And we discussed which brands had the more engaging and persuasive propositions.

To cut a long story short, Alo Yoga was bottom of my list.

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Alo felt like a demure Lululemon, and it felt hard to distinguish its offering from so many others. While Gymshark felt like a movement and On grabbed me with bold visuals, Alo faded into a background packed with so many American athleisure brands that feel fine, but unremarkable.

And yet I sit here typing while wearing a pair of Alo shorts that I bought that very day. It’s a brand that totally won me over.

With my trends cap on, they were totally uninteresting. As a shopper, I loved them.

What happened?

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