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"  Is it a sign of age or waist size when the section you visit most frequently on mrporter.com is \u201CSweats\u201D? Until recently, sweatpants and sweatshirts were absent in my life; they were something people wore to watch the football or marry Katie Price. There was\u00A0no room for them in my wardrobe. In fact, I can remember telling the Mr\u00A0P\u00A0merchandising team pre-launch that I thought a \u201CSweats\u201D category was\u00A0far too American or chavvy for the\u00A0website. How wrong I was.  In the past year or two, I\u2019ve spent an excessive amount of time admiring the stitching on a Todd Snyder loopback cotton-jersey sweatshirt in washed indigo, or wondering if I can justify the price of a pair of Alexander Wang jersey sweatpants or a Haider Ackermann double-layered hoodie (the former, yes; for the latter, the jury\u2019s still out).  So why has the whole sweats genre become so popular? I\u2019m aware, of course, it\u2019s been a big-selling mass category for yonks, but today it has been embraced by almost every designer \u2013 including luxury brands such as Bottega Veneta and Loro Piana\u00A0\u2013 and is worn by people, and to\u00A0places, that previously shunned it.  Fashion commentators will point out that sportswear has been particularly influencing the menswear collections for a few seasons (it has); that sportswear has pervaded our off-duty wardrobes for decades (also true); and that as we become a more gym-oriented population, we want clothes to take us from treadmill to tea\u00A0table without a change.  But I think it must be more than that. After all, it is quite a sea-change to decide that on a Saturday morning you will forego putting on a pair of your best Blue Blue Japan jeans (the dye of which turned your legs blue blue), a\u00A0Band of Outsiders button-down plaid\u00A0shirt and a pair of scuffed O\u2019Keeffe wingtips and instead opt for an instant, no-brainer ensemble of sweatpants, sweatshirt and sneakers. And it seems we\u2019re all doing it.  These are my three theories:  One: I think it\u2019s the no-brainer part that has a lot of appeal. Today, we all work extremely hard to keep up with the demands of work; we try extremely hard to keep up with the demands of how everyone expects us\u00A0to look (at work and play); and our working hours are some of the longest in Europe. This means that not only is\u00A0our leisure time shorter than it has been for years, but we\u2019re actually too knackered or brain-dead to make the most of it. Thus, the idea of getting up and dressed on a Saturday morning before the coffee has brewed is much less taxing if all the clothes you slip on kind of match, don\u2019t have complicated fastenings and will likely fit despite however many beers or curries you gobbled down the night before. We\u00A0now\u00A0do ready-made convenience dressing that compliments our ready-made convenience foods.  Two: Away from the office, there is less onus on us to get dressed to go out. Ironically, because of the internet, a lot of our social lives are spent alone. You don\u2019t need to get dressed to go to\u00A0the supermarket or the record shop (food from Ocado, music from iTunes). Want to catch up with your friends? No\u00A0need for a trip to Starbucks to say hi, just click the \u201CLike\u201D button on their most recent Instagram post. Fancy a\u00A0date, or a shag over the weekend? Forget bars or clubs, just swipe through a few mugshots on Tinder. All this is done from the comfort of your sofa, in the comfort of your sweats.  Three: This is possibly the most controversial of my theories and, although you may publically argue otherwise, privately you will know I\u2019m right. What do most of you do when you\u2019re at home, lying on the sofa watching telly? Whether you realise it\u00A0or not, you\u2019re putting one hand down\u00A0inside your pants and fiddling with your willy. I\u2019m not sure why: maybe\u00A0because it\u2019s warm down there, maybe it\u2019s because you like to make sure your willy is still there, or maybe it\u2019s some sort of pet substitute.  A bunch of longtime married friends\u00A0came around for supper the other night,\u00A0and this subject came up. The women were all resigned to the fact\u00A0that their husbands, without a second thought, would happily spend their evenings on the sofa with a hand down\u00A0their pants having a friendly fiddle. Some were so absent-minded about this habit that they would inadvertently\u00A0do it even when they had guests. Beware hosts handing out crisps is my advice.  Right. It\u2019s time I finished. It\u2019s tiring typing with one hand. But at least my other one is all warm and cosy.  *** MORE JEREMY LANGMEAD:How To Pull Off ScarvesWhat to Wear to A Gay Wedding (If It&amp;#039;s Yours)How To Wear A White Suit*** "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.co.uk/style/fashion/news/a7172/jeremy-langmead-luxury-sportswear/>