The Summer Allure of a Little Gym Short

This summer in New York City, the breakout item that all the downtown cool kids are wearing is not some designer shoe or rare vintage bag—but the humble gym short. Yes, really! Just the other day, I spotted several striped Adidas gym shorts over in Dimes Square, some of them paired with dressy button-up shirts or snazzy socks and loafers. The new look of summer 2025? It’s all about dressing like a gym rat, whether or not you’ve ever stepped foot inside an overpriced Equinox. Needless to say, I am totally captivated by this sporty new styling approach.

Celebrities have been very much on board with the saucy little gym short. Just earlier today, Zoë Kravitz paired a mini black gym short with a Black History Month tee and heeled mules in New York. Hailey Bieber has stepped out in an itty-bitty blue style, pairing it with a leather bomber jacket (her signature piece), and Harry Styles has color-blocked his red shorts with a mustard-yellow sneaker.

During the spring 2026 menswear shows, a number of street style stars were also spotted giving the athletic bottoms a more formal spin—a move we saw on the catwalks, too, like when Willy Chavarria showed his elongated silky gym shorts (an Adidas collaboration) with a matching track jacket. Gym shorts on the runway? Very protein-chic.