16-02-2025
You have all the gear, but any idea?
'All the gear but no idea,' is a bit of a caustic comment by the professionals, aimed at those who, for example, turn up at the gym with the latest 'Gymshark' or 'Adidas' gear on, looking the part, but with no idea of what they are doing, or even worse, are 'posers,' there to see, or be seen.
Research tells us that wearing 'labels' is primarily a mental, then subsequently a physical wellness issue, which is entirely understandable. Well, it's understandable if you don't feel good about yourself in either respect, but particularly if you stand in front of the mirror and see yourself as, for example, a 5 out of 10. It only costs money, doesn't it, to buy a bit of that good gear? At least it will make you feel better about yourself, and then who knows, maybe getting to the gym will work the oracle for you, and a year later you look more like a 10 than ever before. You look good... you feel good... your transformation is complete! Unfortunately, the reality is mostly very different!
Marketing agencies prey on your insecurities, these being driven by what Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith, in her book 'Sacred Rest,' as she exhorts her readers to recover their lives and restore their sanity, affirming that 'the way you dress doesn't just affect the way that others perceive and treat you,' but that looking sharp will positively transform your self-esteem, and that's exactly what the ad agencies want to hear!
The problems occur when the dreams of change, even though you are pushed by the trite motivational posters around the gym walls screaming at you: 'No pain, no gain;' 'Sore today, gone tomorrow;' and 'Look in the mirror. That's your competition.' By the time you have finally realized that you don't look like Amr Diab, or Ahlam Al Shamsi, on their worst day, you are broke, disheartened, and worse-off than when you started.
By then, the people around you who don't go to the gym will tell you you're wasting money, you'll dream of chocolate, eating it, drinking it, even bathing in it. You'll want a burger, fries, and KFC. You want rest... not circuits, treadmills, weights, the steam room or the spa. Hmm, well maybe the spa, but the dream is gone. The illusion is now as real as the fog on a mirror, the bubbles in the spa, and the amount of truth in your head as you debate a choice, briefly, between deadlifts, and donuts.
Did you know that in 2023, the total activewear market alone, in the USA alone, was $412 billion, and with the US having 40 per cent of the global market, that means the global spend then, and each year since, has been in excess of $1 trillion. That's madness when you consider that in this sector, most of the apparel is thrown out long before it's worn out.
Even outside the gym, in offices everywhere, those ubiquitous men in white coats tell us that 'displays of luxury consumption lead to favourable social interactions,' which plays a key role in why less secure people are more likely to 'bust their budget,' to buy the best brands. Research studies determined that males in 'GQ' gear, must be regarded as more dominant, while females who focus on high fashion apparel and accessories, are seen as more ambitious, younger, and more attractive, and marketers and ad agencies will gleefully perpetuate such expressions, ad infinitum.
Fashion though, is a slightly different, even more expensive realm. It has always been a factor in mankind's vanity. It's a bit of a 'chicken and egg' scenario as to whether 'fashionable' and 'quality' cloth came first as transformed together by Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, and the like, or whether brand patronage through style and innovation came first?
I guess the message is... 'Clothes make'th the man,' or the woman, to some extent, but we all know that doesn't change what's underneath, does it?
