Before Covid, I only wore sweats to the gym. Even afterward, I would be reluctant to wear them to work or any place more formal than the mall.
Yet I know educated people who do wear them at work. I can easily imagine the same people wearing them to weddings or anywhere else.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
But what say you?
Mrs. solost bought me a few pairs of ‘lounge pants’ which are marginally nicer looking than sweats, but basically the same thing. Now that I’ve been working from home the past 2 1/2 years I pretty much wear them all the time in the house during the colder months. Like right now.
But If I leave the house at all, for any reason other than perhaps exercise, I do put on my grownup pants.
We were in a discount store when I noticed a display of tight fitting pants similar to sweat pants. They were marked down, and i ended up buying a few pairs. The signage called them Activity Pants. I liked the description, so we have ever since referred to them as Activity Pants, using scare quotes and implying some sort of innuendo.
I almost always wear sweatpants at home (when I get home, one of the first things I do is to slip into sweatpants), but almost never outside with one exception: I make a quick drive to the nearest gas station (1 km) almost daily to buy some stuff and don’t bother to change into jeans for that. I’m not the only one though, I see many people in sweatpants at gas stations. Much more than in regular stores, where I never would wear them.
The dining room here in Walking Dead Manor, but then most people here do.
Reminds me, though, of a guy in Anchorage that we used to see regularly at concerts. He wore very thin pajama bottoms and no underwear. The elastic in the waistband wasn’t up to the task, so everyone was treated to butt crack every time he stood or sat. He topped it with a ratty-ass tee that was too small. A man who truly did not GAF.
Keeping my pants up is the reason I don’t wear sweatpants outside the house. Once I put my keys, wallet and phone in my pockets, the pants tend to fall down below my waist.
And by the way, I really dislike when the string on the front of the sweatpants (or other similar pants like pajama bottoms) swings freely. There’s something obscene about it somehow.
My post-retirement job is wrangling my grandson, and that’s most easily done in sweatpants now that the weather is cooler. As a result, I’ve worn them to the playground, to gas up the car, to the grocery store after I’ve dropped him off, and once I even wore them when we went out to eat (Texas Roadhouse.) I’m guessing that would count as the most formal place for me.
I would never wear them to a wedding or funeral or, really, and sort of social gathering other than a picnic. I do like to wear them for road trips - they’re a comfy way to travel. I consider them much more acceptable in public than too-small leggings that I see some women wearing…
Sweatpants at home, or when jogging or driving to the gym. Never other than that. I’ll put jeans on to walk the dogs.
Which would be more formal - my knighthood ceremony, or the audience with the Pope?
I’ll likely wear sweatpants when I go to vote tomorrow morning at 7 am.
I have some fairly nice ones where the look of the fabric is much different then the average fuzzy sweats. They have tapered legs instead of baggy and cuffs on the ankles. I wear them everywhere at times. I wouldn’t wear them to a wedding although I have seen young men wear them and they look OK.
Many years ago a friend attended a course for professionals working with mentally challenged children. In one session a police officer cautioned them to always keep an eye out for men wearing, as you have dubbed them, “activity pants” because they were the uniform of flashers - fast to pull down and fast to pull up. I had never worn them out of the house except over shorts, on the way to play sport, but after hearing that, felt uncomfortable even then.
I don’t wear sweatpants at all, as I find them very uncomfortable (which seems to be the opposite of their intended purpose). I guess I don’t like “grey sweatpants season,” if you get me. And they cause sweating. I wear gym shorts or jeans when it is colder. I WILL wear gym shorts just about anywhere, even in 0 degree temps, but I don’t really go anywhere formal.
Church.
In high school I dated a pastor’s daughter and was only ever allowed to see her at school, Friday nights until 9pm, or church.
I don’t really wear sweats outside the home. There was that one time I had to go to the ER very late at night and put on a pair of sweats under the nightshirt I had worn to bed.
I would wear them pretty much any wear. As long as they’re not my scraggly ones.
I wore them to my nieces wedding.
I climbed allover ladders in the church to hang twinkly lights and tulle.
I was gonna run home and change before the wedding. But ran out of time.
I was excused.
I had to take all the decor down, that night for church the next morning.
I went thru the kitchen to leave. It was truly a huge mess. The caterers left it in that condition. So I cleaned and told my sister-in-law. She was livid.
Isn’t the Pope still knighting people?
This is a problem women suffer with now that fashion listened to our pleas to put pockets in pants. These days most women’s pants, like sweats, are made of knit fabric with elastic waists. A couple of years ago, I was thrilled to snag some cargo pants online but it turned out that they, too, had a cheap elastic waistband. Grrr.
Even though I’m not exactly a fan of tie waistbands, they do help us overweight ladies keep our pants up better than elastic.
To answer the OP: Supermarket and gas stations when on road trips.
I’m confused. I think of sweat pants as loose.