Underrated Essentials

Amazon Essentials Crush in Price and Value

Stretch Leggings $9.00

There is something mildly irritating about paying $89 for a workout shirt and $69 for shorts to sweat in. Yes, the fabric is technical. Yes, it wicks moisture. Yes, somebody in the marketing department has given the material a proprietary name that sounds like it was developed for NASA.

But I'm walking five miles and dripping in sweat in it. I'm not climbing Everest.

Which brings us to Amazon Essentials activewear, perhaps one of the more overlooked bargains in athletic clothing.

Amazon has assembled a surprisingly comprehensive collection of workout basics: performance T-shirts, shorts, joggers, golf pants, sweatshirts, leggings and other athletic staples. And the prices can make traditional athletic brands look downright stupid.

Amazon's Performance Tech men's shorts, for example, have been listed around $17 for a two-pack, while basic Amazon Essentials athletic tops and other pieces frequently land well below what you'd expect to pay for comparable Nike, Adidas or Under Armor products. Way less.

And, you know what… The stuff isn't bad. Infact, its many times better than the brands costing $40.00 more.

Women's Health tested Amazon Essentials activewear and found clean stitching, nicely finished hems, comfortable fabrics and thoughtful details such as pockets, removable cups and built-in shorts. Their conclusion was essentially that the collection represents impressive value, although serious high-intensity athletes may still prefer more technical alternatives. We don’t know why. Amazon is selling stretch leggings in 12+ colors for under $9.00. Thats less than your triple shot macchiato.

A 2-Piece Set for $39.00

Nobody should pretend Amazon Essentials is suddenly competing with the very best performance products from Lululemon, Rhone, Vuori or premium Nike. Fabric sophistication, compression, construction and fit can still separate the expensive stuff from the inexpensive stuff, but its all in grams, stretch and wicking performance. Short of ripping your butt seam on a reformer, what are you waiting for?

But for walking? The gym? Golf? Traveling? Running errands? Making a coffee run or sitting around Saturday morning pretending you're eventually going to the gym? Then Amazon makes an awfully compelling argument.

A 2-Pack for $17.00

Athletic clothing has become as much fashion as function. We're paying $100-plus for joggers and $70 for T-shirts because the logo tells everyone we belong to a certain club.

There is no club here and no prestige involved.

Their products are comfortable. They're functional. They're inexpensive. And when you've destroyed them after 100 workouts and countless trips through the washing machine, you buy another pair without hesitation.

Sometimes luxury is worth paying for, and sometimes a $15 workout shirt does exactly the same job…maybe better.

Amazon Essentials may not impress anyone in the locker room. But the price-to-quality ratio certainly should.