Scrunchies, sock divide and Nike domination – Strava’s Year in Gear is here
It’s not just music streaming services that offer yearly round-ups nowadays – Strava’s Year in Sport report, which dropped today, also provides an annual deep dive into the trends and attitudes of its users. Naturally, its ‘Year in Gear’ segment, which uncovers the most popular activewear and gear of the year, and looks ahead to the hottest wardrobe kit predictions for 2025, peaked our interest.
So, which brands came out on top? Well, when it came to running shoes, Nike ruled the metaphorical runway in 2024, with the ever reliable Pegasus taking the crown for the most worn running shoe. Hoka’s Clifton took second, perhaps signalling the increasing shift towards max-cushioning, while the long-standing Asics Gel-Nimbus completed the podium in third.
Nike Pegasus 41
Hoka Clifton 9
Asics Gel-Nimbus 26
Super shoes continued to democratise races, too. According to the report, 44% of uploaded marathons listed a carbon-plated shoe as the gear type, and there was a 14% year-on-year increase in the number of races completed in carbon shoes across all distances.
Once again, the Swoosh absolutely dominated the rankings here, with the Nike Vaporfly taking the top spot across the 5K, 10K and half marathon distances, subbing out for the Alphafly over the marathon.
Best in tech
Meanwhile, when it came to tracking devices, Apple took first and second place with the Watch Series and Watch SE respectively. The Garmin Forerunner 245 – which is now discontinued – was third. However, Strava noted that it was 5K runners who tended to opt for an Apple Watch, while the Forerunner was favoured for longer distances.
It also seems that more and more of us are opting for GPS watches over smartphones, with 47% of Strava users overall using a separate device to upload at least some of their activities. And as the distance increased, more users ditched their phones for a GPS device:
5K – 76%
10K – 83%
Half marathon – 85%
Marathon – 92%
Style divides
More broadly, Strava’s report confirmed what we’ve already been seeing: running gear is increasingly becoming as much about style as much as it is about performance.
In fact, all ages agreed that coordinated outfits were the workout wardrobe item of choice and a trend to watch for 2024. Black remained the most popular colour for workout apparel (practicality first, obviously), although the colour blue is predicted to be the new black for 2025.
Gen-Zs were also big fans of a scrunchie or a headband, as well as wearing jewellery while working out (37% Gen-Z, 26% millennials, 12% Gen-X).
Perhaps our favourite finding, though, was that generational divides split opinion on sock length: while Gen-Zs favoured a crew sock, Gen-X voted for no-show. Millennial, it seemed, fell somewhere in the middle.
The question remains: which camp are you in?
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