Real talk: Nobody likes spending their hard-earned cash on sweatpants. If you’re not getting them as a gift from your parents (my mom is big on giving pajamas as presents, which are basically the same thing), they’re usually something you acquire from a significant other or a sibling, and then wear until the crotch becomes one big hole. In fact, I’m sure we all have a few pairs of comfy bottoms that might as well have materialized out of thin air.
MORE: 21 Comfy Outfits to Wear When You Don’t Want to Leave Your House
But last month, I used a gift card to purchase a pair of luxe sweats that I wouldn’t be ashamed to wear outside the house, and without exaggeration, my life is changed. In fact, I’ve since bought two more pairs of pants that toe the line between “trousers” and “lounge pants”—one even has a track stripe running down the side—that I could conceivably wear to work with ankle boots or heels, and then also to bed if I felt like it. Couple that with the fact that athleisure is now widely acceptable as on and off-duty wear (at least in NYC), and I’m not sure why anyone would bother with jeans again—especially in January, the only month it’s acceptable to wrap yourself in eight layers of wool and call it an outfit.
Alas, we culled the best sweatpants—some that are purely for lazy days inside and a few that are stylish enough to wear to the office—to shop now.
