No wardrobe is full with out a pair of the most effective black leggings. Tender, stretchy tights have develop into as important as blue denims and white T-shirts—put on ’em on cozy nights in, put on ’em whereas exercising, throw on an outsized blazer or sweater and put on ’em to the workplace (in case your costume code permits…use your judgement, we’re not your boss).
However in relation to choices for black leggings, the restrict doesn’t exist. So the SELF staff started working testing tights from fan-favorite manufacturers like Athleta, Lululemon, Previous Navy, and extra. Store our favorites for working laps, working errands, namaste-ing, and staying in under.
Our prime picks
- Greatest Total: Lululemon Wunder Prepare Excessive-Rise Tight, $98
- Greatest Opaque: Aritzia PowerSculpt New Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging,
$78$47 - Greatest for Excessive-Impression Exercises: Alo 7/8 Excessive-Waist Airlift Legging, $128
- Greatest Compressive: Spanx Form Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings, $98
- Greatest with Pockets: Athleta Salutation Stash Excessive-Rise Legging, $109
- Greatest Funds Decide: Previous Navy Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings,
$40$28 - Greatest for On a regular basis Put on: Vuori AllTheFeels Legging, $98
- Greatest for Lifting: Underneath Armour Meridian Leggings, $80
- Greatest for Yoga: Adidas Girls’s All Me 7/8 Leggings,
$60$36 - Greatest Maternity Leggings: Hole Maternity On a regular basis Full Panel Leggings,
$60$29
On this article
Store the most effective black leggings
In a sea of seemingly comparable pairs, these are prime catches.
Greatest Total: Lululemon Wunder Prepare Excessive-Rise Tight
Lululemon’s Wunder Prepare Tight is designed for the health club or health studio (however nonetheless seems to be sharp out to brunch or bopping round city). They’re constructed from the model’s Everlux material, a mix of sweat-wicking nylon and Lycra that has four-way stretch—in order that they’re simply as versatile as you might be. In addition they have medium compression, making them extra supportive than the model’s fashionable Align and Wunder Underneath types, however simply as smooth to the contact.
Obtainable in sizes from 0 by way of 20 and 4 inseam lengths, discovering your excellent match is easy; then, cinch the waistband’s inner drawstring to maintain them up all day lengthy. SELF’s former commerce director, Abbey Stone, actually put her pair by way of its paces (learn: a number of sweaty Peloton biking lessons and power coaching classes) and beloved how light-weight they felt. Should you like a mild maintain, she recommends going to your common measurement. You can too measurement up for those who choose much less compression or down for a tighter match.
Sizes: 0 to twenty | Lengths: 15, 23, 25, 28, or 31 inches | Supplies: Nylon, Lycra elastane
Affiliate social media supervisor Katie Gunderman testing the Lululemon Wunder Prepare Excessive-Rise Tight:
Greatest Opaque: Aritzia PowerSculpt Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging
Don’t sleep on Aritzia’s activewear. The Cheeky Hello-Rise Leggings within the model’s PowerSculpt material are clean, smooth, and keep put by way of each squat, lunge, and ahead fold. They’re additionally (and most significantly!) extremely opaque—whether or not you wish to put on underwear while you work out or not.
“Truthfully, the Aritzia leggings are the one ones I attain for now,” says procuring editor Angela Trakoshis. “They’re buttery smooth, tremendous flattering, and one way or the other nonetheless maintain every thing in with out feeling tight. Whether or not I am working errands or simply lounging, they really feel like a second pores and skin.”
Love this pair’s booty-lifting look, however choose a much less compressive match? The identical design is obtainable in 5 completely different materials that, in keeping with Aritzia, are higher for lower- and medium-impact actions.
Sizes: 00 to 12 | Lengths: Ankle-length; inseam varies by measurement, measurement 4 is 26 inches | Supplies: Nylon, elastane
Procuring market editor Angela Trakoshis testing the Aritzia PowerSculpt Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging:
Greatest for Excessive-Impression Exercises: Alo 7/8 Excessive-Waist Airlift Legging
Comprised of compressive material with a slight sheen, Alo’s Airlift Leggings are excellent for powerful, super-sweaty exercises. “I really like them for power coaching and working,” says SELF’s affiliate social media supervisor, Katie Gunderman.
And so they do not simply look nice on—she provides that the design holds her in in all the suitable methods too. “The excessive waist and compression make me really feel so safe whereas doing high-impact actions, which I really like,” she says. “The sleek Airlift efficiency material makes them straightforward to run in and absorbs sweat.” (P.S: Should you’re ever seeking to department out from black, she says in addition they are available in numerous cute colours.)
Sizes: 00 to 18 | Lengths: 24.25 or 24.75 inches | Supplies: Polyester, elastane
SELF senior commerce editor Sarah Felbin testing the Alo 7/8 Excessive-Waist Airlift Legging:
Greatest Compressive: SPANXshape Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings
In case your prime precedence with leggings is trying snatched, we’ve discovered your match. Shapewear model Spanx is doing what it does greatest with the Booty Enhance Leggings: The smooth, slippery material gives a lot assist, I really feel like a Bond lady (or a seal…however, like, in a great way?) after I put on them.
This type has additionally taken residence a number of SELF Activewear Awards, proving it may possibly maintain as much as hard-core CrossFit circuits and dance cardio lessons. “These are perfection,” stated one tester, who wears a measurement 2X. “They didn’t transfer. The leggings are high-waisted and canopy my total tummy as a plus-size girl. The place have these leggings been all my life?”
Sizes: XS to 3X | Lengths: 25 inches | Supplies: Nylon, elastane
Procuring market editor Angela Trakoshis testing the SPANXshape Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings:
Greatest with Pockets: Athleta Salutation Stash Excessive-Rise Legging
Athleta
Salutation Stash Excessive Rise Legging
There’s a superb purpose why Athleta’s Salutation Stash leggings took prime honors in our 2024 Activewear Awards: They’re smooth, supple, and final without end. “These are my every thing leggings! I’ve been shopping for the Stash from Athleta for years, they usually maintain up,” one tester stated. “I train barre, raise weights, hike trails, and browse the aisles of Dealer Joe’s in them always.”
I really like how the waistband helps my core with out rearranging my organs, and the material mix (which incorporates moisture-wicking nylon, Lycra, and polyester) can stand as much as sweaty exercise classes—imagine me, I sweat a ton.
Sizes: XXS to 3X | Lengths: Petite (25 inches), common (27 inches), and tall (30 inches) | Supplies: Nylon, Lycra, recycled polyester, elastane, polyester (relying on the colour)
Greatest Funds Decide: Previous Navy Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings
Previous Navy
Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Full-Size Pocket Leggings
Professional tip: You don’t must spend a ton to get a high-quality pair of black leggings. Previous Navy’s Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings had been the number-one choose by SELF readers in our 2024 Activewear Awards, they usually’ll solely run you round $40 (even much less once they’re on sale, which is commonly).
“They’re comfy AF, slimming, they usually really keep up throughout runs! I actually have 25 pairs, they usually’re the one bottoms I’ll do races in,” one tester stated. “The facet pockets are so nice, I don’t even must put on working belts throughout my coaching runs to maintain my telephone, gum, and keys helpful.”
Sizes: XS to 4X | Lengths: Petite (26 inches), common (28 inches), and tall (32 inches) | Supplies: Polyester, spandex
Greatest for On a regular basis Put on: Vuori AllTheFeels Legging
“After years of sporting and writing about leggings, I lastly know what manufacturers are speaking about once they say their tights have a ‘second pores and skin’ really feel, thanks to those leggings,” SELF’s senior commerce author, Sara Coughlin, says. “They’re lighter than air, endlessly stretchy, and actually a pleasure to put on.” Coughlin wore the Vuori leggings for an entire day: She lounged on the sofa, went for a stroll, performed with the canine, “and I by no means as soon as felt distracted by my leggings,” she says.
Nonetheless, she doesn’t suggest this pair for exercises as a result of their thicker, knit materials traps warmth and moisture. “The leggings felt nice whereas I used to be stretching, however began to really feel a little bit heat after I began lifting weights and shifting round,” she says. “I’m nonetheless glad to have them in my closet—they are surely uniquely and blissfully comfy—however now I do know they’re strictly lounging leggings.”
Sizes: XXS to XXL | Lengths: Quick (22 inches), common (24 inches), lengthy (27 inches) | Supplies: Recycled polyamide, elastane
Greatest for Weightlifting: Underneath Armour UA Meridian Leggings
Underneath Armour
Girls’s UA Meridian Leggings
SELF’s director of health and meals, Christa Sgobba, is a leggings professional: She’s worn dozens of various types over time for enterprise and pleasure—as a result of, hey, while you’re a health editor, figuring out is each of these issues. Her prime tights for power coaching are the Underneath Armour Meridian Leggings.
“The fabric is so clean and light-weight—it doesn’t really feel constricting,” she says. That being stated, “These are completely squat-proof,” she guarantees (a should while you’re lifting). Bonus: UA reviewers say these make their butts look nice.
Sizes: XS to XXL | Lengths: Quick (27 inches), common (29 inches), tall (31 inches) | Supplies: Polyester, Lycra elastane
Greatest for Yoga: Adidas All Me 7/8 Leggings
Adidas
Girls’s All Me 7/8 Leggings
While you’re flowing by way of chaturanga, you need to have the ability to give attention to preserving your elbows tucked in and your core sturdy—not on whether or not your leggings are going to roll down. In accordance with SELF senior well being author Erica Sloan, that’s precisely what you get with this pair: “These actually are a second-skin sort of legging, so you may virtually overlook you’re sporting them,” she says. “And for all their softness and stretchiness, I used to be nonetheless impressed by the truth that they stayed in place all through a Pilates reformer class and a number of walks round my neighborhood—no want to drag up the waistband.”
Whereas Adidas recommends the All Me leggings for low-impact actions, they do have the model’s “Aeroready” sweat-wicking know-how, which Sloan can vouch for. “I sweat a ton in Pilates, and these didn’t present the moisture a lot or keep moist for lengthy after,” she says.
Sizes: 2XS to 2XL | Lengths: 7/8 size (30.5, 31, 31.5, or 32 inches) | Supplies: Polyester (recycled), elastane
Greatest Maternity Leggings: Hole Maternity On a regular basis Full Panel Leggings
Hole
Maternity On a regular basis Full Panel Leggings
SELF’s particular initiatives director, Hannah Pasternak, says these maternity leggings from Hole are “simply sooooo smooth”—that’s 5 Os, mates. Made from 90% cotton, they’re a bit thicker and have much less give than your typical exercise leggings. However Pasternak and reviewers agree that the fabric feels high-quality, particularly for the $60 price ticket.
Pasternak’s ultimate phrase? “Wanting on the mannequin in these leggings is nearly sufficient to persuade me to get pregnant once more,” she says.
Sizes: XXS to XXL | Lengths: 31.5 inches | Supplies: Cotton, spandex
What to search for when selecting black leggings
Listed here are some standards to bear in mind as you weigh your choices.
All leggings should be tight and stretchy (in the event that they’re not this stuff, they’re not leggings), which implies they’ll embody materials like spandex, Lycra, or elastane. For train leggings, you’ll additionally need to search for sweat-wicking supplies like polyester or nylon, Alysha Flynn, founding father of the feminine working neighborhood What Runs You, beforehand informed SELF. Lounging leggings, in the meantime, might embody cotton or wool blends.
In accordance with Lauren Leavell, licensed private coach and barre teacher, be sure your leggings can help you transfer with out feeling restricted. Whereas all leggings are supposed to match near the physique, completely different pairs have completely different ranges of stretch and compression.
“In athletics, the concept behind compression put on is to enhance blood move or oxygen supply to muscular tissues,” James Borchers, MD, director of the division of sports activities medication at Ohio State College Wexner Medical Heart, beforehand informed SELF. Nonetheless, there aren’t many research to again these claims, so there isn’t a lot a “greatest” stage of compression as one which’s “greatest for you”—a.okay.a. no matter feels cozy.
Do you want a pocket to maintain your telephone bodily hooked up to your physique always? A drawstring to maintain your leggings’ waistband tight? Or will you be working outdoors and want a pair with a zippered compartment to your keys and ID? Options aren’t all the time simply added bells and whistles—they’ll make the distinction between a legging that will get the job finished and one which makes you carry out even higher.
How we picked the leggings on this checklist
SELF editors sifted by way of on-line critiques to seek out beloved leggings throughout the web, then put among the prime picks by way of their paces. Testers wore their leggings for a number of actions—together with working, yoga, biking, and college pickup—over the course of the testing interval (testing time diverse by individual, nevertheless it was a minimum of one month lengthy) and washed them in keeping with the care directions. We additionally thought-about previous winners from SELF’s Activewear Awards.
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