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Within the 12 months of our Lord 2025, no wardrobe is full with out a pair of black leggings. Mushy, stretchy tights have turn 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 gown code permits… use your judgement, we’re not your boss).
However with regards to choices for black leggings, the restrict doesn’t exist. So the SELF workforce started working testing tights from fan-favorite manufacturers like Athleta, Lululemon, Outdated Navy, and extra to see that are the perfect to your wants, be that for operating or operating errands, namaste-ing or staying in.
Our prime picks
Greatest General: Athleta Salutation Stash Excessive-Rise Legging
Runner Up: Aritzia PowerSculpt New Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging
Greatest Funds Choose: Outdated Navy Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings
Greatest for Lounging: Vuori AllTheFeels Legging
Greatest for Most Exercises: Lululemon Wunder Practice Excessive-Rise Tight
Greatest for Compression: Spanx Form Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings
Greatest for Lifting: Underneath Armour Meridian Leggings
Greatest for Yoga: Adidas Girls’s All Me 7/8 Leggings
Greatest for Carrying All Day: Nike Girls’s Light Help Excessive-Waisted Full-Size Leggings
Greatest Maternity Leggings: Hole Maternity On a regular basis Full Panel Leggings
On this article
What to search for when selecting black leggings
First issues first: What are you shopping for these leggings for? A pair meant for bodily exercise will want particular options—like moisture-wicking supplies or compression—that may not be as necessary to you if the plan is to put on them whereas catching up on Severance. Listed here are some standards to remember 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 suggests they’ll embrace 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 operating neighborhood What Runs You, beforehand advised SELF. Lounging leggings, in the meantime, could embrace cotton or wool blends.
Based on Lauren Leavell, licensed private coach and barre teacher, make certain your leggings assist you to transfer with out feeling restricted. Whereas all leggings are supposed to match near the physique, totally different pairs have totally different ranges of stretch and compression. “In athletics, the concept behind compression put on is to enhance blood circulate or oxygen supply to muscle groups,” James Borchers, MD, director of the division of sports activities drugs at Ohio State College Wexner Medical Middle, beforehand advised SELF. Nevertheless, there aren’t many research to again these claims, so there isn’t a lot a “finest” degree of compression as one which’s “finest for you”—a.ok.a. no matter feels cozy.
Do you want a pocket to maintain your telephone bodily connected to your physique always? A drawstring to maintain your leggings’ waistband tight? Or will you be operating 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 accomplished and one which makes you carry out even higher.
How we selected the leggings on this listing
SELF editors sifted by way of on-line opinions to seek out beloved leggings the world over vast net, then put a few of the prime picks by way of their paces. Testers wore their leggings for a number of actions—together with operating, yoga, biking, and faculty pickup—over the course of the testing interval (testing time diverse by individual, however was at the least one month lengthy) and washed them based on the care directions. We additionally thought of previous winners from SELF’s Activewear Awards.
Store the very best black leggings
In a sea of black leggings, these are prime catches.
Greatest General: Athleta Salutation Stash Excessive-Rise Legging
Professionals
- Tremendous-soft cloth
- Sturdy; holds as much as years of exercises and washings
- Roomy leg pocket doesn’t add bulk to the silhouette
Cons
- Not essentially the most compressive possibility on this listing
There’s motive why Athleta’s Salutation Stash leggings took prime honors in our 2024 Activewear Awards: They’re smooth, supple, and final endlessly. “These are my the whole lot leggings! I’ve been shopping for the Stash from Athleta for years, and so they maintain up, one awards tester stated. “I educate barre, elevate weights, hike trails, and browse the aisles of Dealer Joe’s in them continually.”
I like how the waistband helps my core with out rearranging my organs, and the material mix, (which incorporates sweat-wicking nylon, Lycra, and polyester), can stand as much as sweaty exercise classes—imagine me, I sweat a ton.
Sizes: XXS to 3XL | Lengths: Petite, common, and tall | Supplies: Nylon, Lycra, recycled polyester, elastane, polyester (relying on the colour)
Runner Up: Aritzia PowerSculpt New Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging
Professionals
- Sculpting waistband with a drawstring
- Obtainable in numeric sizing for a extra exact match
Cons
- No pockets
- Not very size-inclusive
Don’t sleep on Aritzia’s activewear. The Cheeky Hello-Rise Leggings within the model’s PowerSculpt cloth are clean, glossy, and keep put by way of each squat, lunge, and ahead fold. When you love the fashion’s booty-lifting look however want a much less compressive match, the identical design is out there in 5 totally different materials that, based on Aritzia, are higher for decrease and medium-impact actions.
Sizes: 00 to 12 | Lengths: Ankle-length; dimension S is 26” | Supplies: Nylon, elastane
Greatest Funds Choose: Outdated Navy Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings
Professionals
- Underneath $40—and infrequently on sale for much less
- Aspect pockets
- Sweat-wicking cloth
Cons
- Reviewers report they run small
Professional tip: You don’t have to spend a bundle to get Outdated Navy’s Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings have been the number-one choose by SELF readers in our 2024 Activewear Award—s, and so they’ll run you simply $40 (even much less after they’re on sale, which is usually). “They’re comfy AF, slimming, and so they truly keep up throughout runs! I actually have 25 pairs, and so they’re the one bottoms I’ll do races in,” one tester stated. “The facet pockets are so nice, I don’t even have to put on operating belts throughout my coaching runs to maintain my telephone, gum, and keys helpful.”
Sizes: XS to 4X | Lengths: Common, tall, petit; common size is 28” | Supplies: Polyester, spandex
Greatest for Lounging: Vuori AllTheFeels Legging
Professionals
- Light-weight cloth has nice stretch
- Mushy, brushed feeling
Cons
- Knit materials can maintain in warmth and sweat
“After years of sporting and writing about leggings, I lastly know what manufacturers are speaking about after 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 really a pleasure to put on.” Coughlin wore the Vuori leggings for an entire day: she lounged on the sofa, she went for a stroll, she performed with the canine—”“and I by no means as soon as felt distracted by my leggings,” she says.
Nevertheless, she doesn’t advocate this pair for exercises as a result of their thicker, knit materials traps in 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 transferring round,” Coughlin says about sporting the AllTheFeels to the gymnasium. “I am 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, common, lengthy | Supplies: Recycled polyamide, elastane
Greatest for Exercises: Lululemon Wunder Practice Excessive-Rise Tight
Professionals
- Large, comfy waistband with pocket
- Obtainable in 4 lengths
- Fast-drying cloth
Cons
- Reviewers say the material feels skinny (however not flimsy)
- No facet pockets
Lululemon’s Wunder Practice Tight is designed for the gymnasium or health studio (however nonetheless seems sharp out to brunch or bopping round city). This pair is created from the model’s “Everlux” cloth, which is a mix of sweat-wicking Nylon and Lycra. It options four-way stretch (so the leggings are simply as versatile as you’re) and has medium compression, so it’s extra supportive than the model’s common Align and Wunder Underneath kinds however is simply as smooth to the contact.
With numeric sizes fromup 0 by way of 20 and 4 out there lengths, you possibly can combine and match specs to seek out your excellent match; then cinch the waistband’s drawstring if you happen to want much more customization. Throughout my testing—which included a number of sweating Peloton biking lessons and strength-training classes—I discovered the Wunder Trains to be extra light-weight and a little bit looser than the Athleta Salutations. (When you like a mild maintain, go to your common dimension; I’d advocate sizing up if you happen to want a much less compression and down for a tighter match.)
Sizes: 0 to twenty | Lengths: 4 lengths out there: 23”, 25”, 28”, 31” | Supplies: Nylon, Lycra elastane
Greatest for Compression: SPANXshape Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings
Professionals
- Contoured waistband and no heart entrance seam
- Squat-proof cloth stays opaque whilst you transfer
Cons
- Could also be too tight for some
- Not out there in full-length
In case your prime precedence with leggings is wanting snatched, we’ve discovered your match. Shapewear model Spanx is doing what it does finest with the SPANXshape Booty Enhance Leggings: The pair’s glossy, slippery cloth affords 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 fashion has additionally taken house SELF Activewear Awards a number of years operating, proving it has extra to supply than beauty by holding as much as hard-core CrossFit circuits and dance cardio lessons. “These are perfection,” stated one tester, who wears a dimension 2X. “They didn’t transfer. The leggings are high-waisted and canopy my whole tummy as a plus-size lady. The place have these leggings been all my life?”
Sizes: XS to 3X | Lengths: ⅞ size: 25” | Supplies: Nylon, elastane
Greatest for Weightlifting: Underneath Armour Girls’s UA Meridian Leggings
Professionals
- Obtainable briefly lengths and in plus sizes
- Two facet pockets
Cons
- Reviewers report instances of VPL (seen panty strains)