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While comfort has never been associated with chic-ness, oomphy tennis stars broke all the rules on this one. Fashion gurus have remodeled their lines to make clothes that really get the adrenaline going— from Narendra Kumar Ahmed’s cropped cabin jackets and Lecoanet Hemant’s formal track pants to Manish Arora’s vibrant, sequined sports shoes. But now, sportswear labels have hopped on to fashion street with candy pink ballerinas and cocktail dresses by Puma and Swarovski studded jackets by Nike. Throw in a little bit of Juicy Couture and who needs high-end shopping anymore?

Talk about mixing pleasure with competition and Puma seems to be playing it both safe and smart. “Our company’s strategy is to make Puma a sports lifestyle brand rather than concentrate just on sports products,” says Rajiv Mehta, managing director, Puma Sports.
  
 Lacoste has a range of formal shirts for men and women, besides the usual trousers, dresses and jeans. Nike strides into novelty too. “We address the need of sports-inspired consumers who love a casual athletic look,” says Sanjay Gangopadhyay, marketing head, Nike India. Move over track pants, vests and backpacks, this most sought-after sports brand now has everything — crew neck T-shirts, printed hoodies, blingy jackets, embroidered shirts, scarves, hats and caps in red, orange, yellow, electro lime and green. Go on now, be a sport!