Many early active sportswear garments were made from heavy wool, including clothing designed for the gym, bicycling, and even swimming. These items may have lacked the high-performance functionality of today’s active wear, but the hydrophilic properties of wool served to pull moisture away from the body, just as many contemporary "techno" textiles are designed to do.

Women of the late nineteenth century often wore garments with full "bloomer" trousers for gym exercise or calisthenics, which was part of the curriculum at many women’s educational institutions. In 1895, writer C.H. Crandall advised that "men do not object in the least" to gym styles, "so long as the touch of femininity, of modesty, is never lost."