SS28 Preview: The modern flow of performance design

Constant connectivity and cultural turbulence have created a global yearning for a renewed sense of ease—a desire to move freely, think clearly, and live with less restriction. Amidst a rapidly accelerating digital pace, consumers are gravitating toward designs that feel more intuitive. The act of movement - whether through sport, commute, or exploration - has become a defining rhythm of daily life, and design is evolving to keep up with this ever changing tempo.

For Spring/Summer 2028, the next wave of active and outdoor design captures this mindset through a sense of uninhibited flow. Materials feel even lighter, surfaces shift softly in color and texture, and silhouettes transition seamlessly between movement and stillness. Previous boundaries that separated performance, everyday wear, and occasion are dissolving as consumers seek universal versatility that doesn’t compromise on feel, function, or style. Garments are engineered to respond to the body and environment with a sense of ease in motion, reflecting a future where designs act as an extension of self.

Weightlessness: The pursuit of physical ease

As global temperatures continue to rise and lifestyles become increasingly more mobile, the concept of weightlessness has evolved into a key pillar of modern performance. Designers are rethinking seasonal materials—exploring smart translucent membranes, hyperlight wovens, and innovative technical silks that offer movement without added bulk. Fabrics are developed for increased breathability and unlimited motion, creating a sensation of freedom against the skin. For SS28, layering focuses more on airflow solutions rather than insulation, with open structures, dimensional textures, and sheer densities offering multi-faceted opportunities for buildable dressing. Cecilie Bahnsen’s latest collections, including their collaboration with outdoor brand The North Face, reframe gorpcore staples through dynamic sheer fabrics, allowing the technical pieces to exude a modern effervescence while still prioritizing performance.

This uptick of weightless design reflects a broader desire to lighten the heaviness of daily life. As consumers juggle unpredictable schedules and weather, products must enable agility without visual or physical weight. SS28 positions lightness as a performance benchmark, allowing designs to move from fragile to functional with ease.

Grounded Light: Color that balances calm and energy

Visualizing a sense of ease through pigment, this season’s color direction strikes a modern equilibrium between stillness and motion, featuring hues that feel grounded yet weightless, calm yet aware. Palettes move away from separating saturation with softness, instead exploring tones that carry both depth and lift. Think sun-warmed neutrals with a diffused glow, gossamer gradients that shift subtly with energy, and soft, rooted tones that create presence without a feeling of dense heaviness.

These hues exude a heightened awareness of balance, putting a spotlight on the desire to navigate fast-paced lifestyles while actively seeking moments of focus. The visual experience is equal parts soothing and stimulating—mirroring the steady pulse of motion and the quiet energy of a pause. For active and outdoor design, this approach redefines what performance color can look like. Rather than signaling movement through loud brights or clashing contrast, SS 28 favors hues that blend seamlessly into modern life. They feel connected to nature yet mindfully light—elevated, versatile, and emotionally attuned to the flow of motion.

Elevated Hybrids: Function meets fashion

This sense of flow extends into how garments perform across different settings and markets. A growing overlap between activewear, wellness, and fashion continues to redefine what the future of performance dressing looks like as consumers prioritize multi-functionality design and pieces that extend past a singular reason or season. Hybrid garments blur categories such as structured pieces made from ultrastretch wovens, transitional outer layers with concealed breathability, and everyday basics featuring integrated wellness properties. Post Archive Faction and Johanna Parv continue to innovate and push category boundaries of design, allowing fashion and sport to seamlessly coexist amongst technical blazers, adaptable skirts, and tailored baselayers.

This new direction stems from a cultural move toward design that promotes enhanced mobility and limitless versatility. Consumers want to be ready for anything - weather shifts, travel, spontaneous movement - without feeling the need to change their look or compromise on comfort. Designers are meeting this growing demand through thoughtful modular constructions, articulated seams, and innovative materials that intuitively adjust for temperature and activity. The result is technical clothing that performs without the typical activewear label, as adaptive design emerges as a universal expectation, not a market-specific niche. It expresses a mindset of future motion, where function and fashion exist in complete balance. This merging of categories signals a new design chapter, where products are built to move and adapt as seamlessly as the individuals wearing them.

Flow as the future framework

Together, these key directions reveal a shift in how sport, life, and innovation intersect. For Spring/Summer 28, renewed flow acts as the modern framework for active and outdoor design a synthesis of lightness, balance, and adaptability that reflects the future of movement in the world of tomorrow. The goal is not about escape, but realignment. Through weightless construction, grounded light, and adaptive form SS28 looks to embrace a new rhythm of movement that feels both grounded and free.