Activewear is one of the most competitive categories in ecommerce. Every brand sells leggings and sports bras, so the website has to do more than show the product. It has to sell a world. These five brands get that right, in very different ways.
Gymshark: Product Launches as the Primary Design Element
Gymshark's homepage is a cascade of product drops. Full-width hero in warm brown and neutral tones, close-up model photography, then a black product carousel, then a dark gym-action banner, then another carousel. Four category tiles break it up mid-page, each with its own action photography for a different training style.
What Gymshark does well:
- Each collection gets its own full-width section, alternating between lifestyle hero shots and black product carousels, so the page always feels like something new is dropping
- Model photography is shot close in with confident, athletic poses that sell fit and feel, not just the garment
- The four category tiles use distinct action photography (heavy lifting, HIIT movement, running, mat work) to split by training type rather than grouping everything under generic women's/men's headers
Stacking full-width launches back to back keeps the energy high without a single sale banner.
Why it works: Putting a new hero product front and centre, then immediately following with another carousel, signals a brand that's always releasing. It creates urgency through pace rather than discount. Splitting categories by how people train rather than what they're buying makes the navigation feel personal to the customer's actual routine, not just their size.
View full Gymshark screenshots
On Running: Category Architecture as the Design
On Running opens with a near-black hero, a close-up shoe detail, almost no type. Then the page pivots to white, revealing a grid of eight category tiles with editorial lifestyle photography. Product arrivals and an editorial section follow below.
What On Running does well:
- The hard shift from dark hero to bright white page makes the category grid feel like the store opening up, the contrast does the work that a headline would normally do
- Eight activity-specific tiles, each with distinct editorial photography, organise the page around what people do rather than what they buy
- The new arrivals section keeps products on clean white backgrounds with no lifestyle styling, letting the shoe silhouettes and colourways lead
No promotional banners, no sale callouts, no carousels stacking up. Clean grid and purposeful photography throughout.
Why it works: The restraint in the hero, barely any copy, barely any colour, makes the category grid feel like a reveal. When the page opens to white, the eight tiles are the payoff. Customers can see immediately where they belong rather than having to navigate from scratch.
View full On Running screenshots
Peak Performance: Outdoor Heritage in Every Frame
Peak Performance leads with scale. Full-width alpine photography, skiers in bright-coloured suits against a white sky, before a single product appears. Below that, a grid of editorial outdoor tiles, a colourful product grid on white, and a mid-page text callout spotlighting their hero down jacket.
What Peak Performance does well:
- The wide alpine hero, skiers small against a dramatic mountain, communicates serious outdoor gear before any product is shown
- Below the hero, editorial campaign tiles each carry their own outdoor photography, giving the page seasonal structure without relying on a dropdown nav
- A standalone text callout mid-page, white background, large type, singles out the hero down product with direct spec-style copy stripped of lifestyle imagery
The product colour palette, bright reds, yellows, teals and blues, against white backgrounds and snow photography, is confident and sport-coded.
Why it works: Opening with wide alpine photography before showing a single product does the targeting for you. The environment tells you who this is for. By the time you reach the mid-page product callout, the page has already built enough context that a plain text section feels authoritative rather than bare.
View full Peak Performance screenshots
Pas Normal Studios: Cycling Gear Treated Like Fashion
Pas Normal Studios opens with a high-contrast black and white hero shot, close-up hands and a phone, lit and composed like a campaign image. A muted earthy product carousel follows, then a full-width editorial landscape of a cyclist on a rocky trail, then a moody close-up section in deep winter tones.
What Pas Normal Studios does well:
- The hero is a campaign image rather than a product or a model in gear, so the first thing you land on is an idea, not a thing to buy
- The product carousel uses earthy, muted tones (orange, rust, tan, black) styled like a fashion lookbook, the pieces read as outerwear as much as cycling kit
- The editorial landscape section mid-page puts environment and story ahead of product, a full-width cycling photograph appears before the next product grid
The overall palette, dark hero, earthy product tones, moody landscape photography, is unhurried and considered throughout.
Why it works: Treating the homepage like a fashion editorial rather than a category page creates a different kind of desire. The dark palette, earthy product tones, and full-width landscape photography slow you down. By the time you reach the product grid, you're already bought into the world, not just looking for a price.
View full Pas Normal Studios screenshots
Vaara: Luxury Activewear With a Fashion-Magazine Hero
Vaara splits the hero into two equal editorial photographs, women in outdoor and garden settings, rich earth tones, fashion-editorial framing. Below, individual products on white backgrounds with prices visible. Mid-page, a dark brown section with a close-up of striped leggings.
What Vaara does well:
- Two full-size editorial hero images side by side, no promotional type overlaid, no CTA competing with the photography, the restraint is the design choice
- Rich earth tones across both hero images (dark brown, warm garden light, deep foliage) establish the brand's aesthetic before a product is ever shown
- Transitioning directly from fashion editorial to individual products on white with prices visible makes the page feel shoppable without a hard gear change
No sale banners, no urgency copy, no carousels fighting for attention. The luxury positioning comes entirely from what's absent.
Why it works: The split hero signals confidence. Most activewear brands layer copy and CTAs over their hero photography. Vaara strips all of that away and lets two images sit at full size. The product shots that follow feel like a natural extension of the editorial. By the time prices appear, the aesthetic has already done the heavy lifting.
What They Get Right
Gymshark → Full-width product launches stacked back to back, creating momentum without discounts
On Running → Dark-to-white contrast that turns the category grid into a reveal
Peak Performance → Wide alpine photography that targets the customer before a product appears
Pas Normal Studios → Campaign image as the hero, earthy fashion-lookbook styling for cycling kit
Vaara → Split editorial hero with no promotional copy, luxury through restraint
What connects all five is that none of them try to sell everything at once. Gymshark commits to the launch. On Running commits to the category grid. Peak Performance commits to the mountain. Pas Normal Studios commits to the campaign. Vaara commits to the editorial photography. Each homepage has one clear visual priority, and everything else on the page supports it.
