Whether your workouts take you onto the rock wall, sidewalk, bike trails, yoga mat, paddle board, or dojo hall of fame, it’s important to find good women’s activewear. Quality workout clothes keep you cool both figuratively and literally. And with their comfy structure and flattering color accents, some workout clothes for women are so good-looking, wearers don them outside the gym.

But how to wear activewear? Are there limits to this sartorial flexibility? Should there be limits to this sartorial flexibility? I wanted to find out, so I polled 42 of my fellow editors . I asked for their expert opinions on activewear, as well as stories about where they’ve encountered it.

My results include two funerals, two wakes, three weddings, one opera, one play, one reference to The Sopranos, seven different versions of “leggings are not pants” (including two in all-caps), one unexpected tirade against pit hair, and three references to the camel species.

Let’s take an in-depth look at this diverse spread of answers.

What is activewear?

I started simple. Before we could discuss how to wear activewear, first we had to figure out just what counts as activewear. Tank tops? Athletic leggings? Both? Neither? Here’s what my officemates had to say:

Where is it appropriate to wear activewear?

Next, I asked it if was appropriate to wear athletic clothing to various venues and events. My subjects answered “yes,” “no,” and “depends” to each.

Cultural Differences

Said one,

“We moved to Minnesota from the Deep South when I was five years old. 30 years later, my parents still describe the first Easter service we attended with shock and horror: not only was there snow, there were sweatshirts! and jeans! And—shudder—sneakers!”

“I think it’s different in the city versus burbs/farm/not city,” said one editor. “CVS is across the street from my apartment. I think it’s fine to head over there in workout clothes.” Cities, they said, can feel more casual and stylistically diverse. And in small towns, you might run into someone you know.

Contrast that against an urban environment: “I saw a woman get off the bus a few days ago in what I'm pretty sure was just a bra and that boycut underwear—and it barely fit her. No one even seemed to notice, let alone care.”

Some say money matters.

It seems that for some people, there’s a big difference between cheap workout clothes and brand-name athleisure wear. For many of them, it usually came down not to the receipt itself, but to structure and fabric. Thin or unstructured material, they said, requires a bum-covering tunic or dress, and is less likely to be appropriate everywhere.

Many name-checked their favorite high-end brands, while others offered tips: “If you love wearing sneakers,” said one, “try finding the ‘dressed up’ designer ones with patent leather or gold-tone accents, so you don't look like you actually just came from the gym.”

One responder, however, was skeptical of pricy workout clothes altogether:

“What does it say about our society, in general, that we pay $50 to $100 for clothes designed to absorb and wick away sweat?”

When I brought up weddings, the moisture-wicking gloves came off.

I asked about the strangest place they’d ever seen athleisure wear, and not one, not two, but three people mentioned weddings. “I remember attending a wedding ten years ago,” said one, “where someone's date—an older gentleman—didn't have a suit so he wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants. The couple getting married have since divorced, so maybe Sweatpants Man was a curse?”

However, said one, “There are exceptions to all rules. If a wedding involved hiking a mountain to get to the ceremony, I'd be much more lenient.”

Is this a sexist debate?

One editor said, “I think (maybe unfairly) that women can get away with wearing athleisure more often than men can, mostly because there are more athleisure pieces available to women at the moment.”

But others saw it completely differently:

“I'd like to point out that wearing ‘boat wear’ or ‘golf wear’ to the office has been an acceptable practice by men for decades. I would make the case that athleisure should be seen no differently, even though it feels different.

Another responder broke it down like this: “First and foremost, let's not tell women where they can and can’t wear anything. Adult women are, well, adults.” Regarding tunics and dresses, they said, “Bodies are weird. Women's get squishy, especially after literally making other humans, so don't hide it if you don't want to.”

The Most Passionate Responses

“As a runner, nothing annoys me more than seeing people in activewear whom you just know aren't active. They shell out for the most expensive stuff, and think that by wearing dri-fit stuff and going shopping, they're somehow exercising. Gross.”

I get that . . . but the thing is,you can’t know if someone’s active just by looking at them. Exercisers come in all shapes and sizes.

Then there was this, expressing a sentiment echoed by others: “If you're wearing athletic clothes to the office (or anywhere other than the gym/park/coffee shop in the morning), I automatically assume you don't give a damn about how you're perceived. It's not about judging people based on appearances, but judging them based on how seriously they take themselves, how much dignity and sophistication they (try to) exude.”

Who Cares?

Others saw it differently. In one of the most thoughtful and interesting responses I received, one said, “Gym clothes are like what people in the 50s thought modern new millennium clothes would be, space-like and futuristic.”

Said another, “I have literally never seen anyone wearing gym clothes in a place I thought was inappropriate.”

And then, finally, there was this blunt bit of business:

“There's nothing more boring than people being mean and judgmental about what other people choose to wear.”