10 Finest Black Leggings of 2025, From Editors Who’ve Tried 100+
No wardrobe is full and not using a pair of the perfect black leggings. Delicate, stretchy tights have grow to be as important as blue denims and white T-shirts—put on ’em on cozy nights in, put on ’em whereas exercising, throw on an outsized blazer or sweater and put on ’em to the workplace (in case your gown code permits…use your judgement, we’re not your boss).
However with regards to choices for black leggings, the restrict doesn’t exist. So the SELF group started working testing tights from fan-favorite manufacturers like Athleta, Lululemon, Outdated Navy, and extra. Store our favorites for working laps, working errands, namaste-ing, and staying in under.
Our prime picks
- Finest General: Lululemon Wunder Prepare Excessive-Rise Tight, $98
- Finest Opaque: Aritzia PowerSculpt New Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging,
$78$47 - Finest for Excessive-Affect Exercises: Alo 7/8 Excessive-Waist Airlift Legging, $128
- Finest Compressive: Spanx Form Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings, $98
- Finest with Pockets: Athleta Salutation Stash Excessive-Rise Legging, $109
- Finest Finances Choose: Outdated Navy Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings,
$40$28 - Finest for On a regular basis Put on: Vuori AllTheFeels Legging, $98
- Finest for Lifting: Underneath Armour Meridian Leggings, $80
- Finest for Yoga: Adidas Girls’s All Me 7/8 Leggings,
$60$36 - Finest Maternity Leggings: Hole Maternity On a regular basis Full Panel Leggings,
$60$29
On this article
Store the perfect black leggings
In a sea of seemingly comparable pairs, these are prime catches.
Finest General: Lululemon Wunder Prepare Excessive-Rise Tight
Lululemon’s Wunder Prepare Tight is designed for the gymnasium or health studio (however nonetheless appears sharp out to brunch or bopping round city). They’re produced from the model’s Everlux cloth, a mix of sweat-wicking nylon and Lycra that has four-way stretch—in order that they’re simply as versatile as you’re. Additionally they have medium compression, making them extra supportive than the model’s standard Align and Wunder Underneath types, however simply as gentle to the contact.
Accessible in sizes from 0 by way of 20 and 4 inseam lengths, discovering your good match is straightforward; then, cinch the waistband’s inside drawstring to maintain them up all day lengthy. SELF’s former commerce director, Abbey Stone, actually put her pair by way of its paces (learn: a number of sweaty Peloton biking lessons and power coaching classes) and cherished how light-weight they felt. If you happen to like a delicate maintain, she recommends going on your common dimension. You may also dimension up when you desire much less compression or down for a tighter match.
Sizes: 0 to twenty | Lengths: 15, 23, 25, 28, or 31 inches | Supplies: Nylon, Lycra elastane
Affiliate social media supervisor Katie Gunderman testing the Lululemon Wunder Prepare Excessive-Rise Tight:
Finest Opaque: Aritzia PowerSculpt Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging
Don’t sleep on Aritzia’s activewear. The Cheeky Hello-Rise Leggings within the model’s PowerSculpt cloth are easy, smooth, and keep put by way of each squat, lunge, and ahead fold. They’re additionally (and most significantly!) extremely opaque—whether or not you prefer to put on underwear while you work out or not.
“Truthfully, the Aritzia leggings are the one ones I attain for now,” says buying editor Angela Trakoshis. “They’re buttery gentle, tremendous flattering, and one way or the other nonetheless maintain every part in with out feeling tight. Whether or not I am working errands or simply lounging, they really feel like a second pores and skin.”
Love this pair’s booty-lifting look, however desire a much less compressive match? The identical design is out there in 5 completely different materials that, in response to Aritzia, are higher for lower- and medium-impact actions.
Sizes: 00 to 12 | Lengths: Ankle-length; inseam varies by dimension, dimension 4 is 26 inches | Supplies: Nylon, elastane
Buying market editor Angela Trakoshis testing the Aritzia PowerSculpt Cheeky Hello-Rise Legging:
Finest for Excessive-Affect Exercises: Alo 7/8 Excessive-Waist Airlift Legging
Produced from compressive cloth with a slight sheen, Alo’s Airlift Leggings are good for powerful, super-sweaty exercises. “I really like them for power coaching and working,” says SELF’s affiliate social media supervisor, Katie Gunderman.
And so they do not simply look nice on—she provides that the design holds her in in all the fitting methods too. “The excessive waist and compression make me really feel so safe whereas doing high-impact actions, which I really like,” she says. “The sleek Airlift efficiency cloth makes them simple to run in and absorbs sweat.” (P.S: If you happen to’re ever seeking to department out from black, she says in addition they are available in a lot of cute colours.)
Sizes: 00 to 18 | Lengths: 24.25 or 24.75 inches | Supplies: Polyester, elastane
SELF senior commerce editor Sarah Felbin testing the Alo 7/8 Excessive-Waist Airlift Legging:
Finest Compressive: SPANXshape Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings
In case your prime precedence with leggings is wanting snatched, we’ve discovered your match. Shapewear model Spanx is doing what it does greatest with the Booty Enhance Leggings: The smooth, slippery cloth gives a lot help, I really feel like a Bond lady (or a seal…however, like, in a great way?) after I put on them.
This type has additionally taken house a number of SELF Activewear Awards, proving it could actually maintain as much as hard-core CrossFit circuits and dance cardio lessons. “These are perfection,” stated one tester, who wears a dimension 2X. “They didn’t transfer. The leggings are high-waisted and canopy my whole tummy as a plus-size girl. The place have these leggings been all my life?”
Sizes: XS to 3X | Lengths: 25 inches | Supplies: Nylon, elastane
Buying market editor Angela Trakoshis testing the SPANXshape Booty Enhance 7/8 Leggings:
Finest with Pockets: Athleta Salutation Stash Excessive-Rise Legging
Athleta
Salutation Stash Excessive Rise Legging
There’s purpose why Athleta’s Salutation Stash leggings took prime honors in our 2024 Activewear Awards: They’re gentle, supple, and final ceaselessly. “These are my every part leggings! I’ve been shopping for the Stash from Athleta for years, and so they maintain up,” one tester stated. “I train barre, raise weights, hike trails, and browse the aisles of Dealer Joe’s in them always.”
I really like how the waistband helps my core with out rearranging my organs, and the material mix (which incorporates moisture-wicking nylon, Lycra, and polyester) can stand as much as sweaty exercise classes—imagine me, I sweat a ton.
Sizes: XXS to 3X | Lengths: Petite (25 inches), common (27 inches), and tall (30 inches) | Supplies: Nylon, Lycra, recycled polyester, elastane, polyester (relying on the colour)
Finest Finances Choose: Outdated Navy Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings
Outdated Navy
Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Full-Size Pocket Leggings
Professional tip: You don’t must spend a ton to get a high-quality pair of black leggings. Outdated Navy’s Excessive-Waisted PowerSoft Leggings had been the number-one decide by SELF readers in our 2024 Activewear Awards, and so they’ll solely run you round $40 (even much less after they’re on sale, which is commonly).
“They’re comfy AF, slimming, and so they really keep up throughout runs! I actually have 25 pairs, and so they’re the one bottoms I’ll do races in,” one tester stated. “The facet pockets are so nice, I don’t even must put on working belts throughout my coaching runs to maintain my telephone, gum, and keys helpful.”
Sizes: XS to 4X | Lengths: Petite (26 inches), common (28 inches), and tall (32 inches) | Supplies: Polyester, spandex
Finest for On a regular basis Put on: Vuori AllTheFeels Legging
“After years of sporting and writing about leggings, I lastly know what manufacturers are speaking about after they say their tights have a ‘second pores and skin’ really feel, thanks to those leggings,” SELF’s senior commerce author, Sara Coughlin, says. “They’re lighter than air, endlessly stretchy, and really a pleasure to put on.” Coughlin wore the Vuori leggings for an entire day: She lounged on the sofa, went for a stroll, performed with the canine, “and I by no means as soon as felt distracted by my leggings,” she says.
Nevertheless, she doesn’t advocate this pair for exercises as a result of their thicker, knit materials traps warmth and moisture. “The leggings felt nice whereas I used to be stretching, however began to really feel a bit heat after I began lifting weights and transferring round,” she says. “I’m nonetheless glad to have them in my closet—they are surely uniquely and blissfully comfy—however now I do know they’re strictly lounging leggings.”
Sizes: XXS to XXL | Lengths: Brief (22 inches), common (24 inches), lengthy (27 inches) | Supplies: Recycled polyamide, elastane
Finest for Weightlifting: Underneath Armour UA Meridian Leggings
Underneath Armour
Girls’s UA Meridian Leggings
SELF’s director of health and meals, Christa Sgobba, is a leggings skilled: She’s worn dozens of various types through the years for enterprise and pleasure—as a result of, hey, while you’re a health editor, figuring out is each of these issues. Her prime tights for power coaching are the Underneath Armour Meridian Leggings.
“The fabric is so easy and light-weight—it doesn’t really feel constricting,” she says. That being stated, “These are completely squat-proof,” she guarantees (a should while you’re lifting). Bonus: UA reviewers say these make their butts look nice.
Sizes: XS to XXL | Lengths: Brief (27 inches), common (29 inches), tall (31 inches) | Supplies: Polyester, Lycra elastane
Finest for Yoga: Adidas All Me 7/8 Leggings
Adidas
Girls’s All Me 7/8 Leggings
Once you’re flowing by way of chaturanga, you need to have the ability to deal with holding your elbows tucked in and your core sturdy—not on whether or not your leggings are going to roll down. In keeping with SELF senior well being author Erica Sloan, that’s precisely what you get with this pair: “These actually are a second-skin sort of legging, so you possibly can virtually neglect you’re sporting them,” she says. “And for all their softness and stretchiness, I used to be nonetheless impressed by the truth that they stayed in place all through a Pilates reformer class and a number of walks round my neighborhood—no want to tug up the waistband.”
Whereas Adidas recommends the All Me leggings for low-impact actions, they do have the model’s “Aeroready” sweat-wicking expertise, which Sloan can vouch for. “I sweat a ton in Pilates, and these didn’t present the moisture a lot or keep moist for lengthy after,” she says.
Sizes: 2XS to 2XL | Lengths: 7/8 size (30.5, 31, 31.5, or 32 inches) | Supplies: Polyester (recycled), elastane
Finest Maternity Leggings: Hole Maternity On a regular basis Full Panel Leggings
Hole
Maternity On a regular basis Full Panel Leggings
SELF’s particular tasks director, Hannah Pasternak, says these maternity leggings from Hole are “simply sooooo gentle”—that’s 5 Os, buddies. Product of 90% cotton, they’re a bit thicker and have much less give than your typical exercise leggings. However Pasternak and reviewers agree that the fabric feels high-quality, particularly for the $60 price ticket.
Pasternak’s last phrase? “Trying on the mannequin in these leggings is nearly sufficient to persuade me to get pregnant once more,” she says.
Sizes: XXS to XXL | Lengths: 31.5 inches | Supplies: Cotton, spandex
What to search for when selecting black leggings
Listed here are some standards to remember as you weigh your choices.
All leggings have to be tight and stretchy (in the event that they’re not these items, they’re not leggings), which implies they’ll embrace materials like spandex, Lycra, or elastane. For train leggings, you’ll additionally need to search for sweat-wicking supplies like polyester or nylon, Alysha Flynn, founding father of the feminine working neighborhood What Runs You, beforehand instructed SELF. Lounging leggings, in the meantime, might embrace cotton or wool blends.
In keeping with Lauren Leavell, licensed private coach and barre teacher, ensure that your leggings permit you to transfer with out feeling restricted. Whereas all leggings are supposed to match near the physique, completely different pairs have completely different ranges of stretch and compression.
“In athletics, the concept behind compression put on is to enhance blood stream or oxygen supply to muscle groups,” James Borchers, MD, director of the division of sports activities drugs at Ohio State College Wexner Medical Heart, beforehand instructed SELF. Nevertheless, there aren’t many research to again these claims, so there isn’t a lot a “greatest” degree of compression as one which’s “greatest for you”—a.ok.a. no matter feels cozy.
Do you want a pocket to maintain your telephone bodily connected to your physique always? A drawstring to maintain your leggings’ waistband tight? Or will you be working exterior and want a pair with a zippered compartment on your keys and ID? Options aren’t all the time simply added bells and whistles—they’ll make the distinction between a legging that will get the job accomplished and one which makes you carry out even higher.
How we picked the leggings on this record
SELF editors sifted by way of on-line evaluations to search out beloved leggings throughout the web, then put a number of the prime picks by way of their paces. Testers wore their leggings for a number of actions—together with working, yoga, biking, and college pickup—over the course of the testing interval (testing time diversified by particular person, but it surely was at the very least one month lengthy) and washed them in response to the care directions. We additionally thought of previous winners from SELF’s Activewear Awards.
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