Five Lies You Are Telling Yourself If You Wear Sweatpants

I don’t usually spend much time thinking about fashion or current styles. In fact, I spend virtually no time thinking about such things. The topic just doesn’t interest me. Still, a few fashion choices bother me. Skinny jeans on men come to mind. Whoever invented this emasculating pant option is evil. Pure evil. However, that’s not the point of this article. There is another fashion choice that bothers me even more. It is a concept so disgusting, so dehumanizing, so debased that I feel compelled to expose it for what it is. You might be asking yourself, “What could be worse than skinny jeans?” The answer is simple. Two seemingly innocent words that form an unholy union of staggering proportions:

SWEATPANTS.

Yeah…I said it. For years–decades even–sweatpants have gone unchallenged and unchecked. They have avoided criticism due to their very nature. 1 I will allow that sweat pants in the privacy of your home are acceptable, barely. Public displays of sweatpants are never acceptable. Here are Five lies you believe if you are okay with wearing sweatpants:

1. “They are comfortable.”

Sweatpants apologists like to point out how comfortable they are.  Erroneous thinking. Hanging out in my underwear is comfortable but that doesn’t mean I should be doing it in public.2 3

2. “Sweatpants are easy.”

Those same apologists argue that sometimes it is just easier to slip into a pair of sweatpants instead of taking the time to select and iron a nice pair of dress slacks or khakis.  It is not easier.  It might save you a few seconds in the morning, but it will cost you a piece of your eternal soul. Verily. 4 5

3. “They don’t look that bad.”

False. They do look that bad. In fact, they look worse. When you decide it is okay to wear sweatpants, you align yourself with out-of-shape gym teachers, sweat-suit wearing mob bosses, and Justin Bieber. Is that really the kind of person with whom you want to be associated? 6

4. “No one cares if I wear sweatpants. I’m not hurting anyone.”

How selfish and self-centered can you be to think this way? When you don your sweatpants, everyone around you suffers.

5. “When I wear sweatpants, I feel good about myself.”

Wearing sweatpants in public tells the world that you have completely given up.  If you are willing to be seen in public wearing sweatpants then you have lost all self-respect even if you do not realize it yet. You might as well complete the picture and get some nacho cheese stains on your shirt (if you are wearing one) and Dorito 7 residue all over your fingers.


  1. “By their very nature” needs an explanation. Most people view sweatpants as morally neutral. They are simple sports attire. They are designed with active people in mind. Due to these things, they avoid scrutiny. That is their goal and their most powerful weapon. There is nothing morally neutral about them.
  2. Sweatpants were invented by Émile Camuset in the 1920s. He invented them to give people a comfortable option for exercise. He was the founder of Le Coq Sportif. Wiki source! He was also a Satanist.
  3. He wasn’t a Satanist. That was a joke.
  4. Renowned theologian/mathematician, F.N. Fitzgerald III did a complex study on this very thing in 1947. He discovered that wearing sweatpants, or any other pant-of-ill-repute option, in public, would have a Voldemort/Horcrux affect on the wearer. You will in fact surrender pieces of your soul every time you choose the easy road of sweatpants.
  5. Also not true. Please keep up.
  6. This is your role model.
  7. Don’t sue me Frito Lay!
Phill Lytle
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Phill Lytle

Phill Lytle loves Jesus, his wife, his kids, his family, his friends, his church, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, 80s rock, the Tennessee Titans, Brandon Sanderson books, Whiteheart, Band of Brothers, Thai food, the Nashville Predators, music, books, movies, TV, writing, pizza, vacation...

15 thoughts on “Five Lies You Are Telling Yourself If You Wear Sweatpants

  • April 22, 2016 at 8:44 am
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    This article rings of George Costanza (as the hearer, not the writer). Which means it is awesome.

    Reply
  • April 22, 2016 at 8:57 am
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    This much needed article will do much to bring about the change we must have in this world.

    Reply
  • April 22, 2016 at 9:18 am
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    You make some good points. However, no article on sweats can be trusted if it doesn’t reference Rocky Balboa and Chip from Napoleon Dynamite. Where would we be without those two and their sweatpants? In a world I don’t want to live in, that’s where!

    Reply
    • April 22, 2016 at 9:25 am
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      I’m okay with Rocky. He was a boxer in training. Of course he would wear sweatpants. Plus, it’s Rocky so he pretty much gets a pass for everything.

      Kip…different story.

      Reply
      • April 22, 2016 at 9:56 am
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        You know he was training to be a cage fighter.

        Reply
        • April 22, 2016 at 10:13 am
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          I guess he was also an athlete in training.

          Reply
  • May 15, 2018 at 9:00 am
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    I had a dream last night that I was taking my wife out on a date for our anniversary and she walked out of the house wearing sweatpants.

    I refused to leave the house when I saw what she was wearing.

    Needless to say, it was not a pleasant dream and I woke up feeling pretty annoyed with the whole thing.

    Reply
    • January 8, 2020 at 2:40 am
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      …you’re fat as f***. tell me how wearing sweatpants makes a person look bad and like they’ve given up when u have fat rolls? you have given up my guy. work on ur self before talking s*** about others

      Reply
      • January 8, 2020 at 8:37 am
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        aliyah, thanks for the response. I have edited your comment since this is a family-friendly website. I hope that’s okay.

        Beyond that, it appears perhaps we need to have a discussion about your reaction to my article. It seems to have struck a nerve. Maybe I am misinterpreting your comments.

        You are correct – I am a large man. I do not hide that – not that I could! For what it’s worth, being overweight does not mean someone has given up. Perhaps I have a glandular problem. Or a bad thyroid. Or maybe I like Pad Thai too much. But, I’ll tell you this, aliyah, when I do get to the point in my life where I am so large that I give up, I will still not wear sweatpants, even though they will probably be the only pants that will comfortably contain my girth. Do you know why I won’t wear sweatpants even then, aliyah? Because they are dumb. And ugly. For more reasons why I won’t wear sweatpants even if I were to weigh 400 pounds, see the above article.

        Again, thanks for your comment, aliyah. We love to interact with our readers.

        Reply
  • May 15, 2018 at 9:17 pm
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    I know what I’m wearing next time we go out!

    Reply
    • May 16, 2018 at 4:00 pm
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      You wound me.

      Reply
  • July 12, 2018 at 1:54 am
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    What if they were sweatpants made of velvet. I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable.

    Reply
    • July 12, 2018 at 7:31 am
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      Good point, Costanza.

      Reply
      • July 12, 2018 at 10:25 am
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        Faron can quote Rocky and Seinfeld at will. I think we were supposed to be brothers. Or even better, ministry partners.

        Reply

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