There is a version of elasticated sweatpants that belongs in a gym bag and a version that belongs in an actual wardrobe, and the difference between them is not subtle. Fabric weight matters. So does the cut through the thigh and how the hem sits. Too tapered and they look like you’re auditioning for something. Too wide and the whole thing collapses into shapelessness. The ones worth caring about sit in that middle ground where you can wear them with a good tee and clean sneakers and look like you made a choice rather than gave up. We’ve been paying close attention to waistband construction, because a cheap elasticated waistband is the thing that ages a pair fastest and signals the wrong things immediately. The options we’ve pulled together here work at home, work on a weekend errand run, and a few of them work harder than that. Comfort is not the compromise. It is the whole point.