Everyone loves a good pair of faux leather leggings and Spanx has been absolutely dominating the market thanks to 17 billion bloggers all wearing the same outfits and “just popping on” to tell you how much they “absolutely LOVE these leggings!!!” But let’s be real, shelling out $100+ for a pair of leggings isn’t necessarily in the cards for everyone. Recently Aerie released a faux leather legging very similar to Spanx.
Facts First:
Spanx Faux Leather Legging:
- Sizes XS-3X
- Price: around $98, excluding taxes and S&H
- Vendor: Most commonly purchased from Spanx website directly or Nordstrom
- Fit: TTS (True to Size)
- Details: Spanx entire brand is basically built around the ability to suction all of the parts of you that aren’t “perfectly” (conventionally, based off of obnoxious social norms and standards) sculpted. In my opinion these leggings run TTS, I wear a size small in all of my leggings and these are no different. With that being said, because everything Spanx designs is made to hold you in like the casing on a Smith’s (sponsor me) hotdog you will 125% have to do the really emotionally stressful and kind of demeaning legging dance to fit all of yourself in to them. They have a little more give as the day goes on and after a little bit of wear but you’re still gonna have to dance.
Aerie (Crackle & Shine Legging):
- Sizes: XXS-XXL
- Price: $54.95 (I’ve seen them on sale frequently)
- Fit: TTS
- Details: So these seem to be sold out everywhere, I am sure there is a backstory but I am not doing the research. I am sure some blogger, that most likely won’t be me, will tell you when they come back in stock but let’s be real- my life is not the “swipe up LTK” life. I have a day job and I like to get drunk after work.
Comparison:
Neither of these leggings look particularly convincingly leather in person. Spanx pulls off the more leathery look when compared to the Aerie leggings, both in person and in pictures. However, the point of the style of both brands is that they are neither a soft fabric legging (like what you would wear with your Uggs and North Face to a high school basketball game), nor are they made of a material that would be easily confused for athletic leggings. This gives you the benefit of being able to dress them up or down. Faux leather leggings with a hoodie and sneakers? What an airport chic look! A turtleneck sweater and some heels? Oh thats business-y as fuck.
What I’m trying to say, is they both kind of fail at looking like real leather leggings, but they succeed at being versatile alternatives for any other kind of pants. This means, when judging the comparative value of both brands of leggings the biggest factors are quality and price.
- In my opinion, the Spanx are more structured, they feel thicker, they shape you better and while there is slight give after a day of wear, they don’t lose much shape at all. To me, this indicates that they will hold up better long term, and they should considering the price tag (higher quality, higher price).
- The Aerie leggings are tight and might provide some level of shaping but definitely less than the Spanx. They are also thinner, which makes them easier to squeeze into but does lead me to believe that the integrity of the leggings will be compromised at a faster rate than the Spanx.
Conclusion:
Because Aerie’s price point is lower, if you plan on wearing these leggings on special occasions then I would be pretty confident in saying buy the cheaper Aerie leggings and call it a day. If you plan on wearing them everyday (like me) maybe go for the Spanx instead. I will add that I would 100% buy the Moto Detail leggings from Spanx again and again because they have the interestingly badass moto-detailing, I get a ton of use from them and they have held up really well. So maybe, if you’re as into leather leggings as me, buy the Aerie “Crackle & Shine” for your plain legging needs and the Moto-Detail Spanx for your fun pants.
None of this matters, though, unless you can actually find a vendor that currently has the Aerie leggings in stock. So……yeah you’re welcome