How to Get Athleta Clothes Cheaper or Free

Athleta is one of my favorite athleisure wear brands. The clothes are durable and stylish for working out and being on the go. The clothes are expensive though, so I’m always on the lookout for how to get Athleta for less.

Take a look at this list of ways to get Athleta cheaper or even free!

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Let’s dive in!

1 | Shop the sales

Being frugal-minded, I love getting the things I want when they’re on sale. The difficulty with Athleta is that the most popular items, sizes, and colors are often sold out by the time they go on sale.

You might get lucky finding some of the colors and sizes that you want on sale. These Trekkie North Joggers are on sale for $69.99 instead of $89.99 but only in sizes 18-26 in the regular length. Check the website frequently for new markdowns.

Athleta brick-and-mortar stores have sales racks in the back. You might be able to find an item that’s unavailable online in the sale section of a store.

Athleta also has a semi-annual sale where you can get items for up to 60% off. The sales are in July and Dec/Jan if you can wait until then. The last sale had some really good deals!

2 | Spend $50 to get free shipping & free returns

Let’s be honest, it’s easy to spend $50 at Athleta. That’s one pair of pants or even one sports bra.

If you find the item you want on the site, it might be worth getting then and there before it sells out. You can return it for free by mail or at a store.

Try pairing the free shipping benefit with one of the suggestions below.

3 | Shop second-hand sites and marketplaces

Shopping second-hand sites is my favorite way to get Athleta items cheaper. Don’t be fooled by them being called second-hand. Many of the items are new with tags.

I shop on

Poshmark
Mercari
eBay
thredUP
Facebook Marketplace

These sites are great for finding older styles no longer available in stores, hard to find colors and sizes, and sometimes current styles for less than retail.

I’ve purchased 4 Athleta vests and 1 puffer jacket on these sites for about ⅓ to ½ of their retail price.

** If you don’t have a Poshmark account, you can receive a free $10 bonus when you sign up with my code SFGIRL2015.

** On Mercari, you can get a $10 credit when you sign up with the code JENMHM.

Those Trekkie North joggers can be found new and used on these sites for less than retail. The discount may not look like much with tax and shipping, but you can save more:

Negotiate with the buyer for a lower price
Shop on days when the site or sellers offers discounted or free shipping
Sort by the lowest cost and start shopping from there

Examples of Poshmark listings for the pants that retail for $89.99

4 | Set notifications

Some sites like eBay and Mercari let you save your search. You’ll be notified when a new item comes in matching your search terms.

Save your search on eBay by tapping on the heart icon

On Poshmark, you can follow brands and the latest items from that brand will show up in your feed. You’ll also get emails to show you the latest styles from that brand unless you opt out of them.

If there’s a brand or item I really want, I’ll also get on a site like Poshmark daily and look for anything new that comes up.

The most popular items or items at a great price sell out fast, so I want to be the one to get them.

5 | thredUP partners with Athleta

Another fantastic way to get Athleta clothing is to send in your old clothes to thredUP using their Athleta partner clean-out bag.

thredUP has partnered with several brands such as Athleta, Gap, Vera Bradley, Reformation, and Frame.

Google “thredUP partner bag” or go the this page to get a shipping label.

Then send in clothes that you don’t wear anymore using a label ordered on thredUP’s site.

The clothes can be from any brand. Your bag of clothes is processed shortly after arriving at a thredUP warehouse.

You’ll receive credit for each item they accept. You’ll receive your payout in the form of Athleta credit.

As of this writing, you’ll receive an additional 15% shopping credit on top of what you earn from the clothing!

Example:

You send in a bunch of old clothes and things you don’t wear.
thredUP selects several to resell, and you receive $0.50 per item for a total of $20.
You receive an additional 15% shopping credit, so you earn a total of $23.
You get a gift card for $23 that you can now spend at Athleta.

The amount you receive per item varies, but it’s not very much.

That’s why I recommend only sending in certain items

ones you don’t want anymore
old but wearable items
items you got cheaply
items that were donated to you.

6 | Shop discount retail stores

Check out the athletic wear section of discount retail stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls. I’ve seen Athleta items sold there.

The only difficulty was that the items were in limited colors and styles and size XXS. Not many people can fit into that, which is probably how they ended up at a discount retail store in the first place.

7 | Thrift shop

Another easy way to get discounted Athleta clothing is to shop at thrift stores. You wouldn’t believe the stuff that can be found there. It’s not all junk.

I regularly see workout wear from higher-end brands such as Lululemon, Athleta, and ALO yoga.

Of course I see a lot from Kirkland (Costco brand), C9, and other more inexpensive brands too.

I found two pairs of Athleta Skyline pants and a pair of other joggers among other Athleta items at the thrift store this year. They weren’t my size, so I sold them and made money from them.

You can do that too and use the money to buy more Athleta clothes!

8 | Earn Athleta gift cards on survey sites

Swagbucks is a free rewards website where you can earn Athleta gift cards.

You earn points for doing tasks like answering surveys, playing games, watching videos, and searching the web.

There are enough tasks that most people can earn a few dollars in points a day.

Then you redeem the points for gift cards to stores such as

Athleta
American Eagle
Amazon
Walmart
Target
Starbucks

You can even earn Visa and American Express cards that you can spend on anything.

Sometimes there are specials where you can earn gift cards faster. For example, right now the Athleta $25 gift card requires 2,200 points instead of the usual 2,500 points.

It’s free money for doing small tasks in your free time. Hard to pass that up, right?

Sign up for a free Swagbucks account and start earning free rewards today.

Athleta gift cards you can earn for free available at Swagbucks

9 | Shop buy-sell-trade stores

You can find Athleta items at buy-sell-trade stores such as Buffalo Exchange. Crossroads Trading, and Plato’s Closet. You may have independently run stores like this in your area.

How it works is that people bring in their old clothing, shoes, and accessories. An employee looks them over and selects which ones she thinks will sell.

The person gets cash or store credit in return. Store credit is worth more than the cash.

In my experience, store credit is worth half the value of the items. So if they will sell a shirt you brought them for $10, you would receive $5 in store credit.

You can spend the store credit on Athleta wear or use the cash to go buy clothes at the Athleta store.

10 | Facebook groups

There are Facebook groups dedicated to the resale of Athleta wear. You can sell what doesn’t fit or you don’t wear and pick up the items you want on there.

I suggest joining a few of the groups so you have access to more items.

11 | Athleta credit card

Athleta’s credit card may be worth it if you shop there frequently.

Cardcrucher.com has a great detailed review of the Athleta credit card.

You get benefits such as

20% off eligible Athleta items with your first credit card purchase
Early access to sales
5 points per dollar spent at Athleta and partner stores.
Expedited shipping passes
Bonus point shopping days

You have to earn 500 points to get a $5 reward.

12 | Join Athleta’s loyalty program

In Athleta’s loyalty program, you earn points for your purchases at Athleta, Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy.

You earn 2 points for every $1 spent. When you reach 500 points, you receive a $5 reward.

13 | Fitness professional discount

Athleta provides a 30% discount off regular price items for fitness professionals.

These are people who are certified fitness professionals, fitness instructors and personal trainers, and group fitness instructors.

You have to provide proof such as your certification, a letter from an employer, or proof of your current and active class instruction schedule.

14 | Shop at an Athleta outlet

If you’re lucky, you have an Athleta outlet near you. One reviewer of an Athleta outlet said that the outlet was similar to Athleta’s sale section with items priced about 25-50% off of retail.

You likely won’t find deep discounts as they are rare for Athleta. Even the sale rack can be pricey, but it’s cheaper than full-price and may be worth it for the items you want.

15 | Work at Athleta

Have you ever considered working at Athleta?

If you need a job and your local Athleta is hiring, join their team and receive up to 50% off of merchandise.

16 | Use a promo code or discount codes

I found promo and discount codes online by searching “Athleta discount” online. Some of the codes that came up were for

20% off of a $150 purchase
20% off of a full-priced item
20% off of one item for signing up for the newsletter

I tried some codes and they worked for me. If you come across a code that doesn’t work, it may be expired. Keep trying to find one that works for you.

17 | Take advantage of price adjustments

Athleta will refund the price difference of an item within 14 days of purchase. So if you purchase an item for $100 and see it goes on sale for $75 a week later, you can contact Athleta online, by phone, or in-store to request a price adjustment. Get your money back!

What do you love about Athleta? How do you get Athleta clothes cheaper or free?