If you like On Cloud but not the price or the ubiquity, the useful move is to match the shape and the material rather than hunting a copy. Buying the same silhouette from a brand that makes it properly ages better than buying a near-copy of a famous one. A convincing alternative copies the proportion and the material, not the logo or the hardware. A high waistband stays put; a mid one rolls. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is compression, waistband height and fabric recovery. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: Reef's Set In Performance Shirt at $40, and duffieldlane.com's Crab Tee at $25. The first is the considered buy; the second is the one to start with. A high waistband stays put; a mid one rolls. Squat test anything light coloured before you commit to it. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

One colour top to bottom makes cheap activewear look expensive. From the second group, LoveShackFancy's Leala Eyelet Active Dress ($225) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, dresses, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 pieces here from 15 brands, $20 to $368, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. Kenneth Cole's Essential Crew Neck Active Tee at $20 is the low-risk way in, and 7forallmankind.com's LARGE RIB V-NECK SWEATER in Cashmere Coffee Bean at $368 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. Read as a set, they get you close to On Cloud without any single purchase being compulsory. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: if you would not buy it at full price, you do not want it on sale.