GQ Fitness: Finally, Running Clothes for Normal People-UrbanUpdate

GQ Fitness: Finally, Running Clothes for Normal People

2025-02-05 11:55:10 Source：hndp Classification：Entertainment

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Photos: Courtesy of Tracksmith

There's no denying it: Running clothes are ugly. And what's more, they're all ugly in the exact-same way. Despite the American running boom-541,000 people finished a marathon last year and 1.96 million finished a half-the big apparel companies seem to think we're all content with tech-y synthetic materials in unflattering cuts and about two different colors (black and neon green).

So there's a wide-open lane for Tracksmith, a Massachusetts-based label that launches today with stylish gear reminiscent of Prefontaine-era track and field. The company is starting small, with a five-piece line made in New England and New York. And each shoe bag, which could easily be mistaken for old school Trovata, is unique-Tracksmith uses remnant cotton from the New England Shirt Company to piece them together.

It's like Rapha for runners. Which is no coincidence: Tracksmith co-founder Matt Taylor, who used to work at Puma, teamed up with one of Rapha's original co-founders and its former creative director, Luke Scheybeler. We chatted with them about the genesis of Tracksmith, why it's so damn hard to find simple running gear, and what's next.

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So was Tracksmith born out of frustration with what you found on the rack?

**Taylor: ** Yeah. I found myself running in a lot of non-running brands, whether it was a piece from J. Crew in the wintertime or some fun shorts in the summer. I was just never that thrilled with what was offered. It all looked very one-dimensional.

** Runners have been dying for some reasonably stylish gear for years. Did you guys see the dearth of smartly designed options on the market as a wide-open opportunity?

**Taylor: ** I felt there was an opportunity to do it in a different way. Those larger companies, they're like big oil tankers—it's very hard to turn them around or sort of affect any real change; it's just a long process. So to be able to do it and do it quickly and on my terms was the only option to do this.

**Scheybeler: ** I just saw a very similar opportunity as I did with Rapha. Running is a well-served market on the face of it. People just don't realize that everything's the same.

How will it compete with the Nikes of the world tech-wise? These aren't just vanity pieces, right?

**Scheybeler: ** For the most part, I think they'll be better. Because the quality of the fabrics we're using is better. People talk about technology as if it's some incredible scientific breakthrough. There haven't been that many major breakthroughs in technology. I think that ultimately quality is more important. Technology is simply moving sweat away from the body.

**Taylor: ** It does its job as well as or better than anything else on the market. For everything we do, function is its intended purpose. Our design aesthetic is just a bit more understated than what's out there.

**What's next for Tracksmith?

**Taylor: ** Everything on the apparel and accessories spectrum. So as we get into fall and winter you'll see a shift to seasonally appropriate clothes and accessories, like hats and gloves and bags. But how we can bring them to market will vary. So maybe it will be one product a month. Maybe sometimes we'll lump two or three products together at a time. We really have flexibility in how we sell gear to the consumer. We're not constrained by seasonal collections.

**Scheybeler: ** We want to take the classic running pieces and really do them right. You know, the best jacket and the best hat and really approach it quite deliberately. But the harder thing is making sure the quality is high at a price that's not ridiculous, and making sure that it makes sense and it's contextualized within the sport. And that's what I think has been missing.