If Matt Taylor were Singaporean, I can totally imagine him going, “Wahlao eh. Kin ah!” to the slow paced running business. You would think that it would be a fast paced industry what with all the record breaking Olympians and athletes involved. Being in it for a long time, Matt can assure you first hand that it’s not. Why else would he be so annoyed?
As the former Head of Marketing for the Running, Training, and Fitness categories for sportswear behemoth Puma, Matt had a bone to pick with how the active gear is so shallow. Visually attractive? Yes. But functional? With all the skin chafing and rashes blooming… Hardly. Also, more things could have been done in the frustratingly inefficient 18-month development calendar that most businesses were running on. Many shared his sentiments, but all their efforts to bring about a revolution proved to be futile. Something needed to change. Where people saw problems, Matt saw opportunities. He wanted something that he, as an avid runner, would want to wear and feel comfortable in. And Tracksmith sprung forth from the cracking of his brilliant Yale-educated brain to fix his long-running displeasure that he shared with many others.
So Tracksmith is fresh on the market and if you go on its homepage, you’ll see a handful of pretty photos of sweaty people running with a scenic background of New England. The brand is also said to “create premium performance running apparel that celebrates the style and culture of the sport.” It takes on a fresh approach to performance running apparel by combining retro athletic designs with high tech fabric to achieve comfort and functionality that others have failed miserably at. As you can tell by now, Matt is serious about being a game changer. Great. May I also add that I already feel like I might actually belong to this elite group of runners if I put Tracksmith stuff on my back? Did you also know that New England isn’t actually a part of England?
If I could choose only one piece from its collection, I would pick its signature Longfellow Shorts. It’s crafted out of a four-way stretch fabric made in Switzerland that promises dryness and comfort. Not that it matters to me, but the cutting of the shorts and how the fabric looks, and the colours the shorts come in is just beautiful. I can already imagine myself matching it with a loose white T-shirt casually tucked into the shorts, and slipping on a pair of plimsolls for a lazy Sunday brunch. But for all you serious athletes out there, you might be interested in the Grayboy T-shirt, a cotton-rayon piece that promises to “wear in instead of out” over time. Perfect for frequent training. The Van Cortlandt running shorts, made out of a luxurious and lightweight material called 2:09 Mesh, is also something for you to consider.
After much browsing, I’m sold. Matt has successfully converted an inactive little slug like myself into getting one of his stuff, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. Good on you Matt.
Check Tracksmith out at www.tracksmith.com
