TRACKSUIT

The tracksuit is first a garment for sports. Donned by athletes, it is made for the track where running competitions are held.

Its first iteration makes it functional: the jacket and trousers were designed to keep athletes warm between games. To that end, ribs around ankles and wrists were elastic, holding the heat close to the body. Outside, the jacket’s zip allowed for easy removal. The stand up collar, meanwhile, ensured protection from weather without obstructing vision.

Maintaining body temperature, the ‘warm-up suit’ allowed constant readiness on the runners’ part. Mixing nylon and wool, the tracksuit was more accessible, more practical, and more elegant than the heavier athletic garments of the time

As early as 1939, Adidas and Le Coq Sportif were both instrumental in its introduction, with the latter coining it ‘the Sunday suit.’ As such, the tracksuit allowed working men a cohesive silhouette without the strictures of office dress.

The 1960s saw a great increase in popularity. Already, next to Herb Elliott at the 1960 Rome Olympics, his trainer dresses the track jacket up, pairing it with high-waisted and pleated trousers. Distinctive visual features were introduced: white lines running along the shoulders, arms, and down the legs. The name of Puma’s track jacket, the T7, refers to the width of this line: 7cm. The tracksuit thus became a vessel for visual signals.

In 1968, the Olympics in Mexico City saw Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists: while only a uniform, the worldwide spread of the image cemented the garment as more than functional. It was soon used by the music and film industries.

Most famously, Bruce Lee wore a red, then yellow tracksuit. As a costume, the tracksuit denoted agility and alertness. Looser, more directly political yet equally popular was Bob Marley’s tracksuit, worn during the London sessions for his album Exodus.

In the 1980s, athleticism became the mark of leisure. Airport photographs became paparazzi’s favored format: celebrities were captured in comfortable clothes, thus making comfort desirable. Some musicians went further, integrating the tracksuit to their visual identity: LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Snoop Dogg. Run DMC went the furthest, releasing a song sharing a title with the brand of their shoes: ‘My Adidas.’

This new edge took on a dangerous sheen: the tracksuit gained an association with organised crime. Looser and thinner, a Sergio Tacchini track jacket was often seen on John Angelo Gotti - later parodied in The Sopranos.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the association grew to include the British working classes, grouped with the Burberry check under the name of ‘hooliganism.’ Both Jamiroquai and Oasis allowed for a return of the garment to mainstream commercial and social viability. In 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums, Ben Stiller plays an anxious father: he refuses to leave his tracksuit. In 2003, Uma Thurman paid tribute to Bruce Lee’s yellow tracksuit in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Both comedic and cool, the tracksuit was now an inoffensive object.

The early 2000s, and Paris Hilton, made the tracksuit the uniform of desirability. A desirable life was now one that could see the buyer wear the same thing to party, shop, fly.

During lockdown, the tracksuit saw its popularity surge again: several companies reported shortages. Ever a sign of flexibility, the tracksuit remains a staple of everyday life.