2024 Running x Fashion Trend Report
The hype-ification of running brands, maybe too many collabs, and what's coming in 2025.
A very genuine thank you to everyone who has signed up this year for the sub. It’s been awesome getting feedback, emails, and just seeing people read the weekly posts. Expect more one-off longform pieces as well, and hopefully a features in an online mag soon!
For the year end, I’m running a survey to hear your thoughts on the running x fashion landscape. This is just done by me, for us, not any brands. I make almost $0 (thanks for that donation!) on this substack.
Please take a second to fill it out!
2024 has been the year of Hype
While 2024 was the year running brands went all-in on the hype strategy, this shift didn't come out of nowhere. Tracksmith was early to this game, quietly building bridges between running and fashion through collaborations with Noah NY, Rowing Blazers, and J.Crew years ago, as well as Hoka breaking in early with Opening Ceremony and Outdoor Voices. They saw the potential in reaching beyond the core running community with popular niche (at the time) brands while maintaining their performance credibility.
What's Actually Different This Year
The volume of collabs with lifestyle or fashion brands is unprecedented.
Hype driven marketing. Weeks of slow drip imagery on socials, influencer product seeding, limited drops with full strategy behind them. In the past that namely just Nike.
Secondary market is in play. People are flipping running shoes.
Everyone is doing a collab
The sheer volume has been wild. I tallied up no fewer than 17 collabs in 2024 between fashion and running brands on running specific models. And these are just the cross functional collabs. I’m not including collabs between the likes of Asics and Bandit, or Merrell and Janji. While the Satisfy x Hoka Mafate Speed 4 Lite took the cake for most sought after, we had some sort of hype worthy launch seemingly every other week.
Some highlights from this year:
On partnered with streetwear giant Dover Street Market, popular Parisian running store Distance, and luxury fashion house Loewe, and post-modern brand Post Archive Faction
Saucony x Minted NYC, a menswear startup founded by popular TikTok influencer Marcus Millione released a full kit and a punchy YK Blue Endorphin Speed 4
Brooks (yes, Brooks) linked with lower east side streetwear store Extra Butter on the Cascadia
Crocs collab’d with Satisfy on recovery slides and Hoka on trail shoes
Action Bronson, known for his instantly sold-out lifestyle collabs with New Balance did 2 performance running shoes
New Balance worked with niche cafe and streetwear brand Paperboy Paris
Bode, a now award-winning but former IFYKYK brand in menswear, did a full athletics inspired capsule with Nike featuring Eliud Kipchoge himself
Market shift: running shoes are on StockX
Artificial Scarcity
Here's what's actually interesting: the resell market for running shoes is a real thing now. The green colorway of the Satisfy x Hoka Mafate Speed 4 Lites are currently selling for $100+ over retail on StockX, a popular secondary market usually reserved for limited Supreme, Nike, Jordan, etc.
Early this year, the Nike Alphafly NEXT% 3 Proto sold out in minutes, and even oversold at some stores unused to web traffic. The total stock of the shoe was very low, with Nike running partner stores only getting a few size runs and Nike itself having a total online stock of 1,267 pairs – about a 1/10th of what they’d have for a Jordan release. It was such a popular shoe, it was covered on Hypebeast, Complex, Sole Retriever, and just about every other sneakerhead blog.
Adidas’ ultralight supershoe, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, was $500 and still sold out instantly. The adidas Evo SL, a lower tier racing shoe priced at $150, sold out the same day they came out. Even now, people are posting on Reddit every time they find them available online or in store. It’s on backorder at Running Warehouse.
These aren't “bricks”, as they’re called in the sneakerhead world, sitting on shelves – these are now sought after by not only runners but sneakerheads for their resell potential.
Sneaker Release Mechanics
Take the Action Bronson x New Balance FuelCell Rebel v4 drop - it’s a legitimate performance shoe getting full streetwear treatment, from the lookbook aesthetics to the drop mechanics. The shoe was released shortly after a shakeout run for the NYC Marathon at 10:00 am on a special subdomain and password protected site just to make it harder for bots. And it sold out instantly like all of his regular, lifestyle New Balance collabs.
The Culture Shift
Running clubs are more popular than ever, vastly dwarfing the performance teams and track clubs of yesteryear. Marathon participation is at its highest ever. The influx of runners skew far more towards the mainstream, where performance is generally secondary to visual appeal.
Frankly there hasn’t been a ton of technical advancement as far as apparel goes, so there’s no reason things can’t be on trend. The same goes for shoes now that most brands have caught up to Nike on the performance side. Even still, not everyone needs a Next%. Unless I’m racing, I’d rather have some limited edition Saucony or Hoka.
The market growth in the running space is demanding apparel not equipment, meaning style and quality matter just as much, if not more than, performance.
What's Next
I don’t think we’re at peak hype yet. I think next year we’ll see a trickle down into all areas of social media, marketing, and product. We're watching running gear get the full streetwear treatment in real time, with third-wave brands using the formula, and incumbent brands starting to work it in. Brands still lagging behind will scramble to replicate the model of success.
Collab Wars
While collabs are a powerful tool for grabbing attention, it seems it might become a hammer for marketing departments. Collab saturation makes it harder for brands to stand out. There has been the same issue in the the sneaker and fashion space, where people are already numb to collabs. Brands will need to work tactically to create authentic collabs that bring synergy to the equation, rather than smushing together two markets.
Merch Only “Brands”
A lot of cash-grabby Instagram accounts are jumping into the running space making graphic tees, hoodies, and hats. Now that running has mainstream attention, a few Instagram ads go a long way. Expect some brands to popup, do a couple tees, and disappear.
Not adding an image here…
More Lifestyle Drops
Brands like Tracksmith, Satisfy, Bandit, and Hermanos Koumori have already leaned into a lifestyle line. Hoka has grown their lifestyle line faster than running which is why their stock value has hockey sticked 📈. You can sell to a broader audience if the style works for more than just running.
Continuing the Running Retros + New Vintage Spin
I don’t see this trend dying any time soon. Nike, Saucony, and Asics are at the forefront of the running shoe retro bringing back early and mid 2000s models. Sportstyle is still hanging in tough.
Vintage is another horizon that hasn’t yet played out in the running space, but is starting to show up in boutique stores. Plenty of old race tees to go around.
Thanks for reading along folks! See you in the new year.
You should touch on Stance attempting to break into running with their latest capsule collection.
I had those OG Stinsons well the red white and blue colorway;)