2025 Running Fashion Year in Review and Trend Report
Best Ofs in Running Fashion, my read on what's to come in 2026, and things I hope to see. And for the love of god, please less "cultivating running culture" on Instagram.
Happy New Year! A big thank you to everyone who has subscribed this year, shot me a message, and got involved with the newsletter. This has been a huge year for me and it’s great to see stuff that I like writing about resonate with people. I love hearing from people in person or in the inbox, so don’t be a stranger!
This years roundup takes a slightly different format from last year. I wrote up my superlatives for the year, my trend predictions for next year, and what I’d like to see (big overlap there). Clickable outline below for you:
Best Ofs - my year-end superlatives
Trends To Watch - what’s coming next
Things I Want To See - what I want to come next
On The Ropes - might not make it
Things I Don’t Want To See - please stop
By the way…
I’m running a survey to hear your thoughts on the running x fashion landscape.
Please take a second to fill it out (after reading)
Dear reader, this is a very long post, so will be best read on the Substack app or website.
Best Ofs
Kicking off with some superlatives from this year. I don’t have a fun name for them, but gold star to anyone that comes up with something! This is pulled from everything I covered this year in the newsletter that stood out to me. I tried my best to account for recency bias, and sat on this for about a week.
My Favorite Writing
These are not all the most popular, nor my best writing, but they’re ones I had the most fun with. I felt like I was really spittin’. My editor (hey, Mom), might disagree since those were usually written in the least amount of time from a place of flow and not of grammar.
My Daily Drivers
My most worn stuff of 2025 was (unsurprisingly) a lot of running gear, even just day to day. My shoe rotation is vast, so can’t shout out anything in particular there. Here’s what I packed with me on every trip or found myself in all the time.
Growing vintage tee collection - getting high off my own supply here. If it isn’t sold yet…I am probably going to wear it.
Rabbit High Country Long Sleeve - This thing has a great pattern, is super comfy, resists smell, dries fast. Just an all around team player and layers super well. Shout out to the Rabbit team for sending me this.
Alex Zono “I Dig Running” Rainbow Trucker Hat - combine the top 3 items and some clapped out Levi’s and that’s been my uniform this year.
Gnuhr Shag Wool Sweater - Mom hit me with a “That’s a nice sweater!” at Thanksgiving dinner, so it’s a winner. Packs down super small for travel and has served me well for everything.
Best Apparel Brand
SOAR
SOAR is making the best running apparel money can buy. They’re using materials few other companies have even heard of. They have their experimental ProtoLab division just to make interesting things. If I had to wear one running brand only for the rest of my life, it would be SOAR.
This year they had a collab with Cubitts on sunglasses on these insanely light titanium sunglasses, an Altra capsule with their classic colors, and their wool tech tights are incredible. Also check out this insane Graphene race vest. They also did a sweet short film with Alex Zono.
Tim Soar is the closest thing to a cult designer that I’ve found in running. Anything he designs, I will wear and like.
Best New Apparel Brand
Gnuhr
They’re not completely running, but they’re doing amazing all the same. Their designs are unique, their photography is fun, and they had cool collabs with OEM and CW&T. They’re trendsetters.
Runner Up: Currently Running
Currently exploded onto the scene this year. It’s hard to believe that it was started in 2025. Top it all off, it’s just one guy. Nash crushes all the creative stuff and the apparel line looks great.
Most Improved Brand
Winner: Bandit
This will be a controversial take since they’re kind of like the LA Dodgers of running – near limitless funds compared to their competitor challenger brands. I expect them to hit home runs every time. For that reason, I’ve been very critical of Bandit’s marketing and product output. For example, none of their stuff with Good Hill Hunting at last year’s Boston hit for me.
This year, Bandit leveled up everything: product, brand, marketing in a way you could expect from millions of dollars in investment. It’s hard to take a brand and scale it, and still be cool, even with limitless money. There are plenty of sports teams that have a ton of money and are terrible. Credit to their team.
From a marketing perspective it’s hard to see where they’ll even go from here between their epic Run City popup, Space Odyssey launch of the Asics Superblast, the Office Space esque Wind Tunnel Testing film
Runner Up: Optimistic Runners
Optimistic Runners, the Berlin based apparel brand, put out a ton of interesting product this year from both a fashion and performance side. They went from some branded and basic singlets and shorts to a full product line with unique silhouettes in their AW25 line.
Runner Up: PYNRS
PYNRS had a great performance capsule after a couple years of downtime. Best covered by Lee’s interview with founder Sid Baptista. They partnered with Daughters and Sons Elizabeth McGarry to put out their latest work inspired by FloJo and a collab shoe with Brooks Running. Hoping to see the same uptick for Oiselle next year with McGarry leading design.
Runner Up: Puma
Puma put out some great footwear this year. They have made a huge comeback over the last several years. This year they launch of the new Puma FAST-R 3, stayed committed to their sub elite program, and people seem to love the Mag Max Nitro. The Saysky collab had some good colorways too…I’m still a slogan hater though. Get that off my kit.
Most Loved by Reddit
(And probably beyond). Funny category to have, but I moderate the r/runningfashion subreddit.
Janji
By far has the most good will of any brand I’ve come across. They aren’t paying a gazillion influencers or doing a lot of HUGE activations. It is by far the first to be recommended and is easily the least controversial challenger brand. They operate in an accessible mid-premium area, can be bought at REI, and their designs are great. They’ve pulled away from the super out there patterns they did before which makes it more broadly appealing.
I pitched them on doing an AMA, which stands for Ask Me Anything, a common community oriented Q and A session by the community. People on Reddit can be pretty nasty but it was easily one of the chillest sessions I’ve ever moderated. Read their designer, Conner’s AMA here!
Most Innovative Product
Gnuhr Warp Kit
Gnuhr has an advantage here in that they are an experimental product brand which is supported by a creative studio. Everything they do is innovation led in the pursuit of doing things new and different. They used their Warp Kit fabric on both shorts and a vest.
Every pocket is engineered directly into the fabric, and comes off the knitting machine fully formed and ready to go.
Runner Up: Houdini Lykan
Houdini came up with their own fleece knit here that I’ve never seen before. It uses a textured yarn in a 3D knit. The sweater wears like cashmere, performs better, and incredibly light weight.
Shoe Of The Year
The Mount to Coast H1
Incredible value, feels great on foot, and purported to last 40% longer than other super foam shoes. I have a pair I was sent to demo, and I love them...but I was sold on them well before I got a pair based on reviews and early feedback.
Runner Up: Cloudboom Strike LS
The Light Spray tech is so cool. It fits like a glove, is more sustainable, and its super light weight. The shoe overall is solid, but the upper really elevates it. Once On bust out their newer foam tech for 2026, I suspect we’ll see more podiums from their updated racer.
Runner Up: Puma Fast R 3
No small task to take “fastest known shoe” from the reigning champs Adidas and nike. However they do look whack. The collab version with Saysky is sweet in spite of the silhouette.
Best Collab Shoe
There were a TON of good but not sensational collabs this year. I’m hard to please because I’m already suffering from collab fatigue from my years as a sneakerhead in the streetwear industry.
For me a great collab needs to do a few things.
It has to look great. I want to be excited about it.
The partnership needs to make sense: why are these two brands working together? “Just because” should not be the answer.
The storytelling needs to make sense: whats the theme here and how does it relate back to both partners?
3sixteen x Saucony Peregrine 15 “Gesso”
I heard these were coming out, saw the shoe was a light cream color and called the “Gesso,” and immediately knew what was coming—finally my art history degree paid off. The shoes were designed specifically to be dip-dyed, and Andrew Chen of 3sixteen worked with a local-to-PA organic dye company Green Matters that they had partnered with before. They released a set of pre-dyed shoes made with Green Matters as well as blank “Gesso”.
This collab took the cake for me because it nailed several things:
It was true to 3sixteen – indigo denim is their thing, dying is part of the job. Craft is core to the brand, hence the small batch release of pre-dyed shoes.
The partnership made sense. Saucony was a brand Andrew Chen already ran in.
It looks great. Unique colors for everyone, not just brown stuff.
Runner Up: Hartcopy EVO SL
You can’t even buy these so hard to say that they “won”, but they’re wacky and I love the cycling overlap here. If you’re listening in Hartcopy, please send me a pair, I’m a men’s 9.5. More on them in roundup #62.
What The Hell Why Not: On x Pleasures x The Loop
Kudos to The Loop for pulling this off. There is absolutely nothing about this collab that makes sense from a partnership standpoint and none of the storytelling shed any light on it. But I’ll be damned if it didn’t look cool.
Best Drama
MothGate
Im a fan of their gear and have a few of their pieces but come on, they’re blowing up about holes in a shirt? - Some guy on Reddit
Nike was in a bit of hot water on the running side after putting out a Run Division tee that looked an awfully lot like SATISFY’s iconic MothTech™ tee. Someone initially shared it on Reddit, and SATISFY even posted a statement about it. The discussions online were heated, as SATISFY is a polarizing brand and people on the internet are (sometimes) mean.
The item itself is no longer online on Nike’s US or EU sites. But it’s still for sale in Korea.
My take on this:
They got the recognition they wanted for the copycat. Problem is they have no recourse, couldn’t afford to take Nike to court, and most people buying the tee from Nike would never have heard of Satisfy.
Runner Up: Grand Slam Track Bankruptcy
This is a tough one for me as there is something juicy in there but mostly a lot of people out a lot of money. It’s a black mark on the sport and a bummer as this discourages future investors. A lot of people wanted to see it succeed.
Best Marketing Stunt
Norda at UTMB with Ya Boy Scott Jurek
Norda had meme account Ya Boy Scott Jurek help launch the 001A and had him slinging “Power Hiker” hats. Hard to recreate, since it would look like a complete sell out for YBSJ, but fun for Norda to do something tongue and cheek at UTMB. Here’s what I said about it before. Also peep the Gnuhr sweatshirt on this guy!
Favorite Creative
This is more like my favorite, hard to rank the best here.
Liza Lombard x Alex Zono
Zono’s latest collection here was styled with regular clothing and shot more like a traditional fashion campaign style. Liza Lombard styled in perfectly, the makeup artist knocked it out of the park.
This was hardly the largest budget production, but I loved it. It’s super punchy, quirky, maximilist, unserious, and the outfits are incredibly fun.
Trends To Watch for 2026
The Perfectly Imperfect
We need more sentimental, whimsical stuff. I want things that have a slight wrongness to them, but the right kind. I wrote a longer bit on this in the ‘sletter already.
Customization was super hot this year, which imbues a bit of your personality into your shoes or clothes. If you work on it, you feel more connected to it. It’s an expression of you.
With apparel sliding towards earth tones, blacks, and factory made sameness, AI taking over, and screen times at an all time high, people are looking to slow down and get offline. There’s a lot of gear out there, and I feel sentimental about almost none of it.
As things are easier to make the same imperfection and traces of humanity are more valuable. It’s why paintings traditionally are more valuable than photos and why film is sought out in the era of digital. It’s why people like Alex Zono’s running hats, chain stitching their Heirloom hoodies, and dip dying their 3sixteen Saucony shoes.
It’s also why vintage running stuff connects with people. At the vintage popups I’ve done, people look for years their parents ran the marathon, or better yet, a tee from the year they ran the race. For a dinner with Salomon, I picked out individual tees for every guest based on some background info Drew Hartman gave me about them. Each tee wouldn’t be appealing everyone, but it had meaning to each of them individually.
Related—I’ll be dialing up my own vintage work this year with Big Plans™ for Boston in the spring.
Below is the paywall…but here’s a 30% off discount that’s good for the first week or so of 2026.
