The Development of the Designer Tracksuit
It was around 15 years ago that the humble tracksuit made its way from football pitches and athletic tracks onto the high street as a fashion statement. There have been a few hiccups along the way of course, who can forget the shell suit culture that swept the UK in the 1990s.
Suddenly people thought it was cool to be seen not only in nylon and rayon shellsuits, which were questionable material choices themselves, but also in colours ranging from electric blue to bright purple zig zags.
Fortunately, for both people's eyes and comfort, fashion designers spotted the potential which shell suits had shown to be present in the fashion market. Namely, that people wanted to be able to wear "comfortable" clothes on a daily basis.
The result was that people like Juicy Couture and Marc Ecko started to produce tracksuits in soft comfortable fabrics such as velour. Not only were these tracksuits comfortable but they were also seriously stylish. So much so that the ultimate style goddess of the 90s Madonna started to be seen wearing Juicy Couture, a move which launched this tiny label into the huge brand it has become today.
Quickly, other celebrities such as Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez followed suit and started to be seen out and about in their designer tracksuits and a movement was born.
Strangely, the sports which spawned the tracksuit got left behind by this new fast moving trend. Despite the new trend which was starting to develop around them, football kit makers continued to produce shiny polyester tracksuits which would only ever be seen on football pitches and nowhere else.
It was not until early this century that manufacturers and the main soccer brands such as Adidas and Umbro realised that there was huge demand for stylish tracksuits that were more than just functional.
It came as no surprise that it was an Italian brand in association with the Italian National Team which showed the way forward. Kappa were the official kit supplier for the Azzurri, as the Italian Football, check this football kits website, team are known,
and in the early 90s the team started to line up before matches in tracksuits which any stylish Italian would be more than happy to wear on the street of Milan. Quickly the other manufacturers started to follow suit with the result that there are now hundreds of types of tracksuits to choose from.
Suddenly people thought it was cool to be seen not only in nylon and rayon shellsuits, which were questionable material choices themselves, but also in colours ranging from electric blue to bright purple zig zags.
Fortunately, for both people's eyes and comfort, fashion designers spotted the potential which shell suits had shown to be present in the fashion market. Namely, that people wanted to be able to wear "comfortable" clothes on a daily basis.
The result was that people like Juicy Couture and Marc Ecko started to produce tracksuits in soft comfortable fabrics such as velour. Not only were these tracksuits comfortable but they were also seriously stylish. So much so that the ultimate style goddess of the 90s Madonna started to be seen wearing Juicy Couture, a move which launched this tiny label into the huge brand it has become today.
Quickly, other celebrities such as Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez followed suit and started to be seen out and about in their designer tracksuits and a movement was born.
Strangely, the sports which spawned the tracksuit got left behind by this new fast moving trend. Despite the new trend which was starting to develop around them, football kit makers continued to produce shiny polyester tracksuits which would only ever be seen on football pitches and nowhere else.
It was not until early this century that manufacturers and the main soccer brands such as Adidas and Umbro realised that there was huge demand for stylish tracksuits that were more than just functional.
It came as no surprise that it was an Italian brand in association with the Italian National Team which showed the way forward. Kappa were the official kit supplier for the Azzurri, as the Italian Football, check this football kits website, team are known,
and in the early 90s the team started to line up before matches in tracksuits which any stylish Italian would be more than happy to wear on the street of Milan. Quickly the other manufacturers started to follow suit with the result that there are now hundreds of types of tracksuits to choose from.
