Mega trends - men's running

January 2019

New premium running apparel brands for men are entering the market

CHECK TEN NEW UPCOMING BRANDS

For a long time, men's running clothing has been dominated by a few big brands, Nike, Adidas, Puma, Asics, Under Armour and a few others. The design has often been based on solutions with few technical details ready for mass production. That has started to change in recent years, as men now care more about how they dress and which brand they wear,

Alex Ingildsen CCO at LTP, is in contact with many brands, who either already produce at one of our factories in Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Vietnam or want to start production with LTP. Some of these brands are newly launched brands and therefore, he has an excellent picture of what is trending in the sportswear apparel market.

In the last 5-8 years, the two most significant sportswear apparel mega-trends have undoubtedly been bike apparel and athleisure wear, where hundreds of brands have been established in the market. See examples of brands below:

  • Bike apparel (e.g., Rapha, Pas Normal Studios, MAAP)
  • Athleisure wear (e.g., Lululemon, Varley, Sweaty Betty, Casall)

The new brands are often 100% online driven and are particularly visible on social media, primarily Instagram, where they build up their brand identity and virtually none of them have retail stores, they strive to keep their costs very low.

NEW MEGA-TREND: PREMIUM RUNNING APPAREL FOR MEN

In the past 6-12 months, Alex has experienced an unusually large number of inquiries from companies, who want to introduce a new luxury running apparel brand. They want to enter the market with a new unique brand identity consisting of the best performance material and with many technical details.

Below, are listed ten upcoming premium running brands, which are dominated by American and English brands.

1. ON RUNNING, FOUNDED 2010, SWITZERLAND

On Running was born in the Swiss alps with one goal: to revolutionize the sensation of running. It’s all based on one radical idea. Soft landings followed by explosive take-offs, or, as we call it, running on clouds.

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2. CASTORE SPORTSWEAR, founded 2016, United Kingdom

Castore Sportswear exists for one single reason – to make athletes better. We utilise advanced engineering and unique technical fabrics to create the highest quality sportswear in the world for athletes who demand the very best. Designed with a passion for innovation with specialist features to help to optimise athletic performance in all conditions.

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3. IFFLEY ROAD, founded 2016, United Kingdom

Iffley Road sportswear looks sharp and feels wonderful to wear but doesn't compromise on technical performance.

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4. SOAR RUNNING, founded NN, United Kingdom

Sour Running mission is simple – to seek unparalleled performance through the use of cutting-edge fabrics and innovative design, and to cherish the beauty of running in everything we do.

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5. TRACKSMITH, founded 2013, USA

Tracksmith honor the Amateur Spirit upon which the sport was founded and champion the Running Class – the non-professional yet competitive runners dedicated to the pursuit of personal excellence.

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6. AUSSIE GRIT APPAREL, founded 2016, Australia

Aussie Grit Apparal is an Australian start-up spearheaded by former Formula One driver Mark Webber. Like Mark, we are passionate about the benefits of training and being in the great outdoors. It’s what we describe as being ‘connected to nature’.

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7. SATISFY RUNNING, founded 2015, France

Satisfy Running are designed and prototyped in our Paris Creative Studio and constructed from fabrics developed in-house or from trusted suppliers. Our obsession with quality comes from our belief that technical running apparel deserves luxury-level care and craftsmanship.

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8. RHONE, founded 2013, USA

Rhone is produced by advanced materials and state of the art technology are combined with heritage craftsmanship to create a new standard in active wear. Every product tells a story of premium performance, reminding its wearer to push themselves physically without having to sacrifice comfort and style.

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9, ONLYATOMS, founded 2014, USA

OnlyAtoms is founded by a fashion industry insider who’s also an avid endurance runner and a long-time member of NYC's running community, OnlyAtoms merges high-quality and stylish design with athletic performance and running functionality.

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10. JANJI, founded 2014, USA

Janji running apparel that gives clean water to countries around the world.

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