Tracksmith founder and CEO Matt Taylor explains the driving force behind his growing brand and why the committed amateur athlete is at the very heart of his thinking

Its almost 10 years since American Matt Taylor founded and launched Tracksmith, yet still he gets a kick out of seeing someone out for a run, wearing his brands products.

I almost never say anything, but my kids will now push me a little bit. Dad, go and say something, he smiles. If a conversation starts I usually just listen and dont say who I am. I like to hear what people think and what they have to say you get more honest feedback that way!

All the evidence would suggest he is doing something right. Not only will the New England-based brand celebrate that landmark 10^th anniversary in 2024, they will do so from a position of strength. With a growing global community and three Trackhouse stores in Boston, London and New York we sat down with the founder and CEO to hear about Tracksmiths origins, ethos and plans for the future.

Tell us about your association with running

It was high school when I started running cross country at first and then track. I was good enough to be able to continue in college but not good enough to continue beyond that at a significant level. It continued to play a really important role in my life and pretty quickly became the career that I also pursued. Its been a part of my identity and my lifestyle for a very long time.

What drew you into the sport?

Cross country welcomes everyone and theres this bonding through the shared suffering, the sense that were going through this together. Its a team sport but an individual sport at the same time and thats what drew me in.

But theres also something about runners in that we like the pain, but we also like the progress. Theres no way you can do this sport if you dont appreciate getting to some pretty dark places during a hard workout or a race, but then getting through it and realising you could achieve it. I think Im addicted to that aspect of running as well.

What made you want to start a running brand?

I was a participant, I was a consumer and I worked in the industry in a couple of different capacities so I had a really unique opportunity to experience the sport in a lot of ways. I just got to the point where I felt running deserved better.

I felt that a lot of things could be improved not just the product but also events, the retail experience, content, mediaI thought all of those could be elevated.

I knew from a young age that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and creators and I had the mentality of wanting to be in control of how things went. If it failed, at least you felt like you really had a say in that. If it succeeded, it was your vision that you were able to carry forward.

Whats is the vision and driving force behind Tracksmith?

That we can do things better. I saw three really clear areas of opportunity. The first was a style component. It wasnt so long ago that, if you took the logos off the majority of running apparel out there, you would never be able to tell whose product it was.

The second area was a huge cultural component. Brands were either putting resources towards athletes who were trying to win Olympic medals and set world records or they were focusing on the opposite end of the spectrum, which was more the health and wellness side of running. In the middle of that are millions and millions of runners who are committed. Theyre never going to be professional, but theyre much deeper into the sport than someone doing it for exercise.

The last thing was quality. Not just quality of the product but quality of everything associated with it. I felt if we could combine those three things then we had a fighting chance.

How important, then, is the committed amateur runner to Tracksmith?

The Latin root of the word amateur is for the love and thats what really resonates for us. That was the underserved customer the person who is getting up before work or going out after work in the pitch black or in the rain or the cold. Running is a part of their identity and human experience. I think there are so many of those runners out there and it felt like there werent a lot of brands that were speaking to that particular runner.

I spent a year in London when we were opening our Trackhouse there and I joined Highgate Harriers. Its a club thats been around for so long and has such great history. Those athletesthey cared so much. Its like a high school cross country team but were all adults and we all have jobs, we all have families. Were all still racing and were putting spikes on in the middle of winter to run Parliament Hill. Its such a such a unique thing and thats the kind of runner I always have in mind.

You have put a lot of effort into creating a sense of community, which has been extended by opening up the Trackhouses in Boston, London and New York

Weve been very strategic and specific in the locations of the Trackhouses. It was always our intent to have an international presence and those three cities are very special when it comes to running culture and running history.

How much emphasis do you place on the personal connection with the customer?

For anyone that has worked at Tracksmith and been able to work at one of our event pop-ups or spend some time in one of our stores, it becomes so clear so quickly how important that personal interaction is. Thats everything from just being able to touch and feel the product to coming to one of our long runs on a Sunday and seeing oh wow, look at all of these people that are doing exactly the same thing as me. Weve always wanted to perform best as a brand in real life. Its why we invest a lot in our community efforts.

Why have you set up a London base?

London is still the gateway to Europe for American brands and its history and heritage with running is unmatched.

We started to invest a little bit there, doing a pop-up in 2019 and starting to build community. We did the Tracksmith amateur mile and some other events before opening the store so, by the time it was ready to open, there was a bit of awareness. We still have a long way to go, but it certainly gave us momentum. I couldnt be more excited to be there. I miss London every day.

That feeling of history and heritage is clearly something which is very important to Tracksmith

New England is where the brand started and the classic collegiate sportswear from this region, with its understated simplicity, was a strong influence and inspiration for me.

However, running is one of the truly global sports so were also inspired quite a bit by the historical and contemporary moments, athletes and races. We have celebrated Roger Bannister quite a few times, for example, and created product influenced by the Ekiden Relays in Japan. We celebrate the sport as a global sport.

We also try to do our part to tell some of the stories that havent been told in the sport for a long time or have been overlooked, like the story of Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. We have a sense of responsibility to keep those stories alive or to inspire people with stories that havent been told really well.

There is a very distinctive look to Tracksmith products

We do have a classic, timeless aesthetic. From a design perspective, thats often an exercise in restraint, so I think what really sets a Tracksmith product apart is fabric selection and the consideration of how the garment comes together. Our equation has always been to provide the best performance-to-value in anything we craft.

What does the future hold for Tracksmith?

There were two really important initiatives weve been focused on during the last 18 months or so. Those were opening more retail sites and launching footwear, so we opened stores in London and New York and we launched our first running shoe the Eliot Runner. It doesnt take a lot to imagine that there will be more of each of those things. We want to open more stores, we want to be in more cities, we also want to do more on the footwear side. People ask me where I see Tracksmith in another 10 years time and its really not vastly different from where we are today. Its just that well be able to do more of it.