The ACL Podcast 003: Matt Taylor of Tracksmith

Knox Robinson &#8212;the coolest guy in running&#8212;in the New York Pioneer Club collaboration capsule.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.tracksmith.com/">Tracksmith</a> is interesting to me because of how it has managed to take inspiration from history &#8212;to embody the aesthetics of a heritage brand&#8212; while simultaneously being completely forward-looking and modern. I&#8217;ve seen a lot of brands try to do this and it almost never feels right. Tracksmith took the good parts of archival running and modernized it to create an inclusive, fun, New England-centric brand that seems to know itself (and its customer) very well. <br/><br/>I would guess that everyone wrote-off the brand initially when they considered it was going up against Nike and all of the massive companies that dominate athletic apparel. What was obvious to the Matt Taylor, who founded the brand in 2014 with Luke Scheybeler, was that there was an unrepresented group of runners who didn&#8217;t seem to connect with the big brands. That&#8217;s where Tracksmith&#8217;s boutique approach fit right in. <br/><br/>Matt Taylor ran track & field at Yale. He later worked on running for Puma. Scheybeler is also a Rapha co-founder and he helped both brands establish a strong initial visual and creative presence. Tracksmith pairs technical details with classic Ivy-inspired design elements in a way that&#8217;s easy to describe, but hard to actually execute. Beyond design, the focus of the product is highly functional for both the casual and elite runner. <br/><br/>Matt&#8217;s collegiate running experience and the brand&#8217;s New England roots have both shaped what Tracksmith is today from a design perspective. Tracksmith fills a void for amateur runners with a technical yet classic aesthetic. <br/><br/>It&#8217;s important to disclose that I do marketing consulting with Tracksmith. I want to be completely transparent about that and it&#8217;s not something I am trying to hide. Doing this story was my idea and no one at Tracksmith pushed for this even