In March of 2021, Jaci Wilson was emerging from the depths of COVID winter. She posted on her neighborhood Facebook group in St. Louis, asking if anyone wanted to go for a jog.
“Basically because I was just tired of running alone,” she said.
Sure enough, just over a dozen people showed up for that first meeting of the Dogtown Running Club. Now, hundreds come if the weather’s nice. And Wilson said it’s not just about running.
“The hangout that happens afterward is really where the magic happens,” she said — share a few drinks, meet new friends, and, of course, talk about the gear.
“ You know, if someone's rolling up with new shoes on, you're like, ‘Oh! Those are new shoes! Where did you get those?’” said Wilson.
Running is gaining in popularity, both as a form of exercise and as a social event. That presents an opportunity for makers of running apparel.
“ There has been a real spike in the number of people involved in those clubs,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.
According to Strava, an online exercise tracker, participation in running clubs grew by more than 50% last year. “Which of course is great for the industry in terms of sneakers and apparel,” Saunders said.
It’s given new arrivals to the industry a chance to compete with giants like Nike and Adidas, according to Cole Townsend, founder of Running Supply.
“It’s a lot easier than it used to be to start up an apparel brand,” he said.
Brands like Bandit, On and Hoka are fueling much of industry’s growth right now. Sometimes, they’ll show up to clubs and let runners try their gear for free.
A lot of this new gear is functional, said Jessica Ramírez, managing director of the Consumer Collective. Think things like shoes with better cushioning.
“And to be quite frank, as women, you do need more than just a big t-shirt,” Ramírez said. “There's sports bras that are involved and, you know, if I think of Lululemon, they do have some of the most successful sports bras.”
But beyond comfort and performance, Ramirez said that a lot of running apparel is a matter of fashion. That’s in part because running is no longer just a solitary sport.
“We've seen it as community-based and a place for people to meet people — dating, you know, replace the apps and things like that,” she said. “You're still gonna wanna look nice at the end of the day for that, you know?”
For a lot of runners, she added that running gear has just become everyday clothing.
