Is Tracksmith gonna make it?

margins are important.

Making Money wrote:

Margins are important when you have investors:

http://fashionista.com/2015/08/tracksmith-series-a

Agree. They raised $8M, but they are not generating $8M in revenues as of close 2016. Oiselle is well ahead of them in product assortment and offering and brand, and they just hit $10M in 2016.

I love the brand, love the storytelling, but the product value is poor. Cheap fabrics and cheap construction with an iconic stripe can only take you so far.

kjhg wrote:

I love the brand, love the storytelling, but the product value is poor. Cheap fabrics and cheap construction with an iconic stripe can only take you so far.

I've got to disagree with that statement above.

I hope they make it as one of their founders, Matt Taylor, was my college roommate. With that caveat and the fact they've advertised on here from time to time, the two running shirts I have from them are my two favorite running shorts I own. I love how they feel. I wear them around the house, I'll wear them running, etc. Granted I'm the guy who usually wears the same shirts over and over so maybe I don't have a lot of stuff to compare it to as I'm not buying $65 running shirts (I didn't buy these either), but I liked these so much I bought my entire family tracksmith stuff for Christmas. I figured it was the perfect gift. Something they might not usually buy themselves or be aware of, but of superior quality.

My dad called me now two days ago and said he got their catalog in the mail and liked it and wanted to know what to get (my dad was in the mail order business but doesn't run at all, so I thought that was kind of funny)

This is one of my shirts. Great fabric:

Mine says it was made in Malaysia. What does Patagonia say for disclosure on its foreign made stuff? I'm not familiar with that.

I love their stuff. I'm the precise target market: affluent former runners from preppy new england colleges. It has a premium feel and to my eye is better looking than your standard nike gear. The magnolia shorts and plain merino t shirt are my favorite items. They're simple and comfortable, no neon logos, not flashily high tech.

I get why it has a mixed rep on this board: it's unnecessary and expensive to buy stuff like this. Anti "blue collar runner." But it's nice and very well marketed, if pretentious. I wouldn't be surprised to see them succeed.

Owned by Pentland

heyyo wrote:

Truth Tellor wrote:

startup? they are owned by a massive conglomerate

Please explain.

Konami Code wrote:

I love their stuff. I'm the precise target market: affluent former runners from preppy new england colleges. It has a premium feel and to my eye is better looking than your standard nike gear. The magnolia shorts and plain merino t shirt are my favorite items. They're simple and comfortable, no neon logos, not flashily high tech.

I get why it has a mixed rep on this board: it's unnecessary and expensive to buy stuff like this. Anti "blue collar runner." But it's nice and very well marketed, if pretentious. I wouldn't be surprised to see them succeed.

Apparel is one of the riskiest businesses out there, and TrackSmith offers pure fluff to a microscopic audience. That ain't sustainable.

Change @ Park wrote:

Konami Code wrote:

I love their stuff. I'm the precise target market: affluent former runners from preppy new england colleges. It has a premium feel and to my eye is better looking than your standard nike gear. The magnolia shorts and plain merino t shirt are my favorite items. They're simple and comfortable, no neon logos, not flashily high tech.

I get why it has a mixed rep on this board: it's unnecessary and expensive to buy stuff like this. Anti "blue collar runner." But it's nice and very well marketed, if pretentious. I wouldn't be surprised to see them succeed.

Apparel is one of the riskiest businesses out there, and TrackSmith offers pure fluff to a microscopic audience. That ain't sustainable.

They'll be fine. It's not the goal of every brand to appeal to "the masses." I'll never understand why some women pay thousands of dollars for a handbag, but that doesn't make me think any less of the design, quality and brand. I also don't think TrackSmith has a "microscopic audience," but I can only assume the average LetsRun poster isn't on top of fashion trends.

Come to think of it, I think I did spot Nikeman and spouse at the Tracksmith (permanent) store over the Boston Marathon weekend.

So they've got the LRC stamp of approval.

doubt it wrote:

No way they'll make it unless they lower their prices to reflect their labor costs. $55 for a t-shirt, $138 for a sweatshirt, $60 for running shorts??? Adidas doesn't even charge that for Boston Marathon gear.

It is perfectly legitimate to balk at paying more than $50 for a t-shirt. But there is definitely a segment of the market that will pay that, and more, for a t-shirt. For example, I just went on the Mr. Porter app (sells fashion brands direct to consumers) and the prices for the first five t-shirts I came across were $115, $750, $125, $90, and $40. My guess is that's the market segment Tracksmith is targeting.

And from a business point of view, the high end is definitely the smart way to go for a new apparel company. There is no way that you can compete on price. People who just want a cheap t-shirt to sweat in will grab one for $5-$10 at Walmart or Costco, or $3 at a local flea market.

So yes, as a consumer I wish Tracksmith's stuff were less expensive. But from a business point of view, I think they would be stupid to lower their prices. Be the workout apparel for the people who happily spend $500 on whatever this year's hot new jeans are. That way you don't need huge volume to make some real money (margins are important in *all* businesses). Ask Loro Piana about that.

I believe Pentland made a capital investment in them, but a minority investment. Tracksmith are not wholly owned by any larger company and still operate as an independent firm.

Here's the deal. They started and promoted the "Made in USA" angle. It was heavily emphasized.

In 2016 they moved manufacturing elsewhere. They got called out on twitter about it. Crickets. They ignored the tweets. Here's one:

https://twitter.com/megdowdy/status/698279079921872897

I get it. They had to move to allow promotions like $250 of free gear if you PR. Personally, I wish they stayed small and grew organically. The switch of most products to made in Malaysia, in my opinion, was disingenuous.

People want "Made in USA" at those prices. The original tracksmith "Made in USA" stuff is selling for a premium on ebay. There's a used tshirt selling for $47 right now (including shipping). Some USED "Made in USA" Falmouth shorts just sold for $40 instantly. USED shorts with liners! I don't think the new made in Malaysia will have the same resale value.

limeinmydrink wrote:

Great running journalism in Meter though.

Too many typos and mistakes with basic grammar. They need a professional editor.

No. Tracksmith is a venture-backed company. Pentland was the lead investor in the Series A round, but that's not ownership. In fact, Pentland even says on its website that they're a minority shareholder.

Running should be a cheap and accessible dirtbag sport. Those $55 shirts, $150 shoes, and $300 marathons are everything that's wrong with the sport. The $$$ is why we have doping now.

Patagucci/Fratagonia has a map of all the factories they use, and each item in their website has links to the specific ones used in that item.

http://www.patagonia.com/footprint.html

Konami Code wrote:

I love their stuff. I'm the precise target market: affluent former runners from preppy new england colleges. It has a premium feel and to my eye is better looking than your standard nike gear. The magnolia shorts and plain merino t shirt are my favorite items. They're simple and comfortable, no neon logos, not flashily high tech.

I get why it has a mixed rep on this board: it's unnecessary and expensive to buy stuff like this. Anti "blue collar runner." But it's nice and very well marketed, if pretentious. I wouldn't be surprised to see them succeed.

I appreciate your honesty.

For what it is worth they have taken a huge page from the Bonobos book. In fact I believe this company and its founder are overly committed to following in Andy Dunn's footsteps.

What Bonobos did 18 months ago is what TrackSmith wants to do now for people like you.

I.e. the storytelling, a tuned clothing line, etc.

The biggest problem to succeeding in the track market is the "reviewers" on this site. Most of you don't want track businesses to succeed.

Are they serious with this copy? Their entire catalog reads like satire to me. Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms with paying good money for durable and functional running clothes (although it seems like I acquired most of my favorite items for free); I just feel douchier for having read that website.

I've got a lot of Tracksmith gear. I like the aesthetic a lot. I also dig their marketing and the fact that they are unabashedly about running as a competitive sport. It's really just about glorifying people like us, which is easy to love, amirite?

Is it expensive? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Eh. Running's a pretty cheap sport that I spend a huge amount of time pursuing. If a bit of gear performs better, then it's worth it to me. If a bit of gear only looks better, then I can take it or leave it. I think some Tracksmith stuff really is better than anything else out there. The VC shorts are my go-to for everything but racing. And the Bislett pants are amazing. They've almost completely replaced tights for me. Some other Tracksmith stuff seems unremarkable to me. For instance, I still prefer Icebreaker tees to any of Tracksmith's tops.

There are some other issues. They seem to have quite a bit of inconsistency in terms of both fit (stuff like really long sleeves in their tops) and sizing (some "small" stuff is huge, some "medium" stuff is quite trim). You don't get that with Nike, where everything is very dialed in.

Also, they obviously don't have a huge number of people testing their gear because there are some misfires that a bigger company probably wouldn't make. I'm not just talking about silly stuff like the "post run robe." I'm talking about how they apparently didn't realize that their first merino t-shirt was WAY too heavy for summer running. (They've re-released it now specifically marketed as a cool weather shirt, which strikes me as an awfully specialized bit of gear.) And how their downeaster top, which I love, initially came with snaps instead of a zipper, so you needed two hands to close it while running.

Anyway, I have little doubt that Tracksmith will "make it" in terms of surviving. I see people wearing their gear all the time in NYC and DC. On the other hand, But I don't know if they have the same upside as Rapha. The running market is broader than the cycling market, but a lot less hardcore.

White collar runner wrote:

For what it is worth they have taken a huge page from the Bonobos book.

Bwahahahaaaaaaaa......