The Tastemakers in Trail Running
Who are the people and brands setting the trends around fashion/lifestyle in trail running? Where do we look for inspiration around how to show up in the sport?
Auteur Sportif is dropping a limited run of merch with our take on The Great Western States Art Exposition. You can pickup a T, hat or poster from me directly in Palisades Tues-Thurs June 24-26. I’m hoping to put a run together on Thursday. Jump on our email list to see the collection and be notified at launch.
Come to TrailCon! I’ll be moderating a panel around Athlete Representation on Tuesday and another panel on Creatives in Trail Running on Wednesday. It’s open to everyone and registration is free. I’m looking forward to the sidebar conversations on ideas like tastemakers so come say hi and let’s nerd out on trail running.
I asked ChatGPT and Gemini to define a tastemaker and after adding my own edits here’s a mashup definition that resonates with me:
Tastemakers are individuals who significantly influence popular culture and trends, shaping how others think, act, and experience the world. Tastemakers often have strong aesthetic or cultural sensibilities and can shape trends by curating, promoting, or endorsing certain styles, artists, or products before they go mainstream.
They notice what many miss and their personal curation attracts the attention of others. In short, tastemakers help define what’s “cool,” “valuable,” or “worth paying attention to” before the broader public catches on.
I frequently read The Sociology of Business and Ana Andjelic writes about this concept well.
“Cultural tastemakers are economic agents: they tell us what we should pay attention to and why, and in the process, skew the economy towards socially and culturally relevant things and moments. This is something that tastemakers always did; the difference now is that, unlike the tastemakers of old, the modern tastemaker can - and does - come from anywhere.”
So who are the tastemakers in trail running?
As an experiment I asked my IG followers who they see as the tastemakers in trail running and here’s what I learned.
Before I list the top responses I had some observations.
The engagement was high and there was clear excitement around the topic. I’ve never received more DMs. I probably heard from 80-100 of you with opinions and ideas. Apparently the topic is relevant to the moment and this is a powerful question to be asking.
Many people are opposed to tastemakers in trail running. They love trail bc they can just wear whatever they want without judgement.
“Fashion and trail running should not be in the same sentence.”
The term “fashion” seemed to trigger implications of status and social judgement as opposed to freedom of expression. It has a very negative connotation for a lot of people. There was talk of virtue signaling and status signaling from the sizable utilitarian crowd out there. Personally, I see trail, and running in general, as being wildly self expressive and that interpretation of fashion guides my curiosity.Very few people mentioned are traditional influencers, creators, reviewers, podcast hosts or media in general. There is an authenticity factor around a tastemaker and they lose value if they appear to be trying too hard. It’s cooler and more effective when they don’t even know they’re doing anything.
There were only two mentions of retail shops (Renegade in Oakland and Overland Running Provisions in Girona).
There was just one mention of a run crew (Guapo Boys).
Brands are not utilizing/embracing athletes as tastemakers. Race kits sanitize a pro’s ability to be creative when the eyeballs are on them. This came up a lot.
“In order to be fashionable it has to be an unsponsored athlete (they can be fashionable but are ALWAYS decked out in full sponsor kit, so no room for creativity), and the fashion is pretty much all satisfy/tiempos/norda (tattoos n mustaches), not a lot of originality. I don't see many people except maybe microinfluencers on a case-by-case basis really thinking for themselves.”
“What appears to happen more often is that a brand simply assigns an athlete to a product already designed. Very rarely do you get the idea that an athlete comes to a brand authentically with a new or esoteric idea to have them design a solution.”
Further along these lines it was pointed out that Satisfy is creating a signature look for each of their athletes while Salomon provides their athletes the most kit options to customize to their liking.The pros listed skew heavily female.
Zero big brands were mentioned but a handful of small brands were called out as leading the way - Satisfy, Gnuhr, Norda, Tiempos and Portal.
Satisfy and its team were mentioned far more than any other brand although many expressed exhaustion with various Satisfy tropes. There was an implied inevitability to the Satisfy suggestion but a corresponding reluctance to even bring them up. They are clearly not a brand for everyone (something I’m sure they’d be quick to admit) and their divisiveness is no doubt helping their awareness.
”Satisfy (reluctantly)”
”I’d say Satisfy is just the want to fit in culture. I don’t see any real trail runners wearing it lol”
Satisfy team members mentioned as tastemakers in trail:
Max Joliffe
Michael Versteeg
Brice Partouche
Here are some other noteworthy quotes that I couldn’t quite categorize.
”My thing is what does a "fashion tastemaker in trail running" mean? I don't see any examples of people leading the way in trail running in a unique and original way, everyone wants one of two things: techy performance (classic Salomon, Altra, TERREX, etc.) or "counter culture" which has just become the culture (satisfy, norda, etc.)”
”The cool girl you see at the race. Period. Her braids or her leg tattoo. Her vibe. Then you look at what socks she’s wearing. That’s it. No one famous. Repeated across every community.”
Beyond the nine points above, I categorized the responses into professional runners and the “rest of us” individuals. None of the names below are listed in any particular order.
The Pros
Courtney Dauwalter. Her “shortneys” and Salomon’s entire Courtney Collection speak for themselves.
“I think that Courtney has paved the way for individual style - showing up exactly who she is and giving us permission to do the same - she has a freedom of expression that I truly believe makes her a tastemaker.”
“Not just their clothing choice, but hairstyle, personality, the class they conduct themselves with, and frankly the way none of them had any plans to be any kind of icon in any way” - regarding Courtney, Amanda and Leah
Jim Walmsley. The perception is that he is credited for holey race shirts and many also gave him credit for the bucket hat trend. Also mentioned were his all black and all white race kits.
Keely Henninger. Her pink looks got a couple shouts.
“She [Caitlin] shines bright outside of race kits too - it’s so hard as the more mainstream your sponsor the harder it is to show your unique self”
“I think he has been a huge one and still is. Always his own person more than anyone. Started the every single street movement. Ran across the US just to see it and meet people.”
Rory Bosio for the personality and flair she portrayed during her UTMB wins in the 2010s.
Anton Krupicka. Tony got a lot of callouts for the influence around the minimal and self-propelled lifestyle he threads across the various outdoor modalities - running, climbing, cycling, skiing. The lifestyle he has so authentically led for two decades is nothing short of iconic. He has defined the mountain athlete with flannels, painted nails, beautiful writing, bumps, scratches, bronzed skin and inspirational efforts in the mountains.
Many of you may not remember this but I did a DEEP internet dive to resurrect maybe the only(?) high fashion shoot we’ve seen from a trail athlete when he modeled for this shoot around 2015/16. If I remember correctly it was for Louis Vuitton, or maybe GQ?
Individuals
Willa Martire
Are there others missing from this list? Do you have other observations or insights around tastemakers in trail running? Let me know in the comments.
Surprised there's no mention of David Roche. Is he 'cool'? No. BUT he does appear to have had a significant impact on the way people approach nutrition in trail running. And there's more to tastemaking than personal style, right? It's about their influence on the culture.
And Walmsley! Ethan Newbury's video of Walmsley at the 2016 Western States, ripping 5:30/mile through the feed in a cropped, holey singlet, wearing tiny shorts and road shoes was punk AF. https://www.instagram.com/p/BHLNishBXui/
Great Article. I think one person is missing from the list. Ruddy Trobrillant. @trobrillants. Parisian runner associated with HOKA and Satisfy and SUUNTO. Started a run club in Paris, PWRUP. If you look at his feed, you can see he loves exploring his personal style and he moves beyond just wearing a full Satisfy kit. He is an influencer, he's fast, and one of the nicest guys around.