An Ode to the Track Top, Everyone's Favourite Retro Wardrobe Staple

"Trackie," "warm-up top," "track top," no matter what you might call it, the name holds weight just about everywhere on the globe. This now legendary silhouette has been touched by just about every fashion brand in existence, and even over half a decade on, it still boasts timeless design and form.

While the exact origins of the fateful track top are unknown, most believe it to have been created around the 1930s in its first state, but despite this, it wouldn't be until around the 1960s that the garment would truly take off. With the world lusting over space-aged technology and the great unknown, the then futuristic track top scratched an itch for originality that both fashion and sportswear desired.

By combining synthetic nylon fabrics with a formed and sleek fit, adidas created the first tracksuit back in 1967. Coincidentally, this was actually adidas' first foray into the clothing world, expanding on the brand's existing reputation for footwear. In collaboration, adidas tapped legendary German football star Franz Beckenbauer to showcase the garment, and soon after, tracksuit fever began to sweep the world.

Given its initial sportswear beginnings, it took quite some time for the track top to be considered a leisurewear item, but gradually the lines between function and form became blurred, leading to a spark of interest in the early '70s. At the time, jogging was surging in popularity amongst western households, leading many to adopt tracksuits into their wardrobe.

During the '80s, the track top suffered a brief phase-out due to the rise in the shellsuit, an all-in-one jumpsuit-like garment that oddly rose to prominence through the Liverpudlian counter-cultural movement. Naturally, the shellsuit trend died out fairly quickly, resulting in the track top gaining its popularity back by the mid-90s.

Since this point, the track top has remained an iconic garment in almost every sub-sect of fashion, with few doing it better than adidas. The creator and originator of the garment is still to this day providing us with some of the best track tops on the market, often utilising its extensive archival history to renew and reinterpret some of the most iconic designs to date.

It remains to be seen if the track top will ever go out of fashion, but for now, the style continues to carve its own path through fashion history. For more adidas track tops, check out the brand's full selection here.