Session Shorts

Tracksmith was founded in Boston in 2014 by Matt Taylor — a Yale track alumnus and former Head of Running at Puma — and Luke Scheybeler, co-founder of Rapha. The premise was simple and stubborn: the amateur Runner, the post-collegiate competitor, the sub-3 marathoner with a day job, had been forgotten by a sport that only sold to pros and beginners. The debut collection in 2014 was two pieces, the Van Cortlandt Singlet and Van Cortlandt Shorts, and a decade on the Van Cortlandt fabric is still the racing line, the Cornell-derived diagonal sash is still the mark of a scoring athlete, and the hare — drawn by British illustrator Gary Chalk and named Eliot after Boston's legendary runners' bar — is still embroidered at the chest. Boston-born, Ivy-sashed, published in its own quarterly magazine (METER), and honoring the Amateur Spirit upon which the sport was founded.

Tracksmith's running shorts run on two fabrics and one idea — the short you pull on for Monday fartleks, Wednesday threshold repeats, Saturday long runs, and forget about the moment you're moving. The Session Short is 92/8 poly-spandex Session Twill with an Italian-sourced nylon liner, a split side hem for an unrestricted stride, an internal key pocket, a zippered back for valuables. The Van Cortlandt Grand Shorts run longer in the 82/18 polyester-spandex that's been Tracksmith's race fabric since the 2014 debut. The marquee short of the whole Tracksmith line — Monday fartleks, Wednesday thresholds, Saturday long runs — with an Italian-sourced nylon liner that's a genuine material-craft signal at this price.