It’s been years since I’ve had any real desire to wear a tracksuit. The last time I truly wanted one was during the Juicy Couture heyday, when I would’ve gladly traded my soul for a blinged-out velour set. Since then, tracksuits have felt a bit uninspired to me, and I often feel like I’m channeling Sue Sylvester from Glee whenever I try one on. That was, until last year, when I witnessed something that made my heart race: the Adidas x CLOT collaboration during Shanghai Fashion Week.
As part of their twentieth anniversary show, streetwear brand CLOT brought a fresh take on the classic tracksuit, making me reconsider everything I thought I knew about sporty sets. While most people wearing tracksuits look ready to coach a middle school gym class, the CLOT models looked like they were heading to the beach for a relaxing vacation. Their matching tops and shorts featured the iconic three-stripe Adidas design, but with a twist: the fabric was made of crochet, not the usual stretchy cotton.
Backstage, when I spoke to Edison Chen, the designer behind CLOT, he expressed his surprise that no one had ever thought of such a design before. “It’s for everyone. A woman can wear this! I can wear this!” Chen explained. He designed the set with versatility in mind, encouraging wearers to mix and match colors and layers. “It’s meant to be see-through, but if you layer the pieces, it becomes less open,” he said. “It’s not just about black with black—it’s about creativity and layering.”
While tracksuits are often seen as casual uniforms, Chen reimagined them as something relaxed, versatile, and far from over-coordinated. The look was completed with Gazelle sneakers, reworked in espadrille material and decorated with breezy white beading, further enhancing the laid-back vibe.
I own the gray crochet set and wore it multiple times throughout the summer, but never for anything remotely athletic. Instead, it became my go-to bathing suit cover-up. I would often wear the crochet shorts with a bikini top or just pair the top with a one-piece swimsuit. On days when I needed a comfortable travel outfit, the crochet set paired with a simple white tank top was the perfect solution. Each piece, when worn separately, also offered a relaxed touch to more formal outfits, keeping the overall look chill.
The set’s versatility caught my boyfriend’s attention, and soon, he was wearing it too. (As Chen intended, the design was meant to be enjoyed by the whole family.) He even packed the set on a trip to Iceland, where he wore it during a snowy hike while attending a wedding. Walking through the highlands, he looked like a character from The Sopranos dropped onto a Martian landscape. It wasn’t the look Chen may have envisioned, but that’s the beauty of his reimagined Adidas tracksuit: it works anywhere.
