Run with the Pack
Struggling to look cool whilst breaking a sweat? The all-new Adidas x Universal Works collaboration carves out an intriguing intersection between sport and style
words Will HALBERT
Let’s be totally honest with ourselves: While we might work out to look and feel our best, we don’t often look and feel our best when we work out. We’re hot, sweaty messes, invariably clad in 3-year old band tees and ill-fitting shorts. Either that, or we’re wearing enough skin tight lycra to make the late, great Adam West blush.
While we can all agree that the truly important thing is turning up, clocking the miles, and going the distance, it can’t hurt to look good while we do it. To that end, the latest collaboration between sportswear giants Adidas and British, independent menswear brand, Universal Works, has us (literally and figuratively) covered.
Having launched in November, the Adidas X Universal Works Run City Pack has all you need for the daily jog and subsequent coffee run. Fusing Universal Work’s iconic British design with Adidas’s famous athleticism, the Run City Pack leans into layers, plays with textiles, and embraces versatility. At its center are two new takes on the Ultraboost 19 sneaker, in neutral tones, and insulated apparel for any weather.
And it all makes perfect sense, really. An avid runner himself, Universal Works founder, David Keyte, is no stranger to the more functional aspects of the legendary sportswear brand. ‘On a personal level, as the designer at Universal Works, adidas had been part of my life since a young boy,’ says David. ‘My first sneakers were Sambas, worn both on the five-a-side pitch and on the football terraces.’
‘Adidas really wanted to collaborate with designers who were real runners and could bring that understanding of the sport into the project, and running has been a part of my life for over 30 years’ David goes on. ‘It was a chance to design something real from a genuine love of running, not just a cosmetic makeover.’
The Adidas x Universal Works Run City Pack is available for purchase in very limited numbers from UW’s Lambs Conduit Street Store online. EJ
universalworks.co.uk
