TRiCKsuit Trousers
Paulie Velour

This whole project started when I couldn’t find a single, unbranded off-duty suit when searching the entire of New York and New Jersey. Once upon a time (the late ’90s and early 00s) local tailors and sports stores sold luxurious tracksuits that you could wear around the house, to go for a jog, to do some light errands, hang out with your mates or to pick up lunch. However, nowadays these suits are few and far between with slim fit, polyester nightmares being the suit of choice, so after ringing a few shops, doing some online research and still coming up with nothing, I made my own.

The first thing to get right was the shape, I wanted something that was a little looser, but by no means oversized or sloppy. Modern track trousers are either too slim or too baggy, so what I wanted was a pair that you could wear with slippers and a pair of trainers, but without looking like your trousers were too big for you or looking indecent like most trousers do nowadays. Loose through the thigh, coming to a taper with an elasticated hem so that you can keep the cold out and sit on the top of shoes much better than most tracksuit pants.

The fabric is a beautiful mid-weight cotton velour which is made just for us in Portugal, it has a wonderful handle, drape and seems to suit all body types perfectly. There is just something reassuringly soft and sturdy about the fabric that modern tracksuits just don’t seem to provide anymore.

At the waist is an adjustable drawcord with brass tips and eyelets to add in some luxury that can only be seen on the very best of trousers. The trousers are navy blue and feature a light grey stripe down the outside leg with white piping to give a nostalgic nod to great sportswear from the ’70s. All of the pockets on the trousers are zipped for extra security with the two front and one rear wallet pocket all zipped so that nothing falls out when in the car, reading the newspaper or drinking coffee with friends.

Obviously what is a suit without the matching jacket, so make sure to buy the trousers and the jacket together and get the full set for £150. The modern replicas are far more expensive (if you can get them) and don’t supply anywhere near the same level of comfort and durability. So don’t mess about, get one ordered, get the coffee on, get the gabagool from the store and prepare for people to ask where you got your suit from… but you’ll never tell them.

100% cotton