The Jogger Pant Story

Posted by HeyCarson on

Drake might not agree with us on this one, but here at Publish Brand, we consider imitation to be the highest form of flattery.

And this is especially the case as it pertains to our signature Jogger Pants and the many renditions of it that have come to life in the fashion world after we coined the term back in July ‘09.

Coming up on the 13th anniversary of this game-changing design, we decided to do a little reflecting and, in doing so, came across an interview from Publish Brand Founder Michael Huynh and streetwear journalist Luis Ruano. This interview explores the evolution of the Jogger Pants, the key players in this incredible Origin Story, and all of the emotional triumphs and hurdles that we, as a brand, encountered along the way.

In the name of reflection (and, honestly, nostalgia), we wanted to share a few excerpts from this very same interview, starting with the question on everybody’s mind:

How did the idea for the Jogger Pant come about? How did you even predict that it would do as well as it’s done?

Michael: “Alex James, a culture savvy and long time friend of mine had came to down to visit my office/studio to chop up design and what was going to be included in our first collection. Him and I talk culture a lot and so we bounce around ideas all the time. That day Alex James had worn a really dope pair of sweatpants – I believe they were by Marc Jacobs – and he was like, “Mike, you gotta do a silhouette like this!” and I was like, “James, sweat pants though? Do you know how many there are out there?” and he’s like, “Yea, you just gotta flip it and make it yours. A sweat pant... there’s not enough dope sweat pants out there. Either they’re very droopy, very big, very baggy or very slim.” This was the perfect fit. I’m like, “OK, cool. But we have to make it distinctively unique.” So we re-designed that Marc Jacobs pair of pants in a fleece material. It was like a comfortable, brushed fleece material. Little did we know what was going to happen, catapulted our brand completely... in ways we did not imagined.”

...But with every good idea comes someone who wants to join in on the fun. Which led the interviewer to ask the following question...

How does it make you feel when there’s something you brought to the table (at least as far as streetwear goes) and other brands and even mass retail chains start mimicking that style and start profiting off what Publish [initially created]?

Michael: “I mean, dude, it’s a very cutthroat world out there. It’s business. I definitely understand that.

A lot of other brands contributed to pushing this whole movement of the jogger pant. It helped us. It helped us establish our grounds and [know] that we were the first few that really pushed this category to make it happen. To me, I don’t find it wrong for anyone to jump on a trend that’s hot. It’s business.

If a category is hot and we didn’t jump on it, we’d be shooting ourselves in the foot. We love creating. We like being able to see our clothes on people. The idea is to globalize this category and make it acceptable to the everyday guy.”

And the thing that’s helped us do exactly what? Interviewer Luis Ruano shines a light on it when

he says...

I feel like the recent running shoe craze has really helped this category. Runners are being worn with anything and everything. Suits, chinos, jeans, sweatpants... Whatever it

is, the running category is, once again, cool. How beneficial has that been for the growth of the silhouette?

Michael: “It’s funny because, technically, our jogger pants aren’t made for running. People accidently interpret it in a way where it should be paired up with running kicks. I remember some years ago when a friend told me Undefeated was going to remove every lifestyle shoe brand in their roster and start carrying more athletic shoes. I was like...What’s going on? Who’s doing this? Who’s causing all [the] surge? I later found out it was Nike doing this push and you know when Nike makes a push towards something... it’s gonna grow and it’s gonna get big.

When Nike started pushing that category with the Free and then the Flyknit and the Roshes and stuff like that, that’s when jogger pants were hot. So people pretty much took the two biggest trends and paired them together. That’s why it allowed us to go with the flow. So we rolled with that whole wave of running shoes that Nike was working on and it just exploded.”

...And here we are 18 years, dozens of designs, and an entire movement later.

Thanks for taking a trip back in time with us.
Publish Brand