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Our monthly dispatch of the best things brewing in run culture
The month’s best running drops, collaborations, and special releases
Nike, Saucony, Optimistic Runners, On x Post Archive Fashion, Bandit, 66North, Tiempos, and more
The Matrix (Bandit) vs. Snow White (Tiempos)
If you felt like every brand in running dropped something this month, you’re not wrong. We’re in peak fall race season, that sweet spot wedged between two marathon majors, when everyone’s either tapering, carb loading, or at their 5th shake-out run. It’s also the first real snap of the new season, which means cold-weather gear, marathon capsules, collabs, and pop-ups in every city that has a start line. Soar set up shop in New York, Bandit staged full city takeovers, Our Legacy decided we’re all athletes now, and even the big players rolled out books, art, and super shoes. Running is busy.
Here are our favorite releases from the past month.
Milan in the Mountains
Optimistic Runners officially rolled out their AW’25 line-up, with a campaign shot in Bellano’s mountain trails with Obaldo Ideas, the Milan studio led by photographer Luca Grottoli and stylist Francesca Ferretti. The collection itself is cold-weather focused: merino wool layers, viscose thermal blends, insulated constructions, and updated colorways across tights, outerwear, accessories, and midlayer pieces built for real winter running. The highlights are the new merino base layer, windbreaker jacket, and balaclava.
Red Pilled
Another double hit in the marathon season for Bandit. For Chicago, the “Full Tilt” capsule explored the force and flow of wind as both element and metaphor. Graphics tracing organic currents and directional patterns. For New York, the moniker “Run City” brings a massive 19 piece collection, including multiple brand-new silhouettes, a play on the fast-moving text, and a superb campaign and pop-up space. The regular A+ student in the marathon collection class.
Forever and Ever Stars
Puma and Copenhagen-based Saysky are back with Drop 2 for AW25. The story is “more than a race”: community, crews, the people who wake up early with you, not just the person crossing the mat. Visually, the apparel brings Saysky’s sharp, star-marked graphics onto Puma’s performance silhouettes, plus travel-and-recovery layers for a full race weekend. Footwear includes co-branded takes on key PUMA distance models, such as the Fast-R NITRO Elite 3 and Velocity NITRO 4.
Ros Colored Glasses
Transition running lenses are the perfect fall/winter companion. Fashion model and athlete Tommy Ros has partnered with Izipizi Paris on Flash, a new adaptive running eyewear built for real mileage from dawn to dusk. The frames use photochromatic lenses that react to UV levels, shifting from clear to mirrored to maintain consistent visibility in changing light. To launch it, Ros hosted a 5K community run and afterparty in New York City. Flash is positioned as performance with personality, lightweight, responsive, and expressive, and is available now in limited quantities through Izipizi, select boutiques, and the MoMA Design Store in NYC.
Maximum Tiempos
Tiempos is stepping into Fall/Winter ’25 with a full head-to-toe system: ultralight windbreaker shirts and pants for windy miles, cropped/boxy cuts, 3″ micro-perforated shorts, running caps, technical belts, and heavier midlayers like merino first layers and waffle-knit long sleeves in organic cotton. Also their updated graphic of the “maximum Tiempos” is here. The palette leans muted and utilitarian, built for cold training and city wear.
Passing Notes
Josh Lynott is a poet and runner who has built a great following for the hyper-relatable thoughts and notes he posts on Instagram about our beloved sport. After releasing a book, “A Note to the Runners,” a collection of poems for runners. The next endeavor was clear: take it to the streets. Under the name “Notes,” the project serves as a wearable version of those writings that we identify with. The first items available as presale are a hat and a cotton tee, with the now-famous text “Everyone wants to know how far I ran, but not how much fun I had.”
Pop Art
Saucony took the NYC Marathon season to celebrate Keith Haring’s New York. The capsule reworks core runners like the Endorphin Speed 5 and Guide 18, as well as archival-leaning models like the ProGrid Triumph 4, with Haring graphics, bold outlines, and city references. Under the art, it’s still real tech: PWRRUN PB cushioning, nylon plate in the Speed 5 for fast efforts, and Saucony’s stability geometry in the Guide 18 for long-mile control.
Another One
Post Archive Faction (PAF) and On keep building their shared language with the Cloudmonster Hyper PAF, a new hybrid silhouette. The shoe fuses the sculpted upper from the Cloudmonster 2 PAF with the extreme midsole geometry and high-stack cushioning from On’s Cloudmonster Hyper platform. You get Helion™ HF dual-foam construction, CloudTec® cushioning, a perforated sockliner, and silicone high-grip laces —basically max bounce for city miles with PAF’s industrial, future-utility aesthetic. The black-and-white version with oversized laces gives it a semi-Rick Owens vibe we can’t stop looking at.
Luxury Wedge
Comme des Garçons has quietly pulled Mizuno deeper into the fashion-performance conversation by applying CDG’s blacked-out, experimental aesthetic to a bona fide race shoe: the Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro. The collaboration, landing at Dover Street Market alongside other AW25 deliveries, positions the aggressive, high-stack super shoe, known for its carved-out midsole geometry and marathon pacing intent, as a luxury object. It’s runway energy on a legit distance platform.
In Case of Arctic
For FW 2025, 66°North is making a big push into running and has called on District Vision for help. The new joint capsule is positioned as an “Arctic-grade exploration kit,” built for movement in brutal cold. Key pieces include the Reykjavik Running Balaclava Top, insulated running tights, and quick-dry shorts. The hero piece is the Tindur Down Jacket, featuring 800-fill-power goose down and GORE-TEX Windstopper; while it may not be ideal for running, it offers standout style when you arrive at the post-run coffee shop in the middle of Iceland. The collection also includes two signature District Vision models, the Keiichi and Eiichi.
Luxe Label
Soar is officially in New York, pulling up for its first-ever U.S. pop-up during the New York Marathon weekend. The brand is releasing a limited Soar x NY race capsule, a singlet, cap, tank, and full race kit for this unique occasion, plus a selection of its precision performance gear. It lands the same month Soar released their updated cold-weather pieces for AW25 and a new mini film directed by Luke and Nik called “Moving Forward.” A full month for the London-based brand.
Luxe Label
One of the most revered menswear brands, Our Legacy, under its experimental arm WORK SHOP, has just launched its sport collection. Their top and mid layers use Japanese antibacterial textiles, while their shell jackets, pants, and shorts are made of technical Italian nylon. Pieces meant to live across an entire day: pre-run, during, and after. The Swedish label has played with run culture before via its WORK SHOP projects and Satisfy tie-ins, but this is a clearer statement that sport is now part of the main conversation. We are always skeptical about luxury brands moving into the space, but we will follow closely.
Bookworm
Mental Athletic and Nike have dropped a 216-page book called “RISE ABOVE — The Zero Gravity Mindset” during the Chicago Marathon weekend. The book documents Nike’s marathon lineage from the 1970s to now through archive pulls, interviews, and imagery, and it doubles as the launch moment for the Nike Vomero Premium. The rollout was framed as a “Launch Lab,” positioning the shoe and book not as product plus promo, but as culture plus evidence.
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Alfredo is a runner, writer, creative director, and cultural analyst based in Berlin. After years as a casual runner, his move to Berlin transformed his running into a vital practice for mental health and a source of tranquility during cold, early morning runs. His interest in clothes comes from uniforms and sportswear, combined with a love for innovation and research—which might explain why he meticulously charts his winter running gear.
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