RUNNING LATE TO THE TREND
Two runners, one city, our Merino Activewear, and a confession from someone who doesn't run.
This one is mine, Pedro Palha writing here. I'd like that on the record before anything else, mostly so nobody blames the team for what follows.
A few weeks ago, Pedro Gaspar and Gonçalo Moreira Rato went for a run in Lisbon. Somewhere along the way they decided a run wasn't enough and turned it into a photoshoot. Our Merino Active T-Shirts and Merino Active Shorts came along for the ride. Or for the run. I wasn't there. I was, as you may have guessed, not running.
People have always run. They have always cycled, swum and chased balls around. But somewhere in the last few years, running stopped being just a sport and became a scene. Run clubs on Saturday mornings, matching kits, coffee afterwards, a photo for the feed before the sweat has dried. Running has stylists now.
To be fair, it's a very good scene. It's certainly better than most of the other things people could be doing at 7am on a Saturday. But it is a trend, and trends are worth looking at with a little calm.
Now the confession. I love sports. I love tennis. I do not love running. To me, running has always been the sport for people who haven't yet found their talent for another one. I say this with affection, and in full knowledge that Pedro and Gonçalo will read it, and that both of them can outrun me without trying.
Because they do run. They cycle too. They actually do the thing, which made them the right people to wear the collection and the right people to shoot it. No set, no professional models, no production. Just the city, two runners and a camera, somewhere between strides.
As for what they were wearing: the Merino Active T-Shirt and the Merino Active Shorts are 100% merino wool. That surprises people, because wool sounds like a jumper your grandmother knitted. It isn't. Merino is fine, light and soft against the skin. It breathes, handles heat and moisture, dries quickly and doesn't hold on to smells the way synthetic kit does. You can run in it, and then go for coffee without anyone keeping their distance. Technical, high-performing, and still unmistakably ours.
Running is where it starts. It won't be where it stops. I'll be doing everything I can to take this collection further: to the court, to the bike, to anyone who plays anything at all. If your sport isn't running, I'm on your side. Get in touch.
Thank you, Pedro and Gonçalo, for the run, the photos and the patience. Next time, we play tennis