Tracksuit

A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly as what athletes wore over competition clothing (such as running shirt and shorts or a swimsuit) and would take off before competition. In modern times, it has become commonly worn in other contexts. The tracksuit was one of the earliest uses of synthetic fibers in sportswear.

A descendant of the tracksuit, the shell suit, which arrived in the late 1980s, was popular with the hip hop and breakdancing scene of the era. They were manufactured from a mix of cellulose triacetate and polyester making them shiny on the outside, with distinctive combinations of colours.

Most tracksuits have a mesh interior which allows the user to wear them without any undergarment such as underwear. This is much like a bathing suit. Many people wear it for physical exercise sessions. A sauna suit is a specialized form of tracksuit made of a waterproof fabric such as coated nylon or PVC that is designed to make the wearer sweat profusely. Sauna suits are primarily used for temporary weight loss.

The tracksuit is also known as a warm-up suit, or "warmups" for short, as they are intended for athletes to keep their bodies warm before or after competition, and during breaks, especially important in cold weather. In almost all cases, sports teams will wear these garments using a fabric that matches their official team, school, or country colors. The bottoms of tracksuits are also known as sweatpants.

Tracksuits have come in and out of fashion over several decades. The first decade to feature tracksuits as sportswear that was acceptable to wear outside of the gym was the 1970s. Most likely the trend was influenced by the emergence of Bruce Lee (Game of Death) as a popular movie celebrity. Tracksuits first became popular around 1975, made out of cotton, polyester, terry cloth, or a mix. In the late 1970s velour became popular, so much so that it became the most used form of fabric on a tracksuit. The trend of wearing athletic clothing continued into the early 1980s. Tracksuits were eventually replaced by shellsuits, which were made out of nylon, in the late 1980s. This trend was short-lived, lasting only a few years.

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