The Best Men's Tracksuits for Styling out WFH

We're probably not the first to break this news, but men's tracksuits have now officially reached staple status. So if you spent the last few years getting your head around WFH, try making 2023 all about nailing the dress code for that new flexible work schedule. We can’t be the only ones sick of the sight of ubiquitous loungewear in all of its unceremonious glory: saggy jogging bottoms, faded sweatshirts, misshapen T-shirts, the whole mundane works.

That’s not to say that casualwear has to be unstylish. Now, the tracksuit, that’s something we can get behind. Compared with jersey basics, it looks pretty darn pulled-together – by nature of being co-ordinated, that is. The daily pleasure of ‘getting dressed’ might be back, but on those blessed 'at home' days there's a joy to be found in head-to-toe loungewear: it makes quite the statement and, as it happens, is pretty comfy too.

A Brief History of the Tracksuit

With comfort comes a sort of carefree cool. Tracksuits may have started with neat-as-a-pin athletes zipped up in terry-cloth, but they were quickly jazzed up by the OG hip hop crowd, who paid homage to old soul with lashings of gold jewellery, shades and Kangol fedoras.

Not long after, they entered flashy-but-give-a-fuck territory with the rise of Terrace Casuals. Which isn’t to say logo-clad football hooligans weren’t precious about their Sergio Tacchini and Fila get-ups, but this new strain of dapper was different. These clothes were spenny and covetable, yes, but ultimately practical; made from stretchy, technical fabrics that looked and felt relaxed, allowing for unrestricted movement (and the occasional brawl, admittedly) in a way that stiff suits never could.

The tough-guy-tracksuit has been perpetuated in popular culture ever since. In the Nineties, even Mafiosas swapped their double-breasted tailoring for trackies: there were shell suits aplenty in The Sopranos, three-stripe Adidas styles in Goodfella’s and even Al Pacino – who stuck strictly to silk suits as The Godfather – rocked one in the 1997 film Donnie Brasco.

How, When and Where To Wear a Tracksuit

At first, it was just rappers like Jay Z and P Diddy who had the chutzpah to walk the red carpet wearing a tracksuit, but now most men have attempted one in places they, well, oughtn’t. Life a little lacklustre while WFH? Try sporting head-to-toe velour on your morning coffee run and witness the curious/impressed glances in your wake.

And you don’t need a celebrity stylist to look like you know what you’re doing. A tracksuit takes all of two seconds to throw on and does all the work for you. Simply pair it with trainers, sliders, loafers (see Lakeith Stanfield and Chance the Rapper) or perhaps a Chelsea boot à la Timmy Chalamet.

Now, for the tricky decision of choosing one. Like most things in life, there are different tracksuit tribes. The unabashed flamboyance of Gucci and Celine Homme; the retro cool of Wales Bonner’s Adidas collaboration (good luck getting your hands on that); the comfort of terry-cotton basics or institutional heavy-duty sweats which have been going strong since the Fifties (and don’t require a designer budget).

If you’re still deciding which of those you fall into, or fancy trying your hand at all four, take inspiration from our edit of the 10 best tracksuits for men to shop now and live in the foreseeable

The Best Men's Tracksuits to Buy