The heather grey sweatsuit is a timeless staple (see Ali training in London in the 60s). For a lot of us, it holds a special place in our collective memories, evoking feelings of comfort, ease, style. And for me, it's nod to the iconic styles of the 80s and 90s.
It's with this spirit of nostalgia and reverence for the classics that we embarked on a journey to create our own.
Prior to this, I found a great deadstock, vintage grey hoodie with a thermal lined hood. It's warm but wearable most days that are under 75 degrees. It's actually the only deadstock vintage piece I've ever bought.
We began with sourcing quality heather grey brushed fleece. Using my vintage hoodie as the basis of the pattern, along with a variation of my favorite 90s style sweatpants, we had a proper sweatsuit. We updated the width of the pants and added antique metal grommets, a ribbed crotch gusset, and a finished metal tipped draw cord.
But it's the artwork that sets the Aim High sweatsuit apart. I loved the idea of an old gym glass sweatsuit that's been drawn on and worn well past high school PE class (I know I'm not the only one). Hence, the "PROPERTY OF ATH DEPT." stamp on both the tops and bottoms.
The Aim High bow and arrow printed graphic embodies the more collegiate feel of the design and pays homage to our ethos – it defines everything ATH stands for. I even added a little easter egg in terms of the hypen drawn in with marker. We've had an internal battle to hypen or not hypen our name, from which you can see the hypen has won...
To achieve an authentic vintage aesthetic, we applied light distressing and staining to the sweatsuit. The result: extremely comfortable garments made of 18.5oz cotton fleece with a relaxed structure and a broken-in feel.
Some may see a grey sweatsuit as basic, but there's nothing basic about the Aim High sweatsuit.