The Status Track Pants Are From Relax Lacrosse
Last winter, in a rush and running late for dance class, I forgot a change of clothes. But when I arrived, panicking that I might be forced to attend in a tank top and some decidedly unathletic gray wool trousers, a solution mercifully presented itself: My studio, Good Move, makes merch, including a pair of fluorescent-orange gym shorts and a pair of dark-maroon track pants. I bought the shorts on the spot, and inside I noticed a tag that read “Relax Lacrosse: Made in USA!! 100% independent!!”
Since then, Relax Lacrosse has become inescapable across a select group of stylish women in fashion and media who glide from workouts to WSA to the West Village in the brand’s vibrant, colorful activewear. I’ve spotted the pants on a slew of cool, tasteful people: Mya Gelber paired a royal-blue pair with a quilted gingham jacket; Ella Emhoff wore kelly-green ones as part of her Halloween costume. After a Pilates class at Sky Ting, I discovered them in the studio’s merch line, this time in baby pink with red and black stripes. Track pants have been in the Zeitgeist lately — even The Wall Street Journal declared the “death of leggings” in favor of baggier workoutwear — but there’s a playful appeal and an IYKYK aura to Relax Lacrosse’s pairs that make them feel just a smidge more elevated than your standard options from Nike and Adidas.
“They’re so stretchy and comfortable, but when I wear them I feel like I’m still doing a fashion thing; I’m not just in sweats,” says writer (and Strategist contributor) Erika Veurink, who lived in the shorts all throughout her pregnancy. And writer and podcast host Hunter Harris, who owns two pairs of Relax Lacrosse pants, describes them as “not exactly athleisure, but they’re kind of Sporty Spice. I’m waiting for Hailey Bieber to wear them, and then they’ll really take off.”
Relax Lacrosse was founded in 2018 by a former lacrosse player who harbored fond memories of the shorts he wore in the ’90s — loose, easy to move in, accented with a distinctive side stripe.For the first few years, his clientele was mostly other former lacrosse players who shared his sense of nostalgia. At $80 for a pair of shorts, the price was a bit steeper than what you’d find at Dick’s Sporting Goods, but the cost was made more palatable by the fact that they were manufactured in the U.S. from authentic, high-quality materials. Eventually, his girlfriend, Kylie Bichsel, who had previously worked in fashion with stints at the RealReal and Calvin Klein, found herself wearing them all the time; she officially joined the company as a designer in 2022 with an aim to expand Relax Lacrosse’s reach.
Bichsel introduced unexpected color combinations, like magenta with teal and orange stripes. She designed full-length pants that consistently sold out. She worked on collaborations with Lisa Says Gah (track pants adorned with trailing ribbons), Beditorial (shorts trimmed with coquettish ruffles), and Milk Teeth (kid-size pants for ages 2 to 8). And, of course, she made merch for boutique fitness studios like Sky Ting, Good Move, and Ascend Pilates in San Diego.
She also began gifting pairs to editors, influencers, and stylists she personally admired — people with playful and eclectic personal style, like stylist and fashion writer Elizabeth Cardinal Tamkin. In late 2024, Tamkin had written a story for her Substack, The Corner Booth, about track pants becoming the unexpected hero of her holiday wardrobe, so Relax Lacrosse offered to gift her some products. She chose a pair of hunter-green pants and a pair of gold shorts, which she likes to style with heels and tweed jackets. “The ethos of the brand is having fun,” Tamkin says. “I think after such a long time of quiet luxury — simple, crisp suiting and monochrome pieces — a lot of people are getting excited by patterns and prints and color again.” Bichsel clearly has her finger on the pulse, as Relax Lacrosse has already dipped a toe into patterned waters for its collaboration with artist Monica Ahanonu: a collection of shorts in swirly pastels and a cheetah print.
Tamkin is not alone in incorporating the pieces into her everyday attire; Harris likes to wear her pants with flats or loafers and a button-down, while Veurink has been styling hers with a barn jacket and a cashmere sweater. And writer and podcast host Peyton Dix, who owns two pairs of Relax Lacrosse pants and three pairs of the brand’s shorts, says she received a flood of compliments when she wore her track pants with an oversize pin-striped dress shirt. “It’s not exactly athleisure, but more like a medley of athleticwear meeting business casual,” Dix says. “That has been a really fun blend to play around with — how to combine those two aesthetics.” Case in point: Leandra Medine Cohen recently teamed up with the brand to create a low-rise, flare-leg style that feels more like tailored trousers than track pants.
A pendulum swing away from the highly polished “clean girl” uniform is indeed in motion as people gravitate toward looser, more casual styles; it’s a vibe shift that dovetails nicely with Relax Lacrosse’s easy versatility and throwback roots. I’ve already spent the past year going straight from work meetings to the library to Trader Joe’s in my traffic-cone-orange shorts, regardless of whether or not I have a dance class on my calendar; they are easy to wear and easy to move around in, and they make a statement with minimal effort on my part. They’ve become such an indispensable part of my wardrobe that I recently bought another pair of shorts, the frilly white Beditorial ones, that I’m excited to style with oversize T-shirts and motorcycle boots come summer. Now I’m in the market for a pair (or two) of the pants — once my favorite color combos come back in stock, of course.
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[Editor’s note: If your preferred color or size is sold out, you can sign up for individual product notifications and subscribe to email updates on Relax Lacrosse’s website.]
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