Terrence Trammell talks about his clothing label Trackstar Apparel
World 110m hurdles silver medallist Terrence Trammell chats to spikesmag.com about setting up Trackstar Apparel...
Why did you start your company?
TT: I started it in 2007 while I was contracted with Mizuno. It was just something I was trying to work on and develop. Then after getting injured in Beijing my contract didn’t get renewed, which forced me to put a little more urgency into what I was doing.
Did it take a long time to set up the company?
TT: It did. I had to make sure the product was right. It was a lot of fun. And still is. I’m always illustrating on my computer – my drawing ability isn’t particularly good but I do well on the illustrating. It’s weird how that works.
How did you land on the name Trackstar Apparel?
TT: At home in the States track doesn’t have the type of exposure that it has over here. I looked at the name to see if it’d already been taken and it hadn’t, so I was like, okay, cool, that’s what we’re going with.
And the logo?
TT: At first the logo was a track shoe and the fifth point of the star was actually the heel. People saw that and didn’t exactly know what it was, so I thought I’d take the shoe off and create a four-point star. What comes to mind is, if you really look at it, is someone is dipping at the tape. That was the kind of spin on it.
Have you always been into fashion?
TT: To a degree, yes. I’ve always been into sports kits. I used to have this electric American Football game as a kid. I always used to paint the uniforms on it. I’d spend hours doing different designs. My favourite colours were navy blue and gold. I always had this thing about uniforms and how they looked.
Didn’t you create one of the kits at the Beijing Olympic Games?
TT: Yeah I did the uniform for the Republic of Guinea last year at the Olympics. I’ve been slowly working with getting some samples out to schools and small universities back in the States. I really need the exposure and the brand awareness.
How did it come to be that you designed the kit for Republic of Guinea?
TT: One of the athletes from Georgia Tech, Fofanah Fatmata, is from Guinea (Trammell trains in Georgia) and we got talking about
Trackstar Apparel. She was really excited because she had seen some of my T-shirts and talked to the guy on the Olympic Committee. I showed her a template of what I could do. From there we got something creative and it just took off. The funny thing about is, I spent so much time focusing on the Games that I totally forgotten that I’d designed kits for it. We were in the Village and watching the competition and I thought ‘hey, I designed that’. It’s really fulfilling to see people wearing something that you’ve created. The sky’s the limit in terms of the type of track design.
What sportswear does Trackstar Apparel provide?
TT: We have a T-shirt with 2007 in Roman numerals. We are coming up with some new designs now and soon we’ll have Trackstar baseball caps. We have accessories on the way pretty soon, too – wristbands, headbands and socks. We are taking our time to make sure the product development is right.
Where can I buy them from?
TT: Right now it is not quite at that point. It’s been an interesting process and I’m really excited about it. We are looking forward to working with some of the major retailers not only in the States but also in Europe. I’ll be handing out information to all the major retailers on each and every stop I make this season. I need to increase the brand awareness.
Besides yourself, which other athletes have been wearing Trackstar Apparel?
TT: Dwight Phillips wore Trackstar right up to the US Championships (in June). He gave it great exposure. (Phillips, the world No.1 in the long jump, has subsequently won a contract with Nike.)
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