A couple of days before the Berlin Marathon, Matt Taylor began to hear about the clandestine participation of an A-list celebrity. But it wasn’t until the morning of the race on Sunday that one of Mr. Taylor’s friends phoned him from a spot on the course to let him know that the rumors were, in fact, true.
The runner in question bore a mustache, sunglasses and a headband. He also wore a race bib with a nondescript number — 31261 — right above his first name: Sted. Or at least that was the pseudonym he had chosen for the race.
As many soon found out, it was not Sted Sarandos out there on the streets of Berlin. Even in semi-disguise and running (swiftly) with a nom de plume, the pop star Harry Styles was easily recognizable. And from his vantage point on the course, Mr. Taylor’s friend relayed good news: Mr. Styles was outfitted in Tracksmith shorts.
For a modest-sized running apparel company like Tracksmith, which Mr. Taylor founded in 2014, it was another small but significant moment of validation. Tracksmith, which is based in Boston and has a one-person public relations department, has no formal affiliation with Mr. Styles, who has nearly 47 million followers on Instagram, three No. 1 solo albums and, as of Sunday, one sub-three-hour marathon.
“I think what’s most exciting for us is that he’s progressing and running fast,” Mr. Taylor, Tracksmith’s chief executive, said in an interview. “It’s one thing to have someone who’s wearing the product. It’s another for him to be out there training hard and really getting after it.”
Mr. Styles, 31, completed the marathon in 2 hours 59 minutes 13 seconds — an impressive time that worked out to an average pace of about 6:50 per mile and put him among the top 5 percent of all finishers in a race that had 55,000 entrants. Mr. Taylor described breaking three hours as the “gold standard” for amateur runners, and it was a personal-best time for Mr. Styles, who, in March, ran the Tokyo Marathon in 3:24:07.
“To shave 25 minutes off your time in six months — I mean, that takes some people years,” said Massimo Alpian, the director of communications for Tracksmith.
Over the summer, Mr. Alpian would occasionally hear from friends in London who would spot Mr. Styles running around Regent’s Park in Tracksmith apparel.
“I’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’” Mr. Alpian recalled. “He seemed to be running a lot. But I didn’t really piece it all together until last Sunday.”
In the hypercompetitive sports apparel space, Tracksmith remains a niche brand amid a roiling sea of behemoths like Nike and Adidas. (Sure enough, like thousands of other runners, Mr. Styles wore Nike sneakers in Berlin.) Tracksmith has a reputation for sponsoring up-and-coming athletes. It was a big deal for the company when one of its athletes, a little-known sprinter named Cravont Charleston, won the men’s 100-meter dash at the 2023 U.S. national championships.
As for celebrity endorsements? Forget it.
“If we make a connection, we try to build a relationship,” Mr. Alpian said. “But we’re not, like, Brunello Cucinelli with a full-on celebrity and V.I.P. department.”
All of which helps to underscore the point that Mr. Styles, in an era of paid partnerships and scripted activations, is simply a Tracksmith customer. On at least two occasions, Mr. Taylor said, Mr. Styles has shopped at the brand’s retail location on Chiltern Street in London, where he apparently bought stuff like a normal person. The sales staff, Mr. Taylor said, treated him like any other customer.
Last weekend, Mr. Styles was just another marathoner, and perhaps that was his intention. “It’s like he doesn’t want people to know he’s running these races until they happen,” Mr. Alpian said.
A representative for Mr. Styles did not respond to a request seeking comment.
During the race in Berlin, Mr. Styles wore a pair of Van Cortlandt shorts, which Mr. Taylor described as Tracksmith’s “most classic, timeless performance running short.” Constructed out of lightweight mesh fabric, the Van Cortlandts have a four-inch inseam and retail for $75. (Mr. Styles is no stranger to short shorts.)
Mr. Styles also wore a pair of the Van Cortlandt shorts in Tokyo, but that appearance resulted in far less fanfare, most likely because Mr. Styles finished with a good time, but not one that wowed the running community.
Tracksmith, which has seen sales of the Van Cortlandt shorts increase by about 50 percent, according to Mr. Taylor, attempted to thank Mr. Styles by sliding into his DMs with an open offer for him to pick up a commemorative poster.
He has not responded to the message as of yet.
Scott Cacciola writes features and profiles of people in the worlds of sports and entertainment for the Styles section of The Times.
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