Has an item of clothing ever been so loved and yet so scorned as the humble tracksuit pant? The actual concept of tracksuits have only existed since the 1960s, but in that time, trackie dacks have woven themselves irrevocably into the fabric of our culture; as familiar and predictable to generations of Australians as, well, a pair of trackie dacks. But why are we so resistant to acknowledge what is undoubtedly our national pant?
First, there are several variations on the trackie dack. A pair of tracksuit pants can signify many things, but the material is imperative to its social currency. Velour? You’re either a cutting-edge designer at the head of a French fashion house or a fairly dodgy man in the 1970s. If you go the route of shiny 1980s-style polyester material, you need to make sure that you don’t stand too close to a heater (but you’ll probably be too busy breakdancing anyway, so it shouldn’t be an issue). In the early to mid-2000s, the issue wasn’t so much the material of the tracksuit pants but the waistline, with the trend of ultra-low jeans unfortunately also migrating to the tracksuit pant world. Those were dark days.
But we’re talking about the standard Australian trackie dack, and there can only be one kind: comfortable in the leg, a drawstring around the top that allows you to secure them to your waist or hoist them up tall (depending on your coverage needs) and then gathered ever so elegantly at the ankle. These tracksuit pants aren’t here to judge you. These tracksuit pants are unassuming. You know how in The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho explains that a “personal legend” is your life’s spiritual purpose? Well, the personal legend of trackie dacks is to keep your legs the optimum temperature while also making you feel that you are enveloped in clouds.
So, where did all of this start? According to the Australian National University’s School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, the term “trackie” was popularised in Australia and Britain in the 1980s, but “daks” has existed since the 1930s at least. Tracksuit pants were initially designed for every sort of physical activity that you would perform on a track, but over the years, billowy cotton pants were replaced by more streamlined and tech athleisure wear. Nothing gold stays.
Without its express function as sportswear, the trackie dack needed to provide another social role to stay relevant. They became the go-to apparel for situations in which putting on jeans just seemed like too much of an effort – like those late night visits to the supermarket for emergency supplies (toilet paper, corn chips, etc.). The only issue is that trackie dacks became almost too good at being convenient home attire. It all backfired – when someone dares to wear tracksuit pants to unexpected locations (lawyer’s office, to the movies, at your child’s high school graduation), they face prejudice. Suddenly, if you wore tracksuit pants out for more than 15 minutes, it signalled that something had gone very badly wrong for you; as if no-one has the right to feel so comfortable in public.
Of course, several trailblazers have challenged this trackie dack prejudice throughout time. In 1978’s Game of Death, Bruce Lee sported his iconic, skinny-legged yellow tracksuit (also worn by the Bride in Kill Bill). Run DMC and the Beastie Boys were firm supporters of the track pant look, and many rappers today have their own lines of luxury tracksuits (although they call them “sweatpants” in America, which is entirely too evocative). A designer tracksuit may not be the same as the matching pink cotton trackie dacks of a hen’s party or those worn by disheveled 1980s soccer hooligans, but they belong to the same fashion universe and this cannot be denied.
How can something that is essentially four pieces of cotton and some elastic be so provocative? The reason why trackie dacks are so loved by Australians – whether publicly or in private – is because they are the one piece of apparel that defies social categorisation. No matter your age, gender, race or social class, you cannot deny the familiar comfort of the trackie dack. These pants are a social equaliser – if we wash, do we not pill? The trackie dack is the pant of the people – and that will never go out of style.