NEW YORK — Amtrak, looking to garner more publicity for the Aug. 28 launch of its new premium NextGen Acela fleet, has piggybacked a tracksuit promotion onto New York’s Fashion Week (Sept. 11-16). According to Amtrak: The most comfortable way to travel just got even more comfortable; as it is launching its first-ever line of ‘Trak Suits that embody its commitment to premium comfort and style.
The tracksuit is a wardrobe staple, sitting at the intersection of style, comfort and culture. In collaboration with the New York School of Design, Amtrak invited seven NextGen fashion designers to re-imagine the timeless tracksuit with their own unique style, which is as innovative, premium, comfortable, and modern as the trains themselves.
Each student was given the ultimate design brief: to create two original tracksuit looks for potential Amtrak merchandise – one that’s ready-to-wear that could be available for consumer purchase, and one couture look that pushes boundaries and celebrates their unique design perspective.
From sketches to stitches, these designs were conceptualized, cut, sewn, and styled by hand – under-time pressure and with bold creative direction, just like your favorite fashion competition shows by the following New York School of Design students:
Anastasiia Lukinskaia — 1st place, ready-to-wear
Konstantin Sozinov — 2nd place, ready-to-wear
Sedef Biricik — 1st place, couture
Alexa Dumitru — 2nd place, couture
Melanie Chaves, Fernanda de Santiago, Mia Scerbo, honorable mention
Amtrak’s ‘Trak Suits invite luxury, business and next generation travelers to prioritize train travel as the most comfortable, premium mode of transportation, and to climb aboard Amtrak’s next generation fleet.
Note: The caption has been edited to reflect that the individuals shown are models and not the contest winners.
We now have 3 votes for the standing “blue suited guy”.
Someone described these suits as “Your excuse to be fashionably late” and I had to stop and laugh at that.
The one closest to the train (blue with red and white highlights) actually looks pretty cool. The rest…not so much.
Can’t we all just lighten up and have little fun? Minimal investment, engages younger audience, and might go viral. Got to say the “escaped convict” look doesn’t do a whole lot for me. I would wear the one next to the locomotive, and I’m almost 78. Yes, the carpets are dirty and the windows reprehensible. Why can’t we have both?
It would have been nice to identify the designers in the photo so we could see who won what award. Not that that information would help the trains run on time, but it would add something to the story – even if it just helped distinguish between the RTW and couture categories…
Just watched a video a guy made of a recent Phila. – Tampa trip. 1. He didn’t know which connector to take to WAS to catch the Floridian because the tracking was down. 2. He went to WAS to find out that Floridian had been cancelled from Chicago, he would now be on next day’s train in WAS. 3. Boarded late train next day from Chicago, was then kicked off because his roomette had been damaged, rest of sleepers sold out. 4. Boarded next day’s train in WAS, settled in his roomette, then told that diner was bad ordered; hot dogs, hamburgers, and fast food would be loaded en route. 5. Finally got to Tampa, either an hour or so late or two days and an hour or so late, depending on how you look at it. 6. No “Trak Suits” were seen during all this.
I can only guess Amtrak management was told to come up with an idea to get more younger folks to use Amtrak. Fortunately, this one is basically harmless. But it sure does leave you wondering what Amtrak’s priorities are.
The one standing next to the train is my pick–but I don’t see how its going to get bodies into the seats.
Worked for me.
Reliability, price, comfort, safety. How do tracksuits enhance these goals? Oh yea, when the train stops, you are ready to run to your destination. Cheers.
Words escape me!! This is what we pay billions in taxpayer dollars for? Yet broken down trains are running all around the country with filthy windows and crapped up upholstery and they are spending money on track suits? Amtrak has just hit a new low in my opinion. This is just so stupid. Somebody justify this to me please. I have to get another cup of coffee.
There are no words for this mess.