In 1966, Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb snuck into the Boston Marathon to become the first woman to run the race. The photos from the day are iconic: Gibb radiates an air of transgressive sixties cool in her oversized Bermuda shorts and Adidas sneakers. No wonder, then, that the ultra-hip Brooklyn-based running apparel company Bandit chose its name as tribute to one of the sport’s most recognizable rebels.
“Bobbi Gibb was the original bandit,” Tim West, who co-founded the brand in 2020, told me recently. “What she did was an act of civil disobedience in the name of the greater good.”
Despite the New England provenance of its muse, Bandit aspires to have an identity that is “uniquely New York.” Portland has Nike. Boston has New Balance and Tracksmith. The tiny Bavarian village of Herzogenaurach has Adidas and Puma. According to West, NYC was overdue for an equivalent.
“New York really is the global hub of running culture, but we don’t have a prominent running brand in the way that other cities around the world do. So it just felt right to bring something to the running world that came out of this…
