The Adidas Beckenbauer

Armie Hammer had had enough. When the 31-year-old star of James Ivory's Call Me by Your Name was thrust onto the road for a pre-Oscars publicity tour, it dragged on for 14 months. Burned out and exhausted, Hammer entered a new phase in his life: He ditched his usually stylish wardrobe to wear nothing but tracksuits -- principally, Adidas tracksuits. Without quite intending to, Hammer explained why generations of men have pulled on the nylon two-piece from Adidas. But, of course, that's only one of the reasons. Some others: to be iconoclastic, creative or even aggressive. It's hard to imagine a single garment that's as mutable and time-resistant as the Adidas tracksuit. It's a product that has transcended culture, transcended countries, said Siegel+Gale president Jason Cieslak, and so many aspects of our society -- and it's been around forever. We should be specific. The tracksuit in question has been around for 51 years, and its proper name is the Beckenbauer.