Every weekend, legendary Berlin nightclub Berghain hosts a signature party called Klubnacht: a 36-hour techno marathon with some of the scene’s most revered DJs. There’s a certain sense of accomplishment for those who party from Saturday night to Monday morning at Berghain — it’s a sweaty, stamina-demanding feat akin to running a marathon. Perhaps the only thing harder than getting past the club’s notoriously selective door is staying sober throughout the entirety of Klubnacht. This striking straightedge concept planted the seeds for “performance clubwear” brand Running Order.

The concept of endurance, in both clubbing and sport, is central to Running Order. After one of the founders, an avid clubber herself, decided to go sober in 2016, she began doing cardio training in an attempt to sustain the level of physical exertion that’s required for all-night raves (sans chemical enhancement). Noticing the commonalities between her go-to running getups and outfits ideal for the club, and the physical stamina required for both, she and a group of co-founders quietly launched Running Order in 2020.

The cadre of intentionally anonymous designers come from high-ranking positions at fashion brands like Helmut Lang, Satisfy and Salomon. With Running Order, they aim to engineer unisex technical garments that function as well on the dance floor as they do on the track. Even the name, which may sound running-inspired at first glimpse, draws from nightlife: the founders, dedicated ravers, named the brand after the term for a club’s setlist, the “running order.”

The aformentioned founder observes that the sportswear landscape has long been subject to a strict gender binary: namely that women’s apparel is often more colorful and flowery, while men’s garments comparably take a hyper-masculine approach. Compared to everyday clothing, sportswear demands a more exacting fit, so for those seeking unisex clothing, it’s rarely as simple as a woman shopping from the men’s section or vice versa.

“Back then, it was really hard to express your identity or express who you were in sports clothes,” she says. “This started the catalyst in my head of ‘how do I create performancewear that can represent who you are in the same way that you select your piercings, makeup, tattoos or hair?’”

Running Order’s compact debut lineup, simply titled “Collection 01,” dropped in 2022 and consisted of a sports bra, tank, T-shirt and shorts. All of Running Order’s pieces come in black – a nod to the unofficial all-black uniform of the international clubbing scene — save for a small smattering of white tees and hoodies from later collections. Although the pieces are minimal in appearance, the design and manufacturing was labor-intensive, even for designers that had already spent the past decade honing their skills in fashion houses.

“It took a long time to research and develop fabrics, find the right manufacturing partners, establish the creative direction, the art direction,” she says.

Each collection takes about six to eight months to create. Garments are sketched out in 3D software, which the founders say is more conducive to accurate proportions and allows for a more seamless interpretation when the model is passed off to a pattern maker. Compared to sketching on paper, 3D modeling uses exact measurements, conducive to sportswear that requires a snug fit.

As for the earlier discussion about gendered construction, another question arises: what makes a garment truly unisex? It’s a question the founders are asked often. At the previous brands they worked at, the approach to often unisex just meant men’s specifications.

“That was a huge impetus for Running Order order because you can be a man, but that doesn’t mean that a men’s garment resonates with you, aesthetically and in terms of correct fit,” the founder says.

In the prototype stage, garments are fitted on three models: a man, a woman and a non-binary person. Accounting for height, limb length and shoulder and chest size and width, the designers aim for the “average of what works best” for all three models. Regarding how that translates to the apparel, bras favor longer cuts while tanks and shirts run shorter. The Sedef Sports Bra, for instance, extends further down the torso than a typical sports bra, almost appearing as a cropped tank top. Actual tanks feature wide-cut shoulders and bras also have thicker straps.

“We build our clothes in a style that is honestly and truly fit for all,” she says, though taking care to note that nothing can ever be “perfect.”

Current data dictates that the fashion industry produces 100 billion garments each year — many of which are never sold or end up being thrown out not long after being purchased. Running Order was founded with sustainability at its core. The brand often utilizes deadstock fabric that it buys in bulk, while its other textiles are locally sourced from factories in Europe, such as the recycled Italian warp-knit that appears in the Eris Tank. Meanwhile, the Adasi short’s stretchy silk is biodegradable and produced by a mill in the South of France. Each item on the website is accompanied by a sustainability debriefing that explains the source and fiber composition of a given fabric, including any mesh liners, and every collection is produced in the US with small batch production runs.

As the Running Order expands its reach, the brand recently tapped its first creative from the scene to design their own piece: hardcore techno DJ and tattoo artist Killbourne made a hoodie that boasts a tattoo-like graphic on its chest and sleeves. Beyond designing, a global community of runners, DJs and producers collaborate with Running Order on a project dubbed “Sublevel.” Sublevel members help curate the website’s playlists and events like RUN2RAVE, an aptly-titled evening of running and partying. Currently, the brand is working alongside a few techno collectives to plan its next events.

“Run. Rave. Rinse. Repeat.” isn’t merely the motto of Running Order – it’s a principle that guides the founders in all of their endeavors, whether it’s designing a unisex sports bra or, most recently, outfitting a BIPOC team in a March rendition of the 340-mile relay known as The Speed Project. As the founders point out, clubbing and running are not so dissimilar when it comes to fostering community and getting your heartrate up. Whether you’re aiming to go an extra mile or last on the dance floor till Monday morning, Running Order wants you to be outfitted in the best gear for the job.