Issue 97 · August 14, 2026
All issuesThis is not the extreeeemely special 100th edition of the B-Mail we're chefin' up like Remy on Thanksgiving morning (if Ratatouille took place in NY and not Paris). Super smooth intro so far. Stay with me, we're almost there. Where were we? Ah yes, not the 100th edition. This is the 97th edition. It's an amazing edition. It's for professionals. Some say there'd be no 100th without the 97th. Big if true.
August is what we here at Bandit call the ‘calm before the storm’. We came up with that phrase. Turned out it already existed, but we arrived at it independently. References are out of control, everybody knows that. Computah, make it stop. Fall race szn is right around the corna and we'll be back on the road popupmaxxing our bandit hearts out. Stay tuned. Like/comment/subscribe.
Without further b-dieu: Fall Mood, Alia Armstrong, 80%, Membyship, Scene Report, Tempo Journal.
01 — Fall Mood
Less is more, said Mies van der Rohe, who low key never had to write the B-Mail. Ardio started pinning up her patented mood board wall in Bandit HQ 11 months ago and since then, has been removing images one by one. A collection about restraint. Every silhouette, grid, and stone-gray swatch in Fall traces back to what survived. Come for the Agnes Martin pencil work, stay for the rogue electric blue pops.
The Mood
02 — Alia Armstrong
American women have won four of the last five Olympic golds in the 100M Hurdles and own 17 of the 25 fastest times ever. That's the deepest event in American track & field. Alia Armstrong went undefeated through the whole season and took the US crown... all with no sponsor. Find her portrait in the dictionary right next to “goated”.
The Champ
03 — 80%
Every Program athlete gets one number before training begins, and spoiler alert: it's not their goal pace. It's the number that's going to make sure they don't get hurt, or go insane. V important stuff. Perfect attendance is for middle school. Getting to the line healthy is for grown adults with a marathon to run. Light science, lighter math, and a light drizzle of philosophy.
Click Bait?
04 — Membyship
One of the 4 updates is 5 new partners... and we're describing 3 of them here, charades style. There's the brand behind the performance gels every Nova Crop™ is packed to the brim with. The massage products BGP racers were lining up in the paddock for. And finally, the blood testing company that tells you what your ferritin level is (and also what ferritin is). Charade answers within.
More To Love
05 — Scene Report
We quietly kicked off a Summer Saturday Long Run Series out of our Silver Lake shop. Vibes been nothing short of terrific if we do say so ourselves. What you know about those terrific vibes? RSVP to the next one through our kudos machine. All paces always welcome. Dogs highly encouraged, but not mandatory.
Scene Report
06 — Tempo Journal
Tempo Journal first profiled Tim (Bandit Founder, guy who lives in Figma) back in '22 asking if a sock brand out of a basement could become a real running label. Four years later they're back, going deep on our climb to answer that very question. They dive into our stores you can sweat in, ads we don't buy, the obituary we write every Jan, and some September news ya gotta click for. Read time: one coffee.
Tempo JournalGregory Orekhov laid a black square across Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. A dress grown from living mycelium can renew and repair itself. Jakob Ingebrigtsen returned from 505 days away and won Europeans in 13:15.29. Realistic AI architecture renderings in the EU now require a label. Alan Michelson's “The Oyster” on Governors Island resurfaces Lenape shell middens. A Reddit user has been quietly propping up Greenpoint businesses. NYMag Lookbook goes to the US Track & Field Outdoor Championships. What if the bathroom became the center of the home?
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