JENNAX Turned The adidas Firebird Tracksuit Into Something You’d Never Guess Was Latex

The tracksuit has a very specific job in fashion. It signals sport, comfort, and a certain kind of off-duty ease. Latex, meanwhile, tends to arrive with entirely different expectations. Put the two together and you get a design problem worth solving, especially if the goal is to make people question what they're looking at.

That is exactly what Los Angeles-based designer Jenna, founder of JENNAX, has done with adidas Originals’ iconic Firebird tracksuit. Rather than simply coating a familiar silhouette in shiny latex, she has engineered a surface that mimics ribbed knitwear, turning one of sportswear's most recognizable shapes into an exercise in visual deception.

The Hardware Store Inspiration Is the Best Part

Images via @jennax1000

The idea began with an unlikely object: a ribbed shelf liner spotted at a local hardware store. Jenna used it as a mold to give latex the fine texture of traditional knit fabric. From a distance, the material looks soft and familiar. Up close, its smooth, sculptural finish reveals something entirely different.

I love the tension in that choice. Fashion often relies on materials behaving exactly as we expect them to. Wool looks warm, leather looks tough, and latex carries its own set of associations before a garment even reaches the body. Reproducing the texture of knitwear in latex disrupts that visual shorthand. The eye recognizes one thing, while the surface tells another story.

It's a more interesting form of experimentation than adding an unusual finish simply to make a garment look futuristic. The material itself becomes the concept.

A Sportswear Classic With a Different Silhouette

Images via @jennax1000

The Firebird's signature Three Stripes remain central to the design, preserving the visual identity that has made the tracksuit an adidas staple. Jenna shifts the proportions into a more sculpted, body-conscious fit, creating a contrast between the familiar sportswear outline and the unconventional material.

That contrast matters because the Firebird already has a strong cultural identity. It doesn't need a new logo or an elaborate redesign to be recognizable. Changing its texture and shape is enough to make the original feel unfamiliar again.

Jenna has built her practice around challenging the assumptions attached to latex, exploring how it can function beyond its conventional associations. This project extends that interest into everyday sportswear, asking whether a material known for its shine and close fit can imitate something as ordinary as a ribbed sweater.

An Experiment, Not a Shopping Drop

Images via @jennax1000

There is one important catch: the JENNAX x adidas Originals Firebird project is a conceptual design exercise, not a retail collaboration. The tracksuit won't be available to purchase, but the project offers a preview of the material experimentation behind JENNAX's upcoming ready-to-wear debut.

For me, that makes the project more interesting than another limited-edition release built around scarcity. It isn't asking anyone to buy a new version of a familiar tracksuit. It's asking what that tracksuit could become if its most basic assumptions were reconsidered.

Sometimes innovation doesn't require inventing a new silhouette. It begins by making an old one look completely different.