The Art of Endurance

A conceptual collaboration between Aimé Leon Dore and Ciele Athletics for the 2025 NYC Marathon

INTRODUCTION

Fashion and running have never been closer. With the 2025 NYC Marathon approaching, The Art of Endurance explores what happens when performance and culture move in sync.
This conceptual collaboration between Aimé Leon Dore and Ciele Athletics imagines a shared world that lives beyond the race. One built around patience, movement, and design that keeps pace with the city itself.

WHY THESE BRANDS?

Aimé Leon Dore and Ciele Athletics share a belief in craft and community.
ALD’s storytelling and New York roots bring heritage, texture, and narrative.
Ciele adds technical precision, endurance, and a culture of consistency.

Together, they represent two sides of the same idea: the discipline of design and the design of discipline.

THE PITCH

The NYC Marathon has always been more than a race. It is a citywide celebration of movement, community, and endurance.

Yet for all its cultural reach, few brands have tapped into what truly makes the event special: the shared energy that lives between the streets, the spectators, and the runners. Most campaigns focus on performance or product, overlooking the emotion and everyday culture that surround the marathon.

That is where The Art of Endurance lives.

This concept bridges that gap by blending Aimé Leon Dore’s storytelling and Ciele Athletics’ performance ethos to celebrate the communities that make the race what it is. It is an opportunity to turn an athletic moment into a cultural one, rooted in design, experience, and a genuine connection to New York.

EXPERIENTIAL FRAMEWORK

The Art of Endurance is built on connection between runners, neighborhoods, and the brands that shape how they move through the city. Each activation turns the marathon into a living story, blending community, culture, and design.

1. Ciele | Mulberry Street Takeover

In the weeks leading up to the marathon, Ciele reimagines Aimé Leon Dore’s flagship store in Nolita as a space for movement and community. The takeover features collaborative pieces from the collection, archival photography, and short films celebrating preparation and patience. Morning runs begin here, weaving through lower Manhattan before looping back for espresso and conversation. The shop becomes more than a retail space. It becomes a meeting point for runners, creatives, and the culturally curious. A third place for the city’s creative endurance community.

2. The Mile 15 Endurance Station, Long Island City

At the base of the Queensboro Bridge, Mile 15 marks one of the most defining stretches of the NYC Marathon. The ALD x Ciele Endurance Station turns this moment into an experience. Queens native Action Bronson curates the atmosphere alongside ALD Radio contributors, creating a soundscape that pushes runners forward and pulls the city together. Limited-run merchandise and refreshments anchor the space, while spectators fill the block in a mix of energy, style, and sound. A cultural landmark on the course, the pulse of the race and the campaign’s social heartbeat.

3. The Art of Endurance Series

A short film and content series capturing five runners, one from each borough, as they prepare for race day. Each story explores what endurance means through their environment, their rituals, and their connection to the city. The series blends Ciele’s raw athletic authenticity with ALD’s cinematic storytelling, creating portraits that feel both documentary and editorial. Five boroughs, five perspectives, one shared motion through New York.

4. The Art of Endurance Coffee Table Book

A limited edition coffee table book that memorializes the collaboration and the 2025 NYC Marathon. Equal parts lookbook, visual diary, and cultural record, it features imagery from the race, design details from the collection, and profiles of the five featured runners. More than a keepsake, it is a reminder to endure in running, in craft, and in community.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The Art of Endurance positions endurance as connection,  between people, places, and the stories that move them. It shows how brands can design experiences that feel lived in, not manufactured. Experiences that carry emotion, purpose, and community at their core. Because endurance, like storytelling, is not about speed. It is about presence, patience, and the willingness to keep going.