Welcome to Sole Motive. We are an aggregator and innovator in the running and fitness lifestyle space, building on our history and success in publishing, events and retail. Say what? Well in a nutshell we totally rock the running and fitness world. And, here’s how we do it…
It all started back in 1980. Yes those rad days of nylon tracksuits, lycra pants (thanks, Jane Fonda!) and who could forget the very short, high-waisted and form-fitting running shorts – cotton tee tucked in. Always leaders in the fashion stakes, our founders Terry and Joan O’Halloran threw on their spandex and slouchy socks and started publishing a very cool mag called Australian Runner. But this sporting duo were not the type to do things by halves and wanted to share their passion for running with the world. Hello Round the Town – an event bringing together 4,000 fashion-clad runners around the streets of inner-city Melbourne.
By 1998 Terry and Joan were hosting 12 events, catering to more than 25,000 running and fitness enthusiasts and had started to publish the award-winning monthly magazine
Runner’s World – a global title now published in 16 countries.
Along with leggings, hoodies and capris, Terry and Joan also evolved with two big company changes in the 2000s. The first, in 2010 with the opening of a speciality
retail store in Melbourne’s CBD. Our store showcases the latest in running, athletic and lifestyle apparel plus an extensive footwear range. Stop by and say hi – you’ll find our flagship store at
148 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. Following the success of our CBD store, in 2021 we opened our second store in the inner-city suburb of Hawthorn. You can find us at
757 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn.
Our second watershed moment came in 2015 with the relaunch of our company name to Sole Motive. [Our magazine holds its name as
Runner’s World but is now published by Sole Motive.] With our refreshed look and feel across all areas of the company came a brand new logo – a strong identifier of our brand and of the movement we are creating. The arrow and its upward trajectory represent our longevity, our dedication to move and our belief in the benefits of running as part of a healthy, active lifestyle.
You can probably see by now that here at Sole Motive, running is more than a sport to us – it’s how we live. It’s what we do when we wake up, when we meet up with friends or when we race the clock to see just how far (or fast) we really can go. And we don’t do it alone. The dynamic-duo is now a fab-fitting team of 30. A team who hang out with thousands of runners each and every day. From our premier event Run Melbourne, held in July each year, where we hit the streets alongside 20,000-plus runners, to our social media sites like the
Runner’s World FB page where we share daily news and views with more than 432,000 of our fans.
As leaders in the running and fitness lifestyle space the Sole Motive team is committed to helping others – through our event fundraising, starting in 2008, we have equipped runners with the tools needed to raise more than $10 million for more than 450 charities. In all that we do we go above and beyond in order to deliver inspiring and exciting content, updates on the newest fitness fashions and must-do events. And we do it all with the understanding that “no matter how big or small, running is always a step in the right direction”.
