Olivia ONeill and the Art of Running

Meet Olivia ONeill — runner, hiker, biker, and creator and owner of Light Foot Athletics apparel.

While training for the Bigfoot 200 Mile, Olivia saw a need for certain apparel. Rather than buy things that didn’t quite fit the bill, she made her own. Somehow, through the web of social media, I found Light Foot and was immediately super excited about how she blended art with clothing that seemed both comfortable and highly functional for outdoor activities.

Here is the creative Olivia ONeill on the art of running.

Olivia ONeill wearing Light Foot Athletics Top

Olivia ONeill started creating outdoor apparel because she needed clothing that suited her specific needs. All photos courtesy of Olivia ONeill.

Tell us about your running/adventure background and Light Foot Athletics.

I started running after college in New York City (NYC), [New York]. I found trail running pretty quickly and spent my weekends figuring out how to get from Brooklyn out to trails in Upstate New York and New Jersey via trains. That’s city life with no car!

I started running ultras and was hooked! I moved out to Colorado in 2021 and have been totally enamored with the wilderness out here, getting into longer pursuits and really appreciating moving through incredible spaces!

I started Light Foot Athletics while I was prepping for Bigfoot 200 Mile and realized that the gear I had wasn’t going to cut it, so I made a bunch of things for myself. Thinking that these might be things other people would want too, I decided to start selling them!

What got you into running and designing?

I’ve wanted to be a clothing designer since I was 13. I’ve always had a very strong draw toward making things, and my favorite part of design has always been solving problems. I went to Parsons The New School for Design in NYC and worked as a menswear designer in the corporate fashion world for 10 years before starting Light Foot. What drew me to running was that it was an outlet for my creative brain to process all the thoughts bumping around.

While training for the Bigfoot 200 Mile, Olivia discovered that she wanted clothing that didn’t exist. So she made it herself.

Art and adventure can be similar, expressive outlets. Are they related for you?

For me, being outdoors and going on adventures has been my place to think and work out ideas.

Who or what is the most motivating factor that keeps you moving and creating? Anyone in particular inspire you?

There isn’t really a tangible motivating factor that keeps me making things. I think it’s just an innate thing that if I wasn’t making things, I wouldn’t be happy. I think about artists and designers that inspire me, and I think the through line in all of them is people who have an element of joyfulness and irreverence to their work. Graham Keegan, Paula Kozłowska, Justice Wolf, and Lana Launay are all artists of different mediums that I get excited to see new work from.

Do you structure your running and creative projects, with training plans or deadlines? What does your typical day look like as a creative and outdoors person?

This is a funny one because I think, in most ways, I am a typical creative type that is more often than not, a little all over the place. When I’m making a drop for Light Foot, I’m much more structured just so I can get everything out in time, but when I’m working on personal creative projects, my motto is “only work on projects when you are excited to work on them.” That way I’m making the best creative decisions for that thing at the moment when I’m in the right headspace to do so.

I used to be very structured in my running, but for the last two years, I’ve stripped all of that back and no longer run with a watch, tracking, Strava, or really any other type of metrics other than having a general idea of the length and vert of the route I’m doing. It’s brought so much joy back to being outside for me and taken off so much unnecessary pressure — I highly recommend trying it. :)

Olivia ONeill has combined her love for clothing design and creation with her passion for outdoor pursuits.

I love the way you blend art into Light Foot with colors/dyes, the cyanotype on the cotton tee, the DIY shirt. Any other items you’re hoping to create? Any critique for the outdoor apparel industry?

I see Light Foot as two really important things for me. It allows me to apply what I love most (making things) to the places I love the most (outside!) Light Foot has been an experiment in being able to make functional things for the outdoors; things that I specifically identify needs for in my own adventures, so new items are usually born out of a personal necessity. An item that I’d love to create would be a perfect sports bra — I have some fabrics for testing and a few different design ideas.

I’d honestly love to see less green-washing from outdoor brands. Coming from a corporate fashion background, I’ve seen companies tout their sustainable materials and products while doing nothing to address the consistent issue of irresponsible and wasteful buying practices.

There’s a focus on “marketable” sustainability to create sales growth while doing nothing to address the massive issues of waste and ethical consumption. I have a lot to say about this topic, but I’ll save that for another time. :)

Outside of Light Foot, what are other creative pursuits you enjoy? What other sports outside of running? You seem to love a lot of different things!

Something I do quite a bit of is mending denim! I do hand-sewn sashiko-style repairs on mostly vintage denim for folks in Boulder, Colorado. Not only is it a super-fun creative process, but it also aligns with my ideals around keeping what you have and making it better. I take commissions and work with a local vintage denim seller called Lov’d. My other creative passion is knitting, and that I keep all for myself because it takes so dang long.

Outside of running, I love backpacking and fastpacking — last year, I solo thru-hiked the Colorado Trail, and I think it changed my brain chemistry. Very excited to do more adventures like that in the future! I also try to get on my bike as much as possible and have very lightly been trying to get into more snow sports.

Knitting outside is just one of many Olivia ONeill’s joys.

Do you have advice for someone creating their own business from their art?

Make sure you have a healthy relationship with your art! It can be draining to try to monetize your passion and leave you feeling less excited about making things. I’ve found that having projects that are just for me keeps me feeling excited to go back to making things for other people.

And a random question that I ask everyone: If you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

Not a type of tree, but if I were a tree, I’d want to be planted along a trail with good people watching and even better views. Put me anywhere on the John Muir Trail, and I would be happy. :)