Running, Creativity, and the Rise of D17

Terrance Diggs and the Goal-Oriented Benefits of Running

The way Terrance Diggs talks about running makes it clear that it’s always been part of him—even during the times of his life when he wasn’t running as much, his love of it was still there. “Being an athlete was kind of always in my routine-slash-DNA,” he says. “The training, being able to compete, being goal oriented.”

Throughout his youth, he played golf and lacrosse, and of course, he ran track. But as he entered adulthood, his participation in sports all but went completely away. He realized he could take those values he learned from athletics and apply those into an apparel company he was launching. “I had to find something that could still let me feel goal oriented and have that sense of belonging,” he says.

The Start of D17

He launched D17 as he finished up his undergrad studies in design at Towson University in Maryland. Terrance had experience designing T-shirts and cover art for his friends who were musicians, and this was a business endeavor that felt natural. The original vision for D17 was as a luxury apparel brand, but because of his athleticism, many people assumed he was creating sports apparel. “So, I made the switch to that,” he says. 

Around the time D17 was gaining momentum, he got back into running himself. “It wasn’t very coordinated or disciplined,” he says of his training routine. “I was just doing it for the sake of doing it.”

But he found that training for races gave him incentive to get back to the gym and encouraged him to pursue goals. “Running really opened up those things I used to do all the time when I was younger,” he says. “I kind of felt like, ‘Well, what am I going to the gym for?’ Staying healthy is great, but you never know what tomorrow might bring.” With running, Terrance realized he had goals to go after. 

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Getting Into It

In the early days of getting back into running and promoting D17, he was featured in Complex magazine, and he was told that running apparel might not get a lot of appeal. That was several years ago, and since then, running has exploded in popularity. “Look at how the industry is now,” he says. “It’s still on the rise.” 

As far as his own running goes, Terrance is still a self-proclaimed “more of a 5K or 10K guy,” but he’s doing longer distances now too. He’s done half-marathons, which enjoying more and more. “I’m slowly falling in love with the distance a little bit—it’s slowly gaining my heart because it’s long enough that it’s challenge, but I can cruise enough. I like to go fast,” he says.

Supporting Others

Over the years, D17 has grown and sponsored adult rec sports teams, designed kits, and eventually evolved into a running-focused line. But the brand isn’t just about clothes. It’s about access. As Terrance puts it, it’s about helping the beginner who shows up to a run club in New Balance 990s—“a recreational lifestyle shoe”—because no one has ever walked them through the difference. It’s about making sure newcomers have the right gear, the right information, and the right support.

“I want people to be get into running and stay in it, and be equipped correctly and be educated correctly,” he explains. Through partnerships with local retailers like Charm City Run and Feet First, he organizes training sessions, nutrition discussions, demo runs, and community-focused events designed to welcome runners of all backgrounds and skill levels.

The Strava club he launched in association with D17 reflects that. “I think we have like 230 members…every time I refresh it, sometimes it gets five more or ten more every week,” he says.

The best advice he can offer a newcomer to the running scene? Do your research in your area and just get out there. If you can, he recommends joining a running club so you can aspire to be like the people around you. “You might run faster by yourself, but you run longer together,” he says.

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