turning the friday night club meet up into a a friday night run club.
ty & clay met in a bike shop and became friends while training for a tri. that friendship turned into a friday night run club outside of charlotte, north carolina and eventual an apparel brand to support the life style of "those who endure."
ty lives a sober. lifestyle and the ncx logo invokes the straight edge subculture that originated in the 80's punk scene. friday nights used to be groundhog day for ty. same whiskey bar, same couple of whiskeys, the same place after that for a few beers, then the shots, eight or nine drinks between three in the afternoon and eleven at night on a good week.
the name showed up years before the brand did. ty was on a snowmobile in steamboat springs with his wife when he turned around and told her he'd just come up with the best name for a clothing brand there had ever been. she asked what it was. "nightclubs suck."
it sat there for a couple of years, unused. then ty got into triathlon, the two of them were moving to north carolina, and the name finally made sense, not as an outdoor brand, but an endurance one. "i hated everything i was training in, so we made the kit i wished i had."
clay works full time to support the growth of their brand and their run clubs nationwide. clay was 21 when ty told him the name. every other 21 year old he knew was out every weekend. clay was getting up early to train or race instead, so the name landed immediately, because it already described how he was living.
ty's the business side. clay's better with people, so the run club became his to run. putting it on a friday night was deliberate, the alternative to going out. "that's the whole idea in one evening."
the brand had it's big breakthrough moment at the 2026 charles cooper river bridge run in charleston, south carolina. it was a big investment for the guys to go set up at the expo and the post race party but they caught something that weekend and the brand continues to expand. there are now ncx run clubs in philly, the bay area, and waco, texas. nightclubs suck, ncx, whatever you call it, it stopped being two guys and a van a while ago. it's whoever shows up on a friday night while the rest of town heads the other way. it's the people doing the unglamorous version, every week, with nobody watching. the x on the chest, or on the front of the cap, was never meant to say you're better than anyone else. it says you're trying to be a better version of yourself.
our take: nightclubs suck earns its name the honest way, it's not a joke on a hang tag, it's the actual trade ty and clay made, trading a bar tab for a start line. that's a rare thing to see spelled out this plainly, and it's exactly the kind of brand worth knowing before everyone else does. we like the clean look of the gear, the primary color choices, and the ability to wear it anywhere from the workout to hanging out. explore nightclubs suck on the site, or go straight to the brand direct.
