Finding health attire that’s practical, fashionable, and comfy generally is a problem for those who’re taking a look at manufacturers that take a one-size-fits-all strategy to design.
Vancouver-based designer Selene Dior realized this after being a aggressive swimmer for over 15 years. When she was in grade 11, she stepped down from swimming competitively and took programs to grow to be a lifeguard.
“My household couldn’t afford it,” Dior tells Daily Hive. “I grew to become a lifeguard, and lifeguards make fairly good cash. I used to be serving to out my mother that method.”
After discovering how ill-fitting swimwear impacted swimmers, she imagined there needed to be one thing available on the market that was modern and sturdy.
“I seemed on Pinterest, and I couldn’t discover something,” she says. At this level, in the summertime of 2016, Dior determined she would begin designing her personal swimwear and construct a group through which girls might assist each other. By December 2016, the then 18-year-old introduced Vitae Apparel to life.
Dior, now the model’s CEO, describes her highway to entrepreneurship as a “rollercoaster.”
During the primary and second yr of enterprise, she was dealing with every thing from sketching to designing to customer support, packing, and social media herself — all whereas working part-time as a lifeguard.
“It was powerful. It was a grind, and it was a hustle, and I simply by no means gave up,” she says. “And on the time, I completed my first time period at UBC. I didn’t prefer it, so I give up faculty altogether.”
After one other two years of constructing Vitae Apparel alongside her part-time job, she employed her first worker. Today, the corporate is a crew of seven in-house, all of whom are girls. With the assistance of her crew, Dior can now take designs from sketches to the completed product inside roughly six months.
The design course of, Dior says, includes loads of backwards and forwards with the producer, making certain the material is correct — one thing that’s salient to the designer.
“We’re all the time innovating, attempting to be extra sustainable and discovering new expertise and new materials to have them [garments] match girls higher as a result of our model is all about selling totally different physique varieties.”
Dior hopes that when girls gown in Vitae Apparel, they will really feel assured and “love their physique, it doesn’t matter what they’re carrying.” This, she says, coupled along with her mission to create extra sizes and styles to cater to all girls, retains her going and motivated in her work.
When requested about different designers she seems to be as much as, Dior cites Girlfriend Collective for his or her sustainability and illustration of all girls, ages, and physique varieties.
When it involves planning a group, Dior tells us the color palette and its cohesiveness is a key issue, together with being attentive to traits and what celebrities are carrying.
“It’s actually essential to all the time consider new types and new colors and see what the pattern is for this yr. Before brown grew to become a factor, we have been already planning to launch brown sweat units, and so they offered out just about straight away.”
Last yr, the model launched swimwear created from recycled plastic bottles, and extra just lately, resistance bands to assist in giving prospects entry to health gear and help them in attaining their total wellness targets.
Since the pandemic hit, Dior and her crew have saved their group related, internet hosting Instagram stay exercises, meditation classes, and digital yoga lessons led by influencers. They additionally run a non-public Facebook group, the place members can ask recommendation about well being, health, psychological well being, and “any recommendation actually,” says Dior.
“I feel it’s actually essential for a model to have a group as a result of not solely are they your most loyal prospects, they’re additionally all the time there to give you suggestions for a product or concepts.”
Outside of the net house, Vitae Apparel has donated over 30,000 masks to native healthcare services and ran a number of donation campaigns. Dior additionally just lately partnered with Olivia Canlas, CEO of meowbox, to launch a Women in Business Startup Competition.
The profitable feminine leaders wished to provide again to the group by funding this competitors, supporting the profitable candidates in creating their entrepreneurial abilities whereas providing mentorship and serving to them get a bounce begin on rising their companies.
As we come to the tip of our dialog, Dior notes that many quick style manufacturers nonetheless have work to do in selling all physique varieties and ethnicities. “I feel extra manufacturers ought to showcase that. We hope to set an instance for small manufacturers which might be developing to have the ability to showcase that as effectively.”
To study extra about Vitae Apparel and store the model’s newest assortment with 15% off, go to vitaeapparel.com.
