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How Be Athletica Built a Sustainable Sportswear · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  I felt like, you know, investing heavily in ads in our first year
• 0:04
  when we have so much to champion as a brand, whether that's in
• 0:07
  the way we source our fabric, whether that's in our design.
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  I felt like just going digital and aggressively on digital was
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  not enough to really bring that story out there.
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  Hello and welcome back to another wonderful episode of the
• 0:30
  retail podcast. Now, it's a shame that we didn't
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  get to do this in person because Gary, who you'll meet in one
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  second and I were both at shock talk likes at the same time in
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  the same region, but we just obviously this we didn't realise
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  we're going to both be there. So Gary, before we sort of get
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  into be Athletica, why don't you just give us an overview of who
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  you are and and what led you to create or be a Co founder in
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  this business? So I graduated from the London
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  College of Fashion in 2021, so pretty recent.
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  And then I started a career in e-commerce.
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  So my background was super involved in working with luxury
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  platforms. So I worked in the UK for two
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  years at a very cool platform called Culp Mia, which champions
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  leading emerging designers around the world.
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  And then I moved back to the UAE and I worked at Shalu Group,
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  which is the largest luxury distributors.
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  Yeah, the largest in the GCC. And then I worked at Unas, which
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  is the leading shopping portal for luxury goods in the GCC
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  again. So it was really working at
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  these three giants that are championing and leading luxury
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  at a global scale that I was able to have that commercial
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  acumen and get that front row seat to understanding what is
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  really behind the scenes in the eyes of a buyer in terms of
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  e-commerce strategy, what the customer in this region and
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  across the world really want. And that's how I that's what
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  really made me want to make the pivot and start my own business.
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  And that's how the Athletica was formed in the coming years
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  later. Sure.
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  And how easy, how easy was it to get off the ground?
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  You said you're on your second season now, right?
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  So is it a year roughly about 18 months old then?
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  So we are a year and three months, that is correct.
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  So about 16 months old. So we launched with one
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  collection and then we launched our second collection in drops
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  from May last year. We're only launching our third
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  collection now in March because of our business model, which is
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  dead stock. So we're a season behind, but
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  it's mainly because of of how we source our fabric, which I can
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  touch base a little bit on. Yeah, I mean.
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  Why don't we like dead stocks are really interesting sort of
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  positioning and hence why I was very curious why dead stock?
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  What made again? When did you hear about it and
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  what made sense? Yeah, dead stock is a very
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  interesting and I think it's like it's an umbrella term
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  because when people say dead stock, dead stock is also for
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  just leftover garments that are completely finished goods as
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  well. So when we say dead stock, we
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  mean just excess fabric yardage which are left behind in
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  factories. So in this in summer 2024, I had
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  a little bit of a break between and I was switching career and
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  that's when I went to visit factories in India, Bangladesh,
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  Sri Lanka, China. And something common in all of
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  these factories was that there was always a stockroom full of
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  excess fabric yardage just sitting there, piles and piles.
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  One fabric rules is massive and imagine hundreds of them just
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  sitting in a room discarded. So when I would ask these
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  factories like, you know, what is it?
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  They would say that oh, this is just excess fabric yardage.
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  Like nobody wants it. It's just lying there.
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  And that's when I realised that there was really an opportunity
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  in using this waste fabric because though it was irregular
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  in quantity, like, you know, they wouldn't be in a fixed
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  quantity. There'd be like maybe 15 yards
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  for a roll all the way to about 800 yards leftover.
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  They were still really high quality and good fabrics that
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  could be used again, and they were in these brilliant
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  factories. The only problem was is that
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  they were too irregular in their quantity for someone else to
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  want to take it. So eventually this would just be
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  discarded. And as we know, fashion and
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  fashion industry is such a big pollutant.
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  And I got to see that first hand.
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  And I was like, why not pick up this fabric and do something
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  with it instead of getting new fabric and buying it from the
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  market like anyone else would? Yeah.
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  That's really interesting. Does that then limit in terms of
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  because this is fabric that's already sort of been produced,
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  are they just like in stock colours or does it limit you in
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  any way? Absolutely.
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  It limits us in a lot of ways, to be honest.
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  It's we wanted to build a brand that starts with something that
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  already exists and it limits us in so many things.
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  One, colours, we have to pick what's available and it limits
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  us in the sense that we can't always scale.
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  Even if we have a style and a certain colour that does really
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  well, once it's out of stock, it's out of stock.
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  We're not going to get that same style again.
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  We can maybe try and recreate it eventually with a similar
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  fabric, but you will really never get that same style again
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  because we use a finite amount of fabric and we don't really
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  know where that source of that fabric ever was from.
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  It's going to be really hard to trace and place an order for
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  that and it again goes against our business model.
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  So we innovate every time we release a collection.
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  You're never going to see the same style come back in the same
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  colours or the same fabric. And we challenge ourselves a lot
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  by picking up a a lot of colours that normally people wouldn't
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  want to work with. Like last season we worked with
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  a neon yellow, like a sunniest neon bright yellow.
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  And the season before that we worked with a hot pink.
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  And it really makes us like, it really puts us, makes us really
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  use our creativity to the best of our ability and makes us
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  really innovate in our design. But the range always ends up
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  looking so colourful, bright and beautiful.
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  I got you and obviously the well, I say obviously again, the
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  the focuses sportswear in the first instance.
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  So right now, I mean, look, we can I can share it with the if
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  you're watching this, you'll be able to see this.
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  This is your new season. And so like example, Cherry is
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  the colour here that would have already been on a on a pallet
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  somewhere that you then are creating designs for, right?
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  Correct. And it's only females at the
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  sorry females. It's only female wear at the
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  moment. Any.
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  Any any plans to expand beyond? So we do have the plans and and
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  we're we're lucky to have the demand as well for it.
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  Think paddle wear is a huge opportunity in menswear
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  especially, but I think expansion to new categories will
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  be potentially in the coming year.
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  I think kids wear is definitely a great opportunity for us.
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  There's so many kids getting into the sport and racket sports
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  in general that we would love to cater to.
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  So I see that on the horizon quicker than menswear to be
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  honest. And I've noticed you've gone
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  inclusive as in all body shapes as well, which sometimes is
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  really frustrating for consumers, right, when it's just
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  one when it comes to sports, you only produce for one body shape.
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  But yeah, from from what I'm seeing, you don't, right?
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  Exactly. We have, we try to be as
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  inclusive in nature as possible, but it's not something that is
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  super intentional. It's just at the core of our
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  values. We do it very like naturally.
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  It's just, it's just a part of our brand.
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  It's not something that's super calculated or something that we
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  plan to do. Right.
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  And, and currently you're online only as in yeah, it's only an
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  online brand Econ you were talking.
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  About correct, we're online only.
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  We are expanding into two new markets this year in Q1 of this
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  year, which is the US and the UK with domestic shipping.
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  So we've seen a lot of traction from the UK especially in Q4 of
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  last year. So that's very quickly become
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  one of the one of the biggest markets for us actually.
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  So we are going to be having a domestic DC over there and
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  similarly in the US as well. OK, interesting.
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  Tell me a little bit more about women LED activations and sort
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  of women's paddle in general. For for those who don't know,
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  it's like tennis, but not tennis, right?
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  Exactly, I play tennis, so I prefer tennis the one
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  championing A paddle where Bran but paddle, the beauty of it is
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  that it's so easy to adopt and it's a it's the fastest growing
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  sport in the world. And and you know, luckily or
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  coincidentally enough, where we're based in Dubai and where
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  the brand was founded, paddle is, you know, the leading sport.
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  People play paddle all the time and the investment behind the
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  facilities here in the region has been immense.
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  There's 250 paddle facilities in the UAE alone, not even courts,
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  just facilities. So the community behind the
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  sport is massive. Now when we think about be
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  Athletica as a brand and how we've used women LED community
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  activations to build our brand, we didn't rely heavily on paid
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  ads in our first year. We wanted to build emotional
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  brand equity first. So what we wanted to do, I'm not
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  a creator. I didn't have a large following
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  base when I founded the brand. We needed to embed ourselves
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  with the community and we needed to get our brand out there.
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  I felt like, you know, investing heavily in ads in our first year
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  when we have so much to champion as a brand, whether that's in
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  the way we source our fabric, whether that's in our design or
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  in the general paddle ethos and how we are trying to build our
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  brand. I felt like just going digital
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  and aggressively on digital was not enough to really bring that
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  story out there. So we have hosted over 35 events
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  in just the last year, whether that's through collaborations or
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  hosting our own 35 events in one year.
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  And that was a mix of like whether that was Pilates or
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  paddle. Last week we had a pizza and
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  pyjama party. We include women from all walks
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  of life to come and take part in our events and learn about the
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  brand in person, whether it's through a small gift or whether
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  it's through discovering the collection at a pop up.
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  But this has really been the driving force in our growth
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  organically. And I think in today's day and
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  age, organic growth is so much more valuable because digital,
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  digital is everywhere. But to be able to capture that
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  audience and to be able to convey your message and your
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  story regionally, community LED events have been super impactful
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  for us. And what would you, what's the
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  feedback from, from your customers or community?
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  Because obviously I, I talk a lot about community led and how
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  a lot of established brands get that wrong.
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  What? Yeah, what, what do you feel?
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  Is it the variety of what you do?
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  Is it the depth of what you do, the authenticity in what you do?
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  Why does it work? Why do you feel that it works
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  well for you? So communities are growth
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  engine. It's a non negotiable for us.
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  We will definitely have say like four or five events scheduled
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  per quarter. And what we do is we really add
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  points that make us different in it apart from, you know, your
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  traditional like have a pop up setting of people to come and
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  discover your product because we're online only.
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  So for people to come and see it, this is really their only
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  chance. I think it's the way we connect
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  with our customer. We make, we involve them in our
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  social media posts, we're posting them.
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  They are who they represent our brand.
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  We, they make friends when they come to our events.
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  They come there because they're not just here to be sold
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  something or they're not just here for a photo op, but they're
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  coming to make friends. They're coming to meet like
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  minded people. They're coming to network and do
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  this again. We see a lot of people come back
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  repeatedly for our events too. So it doesn't mean that just the
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  girls who love to play paddle, stick to playing paddle.
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  They show up for the next event which has Pilates or they show
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  up for that pyjama pizza party. So it's about being able to
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  identify who your customer is and continuously speak to them
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  through in a very fun and engaging way that's beyond by
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  this. But here, this is what we stand
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  for and this is how you can experience the Athletica without
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  needing to purchase something to feel included.
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  And that has actually driven our conversion way more than any AD
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  would. I got you and and I'm sure you
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  probably get this a lot, but you're, you've chosen to go into
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  a really competitive market, right?
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  The the sportswear market. It's it's a it's a global
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  market. It's up through it's it's very
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  difficult. I mean, what, what the lessons
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  learned? What are you sick?
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  Why are people, for example, with a famous brand or the
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  traditional brands? Why would are you finding?
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  Is it because the community, the people, are choosing you over
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  the traditional? Brands, I think it's one of the
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  factors, but you raised a very important point, which is that
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  active wear is noisy. The barriers to entry in active
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  wear are low. It's easy to start an active
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  wear brand today. You just have to go to the
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  wholesale market. You can buy a product and you
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  can have your branding done on it and there you go, you have
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  your product. So I feel like for sure there's
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  a, there's no dearth of activewear brands and we have
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  been able to carve out our niche in terms of our, how we source
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  deadstock paddle community events.
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  But honestly, everything comes down to the product.
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  So we can, we can market as much as we want.
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  We can have as many events as we want.
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  If the product didn't work, this business is not going to work.
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  So it's really been, I mean, community events let you let the
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  customer convert 1, but they're not going to make you convert
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  again. So I truly believe it's down to
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  our product and how unique it is and the fact that when someone
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  buys our product and it's out of stock, nobody's going to be
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  getting that same piece again. She values it and she's excited
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  to come back and get another one.
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  I think that's, that's one huge aspect of it.
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  You're not going to see 100 people wear the same generic
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  piece of clothing and your daily activewear.
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  And the other would be just the fact that it's made with a lot
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  of love and care here locally in the UAE and we look into our
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  product very much. So it's, it's not something
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  that's generic with just a label on it.
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  Our styles are genuinely unique because we have a very strong
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  design language. That's fantastic.
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  OK. Is there any questions I should
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  have asked? Like if you've been on another
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  podcast and someone who knew a lot about paddle and athleisure,
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  is there a question that they would have asked you that I've
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  not asked you? I think honestly the question
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  that you asked about the activewear market and how much
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  like and how saturated it is or how competitive is, how
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  competitive is, I think I think maybe someone would have asked
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  me like if there was no be Athletica, what would activewear
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  be missing? But I think we kind of touched
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  base on it anyway. I've got you.
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  OK, Fantastic. And then in terms of looking to
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  the future, what do you think are the sort of major hurdles in
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  your business as you look to grow and scale?
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  I do see quite significant challenges coming up ahead and I
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  think it mainly has to do with scaling and our product.
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  Now, while I talk about it so effortlessly, effortlessly that
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  you know, we don't restock products and that's great.
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  That's also not been great for our customers.
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  They absolutely want to see some styles come back.
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  So scaling when you don't have your best sellers replenished is
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  very challenging and it's completely out of the ordinary.
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  That is definitely 1 and 2. When we launch a new collection,
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  we actually have to source fabrics from deadstock from the
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  beginning again, and then we start designing.
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  So it's different from traditional retail.
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  Traditional retail, the designer decides what colour she wants,
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  fabrics while she's designed it and then she sources fabric.
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  Here we're doing the opposite. We get the fabric and then we're
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  like now what do we make with it?
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  So, so it takes us, it took us six to seven months to just get
• 15:45
  our latest collection complete. So I think scaling because we're
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  not going to be able to meet, you know, traditional retail
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  timelines is going to be a huge challenge and also replenishment
• 15:55
  of best sellers. However, we are innovating and
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  trying to introduce new things for our business that will help
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  us scale, like tapping into natural fibres.
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  We now those are not styles that are made from deadstock.
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  They are just styles that are made from natural fibres, from
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  accredited source mills that are innovating with how they create
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  fabrics made completely naturally.
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  And we're trying to incorporate more of that.
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  So hopefully our customers find new value that, OK, there's not
• 16:24
  just desktop, but there's also clothes that are good for you,
• 16:26
  good for your skin and good for the environment as well.
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  So now we're going to have to start to tap into a little bit
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  more of a sustainable business model with our growth.
• 16:35
  So these are the challenges I foresee.
• 16:37
  Yeah, no, thank you. Thanks for for the being honest
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  and and transparent about that. Final question, what role does
• 16:43
  technology play in ecommerce for you?
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  So for example like virtual try ONS, AI looks getting listed on
• 16:51
  ChatGPT. I'm curious as a young founder,
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  what's top of mind for you with when it comes to technology?
• 16:56
  It's definitely going to be a genetic commerce and having our
• 17:00
  visibility on AI search engines. That's definitely our priority
• 17:05
  now as a business because I think we can definitely say that
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  the shift from searching on Google to searching on ChatGPT
• 17:12
  has officially happened. And we do have this huge
• 17:16
  opportunity with customers typing in best active wear in
• 17:20
  UAE or best active wear for sustainable fabric or you know,
• 17:24
  these are all keywords and opportunities to grab on.
• 17:27
  And I do see that this is the next.
• 17:29
  I mean the shift has already happened.
• 17:31
  So this is our priority here as as a new business and then
• 17:35
  virtual try ONS and these kind of things have been in trial and
• 17:39
  testing for quite a while. To be honest, our e-commerce
• 17:42
  hasn't, I'm still of the notion that just the website alone is
• 17:46
  not going to drive conversions like maybe how the point that of
• 17:50
  them there was. So I still do see high intent
• 17:53
  when someone lands on our website.
• 17:54
  They don't really need more on the website to be able to make
• 17:57
  them drive that purchase. So maybe with scale and with
• 18:00
  more growth we'd be able to see that.
• 18:02
  But for the moment, I think being, you know, on those top
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  landing pages of the AI search engines are going to be our
• 18:08
  priority for the next year. Gary with that with with it our
• 18:12
  time, I could obviously I've got always that's why I have a
• 18:15
  podcast. I can always talk about
• 18:17
  questions. So thank you so much for giving
• 18:19
  up the time to be with us today and I look forward to maybe
• 18:23
  seeing you at Shop Talk Lux next year or there will be an NRF as
• 18:26
  well. I don't want to upset NRF, so
• 18:28
  maybe at one of the conferences we'll get to meet in person.
• 18:31
  Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much.
• 18:34
  Thank you for having me.