As some of you might know, besides being a textile designer I am also a yoga teacher. When I first heard the word ‘Athleisure’ at a WGSN trend seminar I was about to jump up and shout “That’s me!”. I wear leggings and some kind of dress/tunic all day long as I transition between yoga teacher, mother, designer, friend, yoga teacher, wife and designer again and again. So my interest in activewear is genuine, professional and personal. I have seen an increase in cool patterns on leggings in my classes and I create quite a lot of activewear designs myself.
That being said, drumroll please … FLEO shorts have licensed two of my activewear designs recently. Fleo is an American company that sells activewear for very strong girls and women – weight lifters! One of my designs was released in January called Lava.
And it is sold out as I have seen on their website. The other design called Extremely has just been released.
Fleo do a great job in describing the empowering effect of their activewear. Extremely: “From extremely dedicated to extremely passionate, you go all in. You love hard, train hard, live life to its fullest and never settle. It feels good to use your brain, muscles and emotions all at once. You need apparel that goes as hard as you do.” And for Lava: “Because H-O-T. Lava is flowy, wavy, and full of fire. Predominately black with magenta and teal waves, this print is subtle yet striking. When you lava something like your workout, your heart and soul soar. For the lava of lifting all the weights and growing your muscles these FLEOs are the key. Designed for your fiery and determined self, Lava is so hot it’s cool.”
The coolest thing is probably what a little Photoshop magic can do in creating these designs. I am brave, I am showing you the original artwork that was the basis for these patterns.
Lava (or Night Surf as I called it) originated from this experimental play of printing with leaves.
Extremely (Rainforest Walk) is basically brushstrokes. With the help of different filters like Solarize and Wave plus adjustments layers I transformed these designs into what they finally look like. I learned tons of helpful techniques and tips for these designs in the Textile Design Lab, especially in their Summer of Creativity course and in the Women’s Activewear e-course. The designs were licensed via my Patternbank account.
And happy news – they have just licensed another one of my designs, this time a floral. I am excited to see how this one will turn out.