One of the absolute pleasures of running Yogipod is meeting others who also run small businesses. It’s always inspiring to hear their stories, particularly when so many of those I find myself in community with are female founders. In this series I’m going to introduce you to their businesses and most importantly the founders themselves.
Charlotte and Sophie are not only the founders of YANA™ Active but sisters as well. YANA™ Active is a a sustainble activewear range which aims to empower the wearer and perform for whatever they are doing while wearing it.
YANA™ Active creates multi-functional, sustainable activewear, what inspired you to design activewear and start your business?
We love fitness and we love style. What we didn’t love, were the activewear brands out there when we first started developing the YANA™ brand. We felt there was a gap in the market for high quality, British-made and designed, sustainable activewear that really focused on empowering women and bringing them together through their love of fitness.
From the offset we knew we needed to be an ethical and sustainable brand and manufacturing our products in the UK was the best way to start. Not only does it minimise our carbon footprint by avoiding importing from overseas, but we know who made our garments and know they are being paid a good wage which also supports our local economy.
YANA™ is all about empowering women by designing timeless and stylish activewear they can wear for a multitude of activities, whether that’s working out in, socialising or relaxing.
Being kind to our environment is a key part of the YANA™ Active brand, why is that so important to you and why do you think activewear needs to play its part?
At YANA™ we believe every brand should be doing their bit for the environment. Sustainability was something we knew had to be incorporated in to our key brand values from the offset. To us, sustainability is about creating pieces that look and feel good but are also good for the planet. Manufacturing many of our products in the UK allow us to significantly minimise our carbon footprint as opposed to brands who manufacture their pieces overseas and import them into the UK. It also allows us to invest in our local community and support jobs in the North East of England, where we grew up and currently live, which is important to us.
We manufacture our pieces using either fabric that has been manufactured in the UK or fabric which is made from recycled yarn that used to be pre and post-consumer waste. Now more than ever, looking after our planet is becoming more important, climate change is real, and we’ve certainly seen it ourselves over the summer months with some of the extreme weather we’ve been experiencing. We have some pieces that we can’t currently manufacture in the UK – but all are manufactured in vegan-friendly and ethical manufacturing factories and as we grown, we aim to bring all manufacturing to the UK.
What do you think the best thing is about having your own business and running YANA™ Active?
Coming up with new ideas, creating designs, seeing the manufacturing process and then seeing our Everyday Warriors wearing and enjoying the pieces!
Conversely what do you find the most challenging?
Finding time to do everything!
Also, you run the business together as sisters, what’s that like?
Lots of fun! We both work hard but have a lot of fun along the way. We hold each other accountable and bounce ideas off each other constantly. It’s also great to be able to travel together and celebrate our progress and wins along the way.
The ethos behind YANA™ is designing multi-functional activewear. What does that process of development look like behind the scenes?
We start by thinking about what pieces we want in our latest collection, whether it’s the type of fabric we use, the fit of the garment or function of the garment. Once decided, Charlotte sketches out the designs and we both make tweaks on what the product looks like. Then it’s on to a Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawing which will be provided to our manufacturer who then starts to create the pattern used to cut the fabric, based on our design. Usually, each piece goes through a few tweaks along the way to ensure the fit is right. We always consider what our Everyday Warriors would wear our activewear for and ensure that comfort and fit are the best we can possibly make them.
I know that creating community is really important to you as founders. What five words would you use to describe what you would like your business to bring to the community around it?
Empowerment, Honesty, Energy, Fun and Excitement
I know we aren’t supposed to have favourites but what is your favourite product you’ve ever created and why?
It’s got to be our 1.0 Leggings from 2019/2020… we each have 3 pairs, we wear them pretty much every day and they’re still going strong almost 5 years later. We’ve worn them to work out in, go to dinner in, been to a nightclub in Chelsea in and I think every plane journey we’ve been on since 2019, we’ve worn a pair! Which is just testament to how well our products last and how multifunctional they are. I (Sophie) love our new Cappuccino Shorts and have lived in them this summer and Charlotte loves our Long Sleeved Black Top which has a crossover back and long sleeves.
What does a typical day look like for you?
During the weekdays we work 9-5 at our day jobs, then usually head to the gym after work and then the evening is filled with everything YANA™. Whether that is designing new pieces for collections, planning events, managing our inbox or creating content. Weekends are often filled with events we attend in person up and down the country, as well as stock counting, website updates, meeting with our Brand Ambassadors and anything else we can squeeze in!
When running a brand in the wellness sector it can be assumed that as founders we have everything sorted, when it can often be the total opposite. What do you do to look after yourself or what would you like to do more of?
Navigating a business on top of full-time employment, means that we have to be time efficient in order to allow space for staying fit and active.
Instead of driving to the post office each day to ship out YANA™ deliveries, we’ll take a scenic walk through our local park. Just 30 minutes a day makes a huge difference to our mental and physical wellbeing and being close to Jesmond Dene means we can soak up the fresh forest air.
Our evenings are spent working on the business, which entails working late nights, we aim to get to the gym most evenings after work – we love attending exercise classes which don’t require much extra thought after a busy day at work- and we always feel better for it!
Whilst most weekends are dedicated to YANA, exhibitions or our home renovation project (@jesmondtownhouse) we love to make time for trips to explore, and expand our creativity and get some much-needed R&R.
Having your own business is a juggling act, but we try our best to find balance in the small windows we can!
What does the future hold for YANA™ Active?
In December we’re celebrating our 5th birthday! We can’t quite believe where 5 years has gone but it’s been a rollercoaster. We’ve had some enormous wins such as being stocked in Fenwick in our first year, winning Great British Entrepreneur of the Year in 2022 for Sustainability and manufacturing so many of our pieces in the UK. 2025 is the year we’re going to grow the business further and carry on developing our Wellness Workshop offerings up and down the country. We’re on a mission to create a supportive community of empowered women, whilst shining the light on what sustainable fashion looks like and what it can do to support our environment.
