We chat to YANA™ Active, an inclusive and fashionable activewear brand.

YANA™ Active is an incredibly inclusive and gorgeous activewear clothing brand. We had the pleasure to chat to Charlotte and Sophie, the founders of YANA. We talk about how they started the brand, what it’s like working with your sister, sustainable fashion and more! They have also just released a new activewear drop which is to die for! Keep reading to get to know the brand a little more.

Tell us a little bit about YANA's background, how did it all start?

YANA™ Active is an independent, luxury women’s activewear brand focusing on designing and manufacturing unique activewear pieces in the UK. We aim to empower our tribe of Everyday Warriors and enhance the concept of multi-functional and fashionable activewear. High quality is key with subtle details defining our signature products. 

Prior to launching, we were sat by a pool in Ibiza thinking about launching a swimwear brand with the money we'd made by renovating and flipping a few properties. We've always been entrepreneurially inclined, Charlotte used to create candles and make cushions and soft furnishings, and Sophie used to make cards and sell them when she was younger. 

After a while, we realised the activewear industry was growing but there wasn't a brand out there that we were loyal to, because there wasn't one that catered to our needs. We wanted British-made activewear that focused on supporting the UK economy and the local community around us. So we created YANA™. 

Is there a story behind the brand name?

Before we launched we were researching strong females throughout history and were so inspired by the incredible female Amazonian tribes who were all about empowerment, sisterhood and strength. Being sisters, this resonated so strongly with us and we wanted to build that strength into YANA™. Our logo spells our name if you look closely! 

Do you think working with your sister/someone close to you is easier when it comes to running a business?

Running any business isn’t easy but being close means you can have very frank conversations without worrying you’ll offend the other person. As sisters, we’re very close and nine times out of ten we say what the other is thinking, so we’re very in tune with each other. It’s great fun working with each other and it’s great to have someone very close to you to share successes and overcome issues when things aren’t going quite as planned! 

Fast fashion and poor-quality clothing are becoming mainstream, how do you ensure your products are high quality?

We design our products carefully to ensure they provide an excellent level of comfort and support to those wearing our garments and manufacturing in the UK is very important to us. Not only does it allow us to support our local economy by creating and supporting job opportunities, we promote UK craftsmanship and save essential skills (something that is significantly reducing!). 

Manufacturing in the UK allows us to be more environmentally friendly. We reduce our carbon footprint by sourcing as many of our fabrics from UK fabric mills and manufacturing only 30 miles away from our HQ. 

We are also able to offer our customers higher quality products as we have a closer control over our supplier chain due to their proximity to us and we're able to get products to market quickly. We're able to protect our designs and be sure that they aren't being shared with businesses in other countries which is important for a small business, as it allows us to remain unique. 

UK manufacturing is more expensive than options from abroad, but for us, investing in the UK is important as it only helps the country become more self-sufficient. Regardless of our position on Brexit, we find ourselves in a post-Brexit world where now more than ever it's critically important for the UK to develop and invest in skills. We have a lot to offer in the UK and the fashion industry is an exciting and engaging sector to be a part of. 

Our bottom line is we want to ensure we have as much control over our supply chain and offer the highest quality possible to our ‘Everyday Warriors’, which manufacturing in the UK allows us to do.

We also use our platform to help educate our customers on the negative side of fast fashion, why spending a little more on higher quality products is worth it and how UK manufacturing is a more sustainable option for us and the environment. 

What does YANA strive for in its ethos?

At YANA™, we believe it’s not just about activewear, it’s about being active. Active in life, in work, in your community, an active lifestyle, mindset and being socially involved. We aim for our activewear to support the body, while our blog feeds the mind. 

YANA™ has been created with the intention enhancing the concept of multi-functional and fashionable activewear. Our vision for YANA™ is to provide women with functional and beautiful activewear that won’t let them down, whilst creating an inclusive, yet exclusive community via a blog and our social media channels. The aim is to bring like-minded women together, share our goals, dreams, accomplishments and even failures.  

Our pieces are carefully designed to provide women with garments that can be used multifunctionally; mainly for two reasons. Firstly, we want to provide women with comfortable, stylish activewear which makes them feel confident and empowered, whatever their daily tasks are (e.g. working from home, working out, meeting friends for a coffee, relaxing, shopping). Secondly, we make garments that stand the test of time. Well designed garments often offer a higher level of quality and therefore last longer, making it more economical for the customer but also better for the environment as it reduces wastage of clothing. We are not a fast fashion brand and always aim to educate our customers about why it's worth spending a little more on high-quality products than buying poor quality products time and time again. 

Community is another factor that is incredibly important to us here at YANA™. We provide educational and interesting content via our social media channels and blog on our website. We aim to motivate our tribe of 'Everyday Warriors' as well as supporting our local community. We work with small, independent fitness trainers and nutritionists to deliver content online and help them grow their businesses. 

If you were able to give one message to people working on building up their fitness and leading an active lifestyle what would it be?

Making small, incremental changes are the best way for you to become more active. If you want to start running, you don’t start by running a marathon, you start by running a few km and slowly increasing it as you build up your stamina and endurance. 

A few tips for being more active:

• Get out in nature for a walk daily, almost anyone can do it, it’s free and it’s therapeutic. Rather than walking with earphones in, try it without and listen to nature and watch your surroundings, you might really enjoy it!  

• If you need help with your fitness, hiring a personal trainer is a great way to set you on track to get the basics right and ensure you can train without injuring yourself.

• Working out with friends or in a group environment is always very empowering, cheering each other on helps you to push yourself harder but you can also make new friends and interact with people who have similar interests to you.  

• Find out what you enjoy, being active doesn’t always mean exercising. Being mentally active is just as important, you might enjoy reading or playing a musical instrument – these are great ways to keep your mind active! 

What does the future look like for YANA?

Next, we are launching our eco-friendly range for summer. As a brand, we aim to be sustainable and ethical, which is one of the main reasons we manufacture so many of our garments in the UK. Over the next few years, we aim to bring all of our product offerings sourced from UK-manufacturers where possible and make more use of recycled fabrics and materials. Our new range of activewear will contain recycled materials from fishing nets and carpets! We’re also working on an extremely exciting project with another enormous brand, but we’re keeping that under wraps for now!