What's going on at Vegan Athletic

It’s been a very productive few weeks here at Vegan Athletic so I think it’s about time that I get everyone up to date on what has been going on and what is going to be happening over the next few months.

There has been a solid amount of prototyping and product testing for both the cycling and running apparel. I’m really happy to say that we now have a womens and mens cycling range that fits, performs and looks amazing.

Getting technical apparel to properly fit the male body is a challenge, but getting it to properly fit the female body is at times near impossible! In saying that, after five pattern trials and countless alterations to our final prototypes, the cycling bib shorts and jerseys are now entering the final phase before we go into production. That final phase is a complete order of all jerseys and bib shorts in each size (XS - XL) in both womens and mens which will be used to define all measurements so that our sizing charts are accurate to the millimetre.

That final production run has been sent to the factory today and I’m expecting it to arrive in 2-3 weeks. It should only take a few days to then finalise the sizing charts, photograph each colour option and get the online store ready to open for pre-orders.

Now I want to take this opportunity to talk about pre-ordering, why we use this method of sale and how it’s going to work in the future for Vegan Athletic.

Vegan Athletic is lucky enough to be working with a manufacturer who are able to quickly adapt to the needs of clients who want to move in new directions to better serve their customers. As a small start up, we don’t have the capital to be able to order in minimum order quantities. But even if we did, that method of ordering say 100 of each size and colour isn’t something that I want to do, or in this case, need to do.

The reason I don’t like this method of manufacture is that it leads to a lot of waste. Waste in the form of some sizes or colour options being left over because we just don’t have customers who fall under that particular size or that they just don’t collectively like a particular colour option. We saw this happen with the organic tees. There just aren’t many XL vegan athletes out there and so we have a box full of XL organic tees that aren't getting much love. Now don’t stress. There is a plan for not wasting those tees by turning them into another product when I get some time to sit down with the sewing machine and some scissors, but this is a scenario that I want to avoid, especially in these early stages of our brand.

Unnecessary waste plays a big part in the decision making here at Vegan Athletic. Because we already live in a time where we are over manufacturing stuff, and the more stuff we manufacture, the more waste we potentially create. Which is why I said we are lucky to work with a manufacturer who can see this issue as well. We are now able to manufacture on demand in time frames that are really fast considering the amount of labour and detail involved. I can now send an order to our factory and in just shy of a month we can have your order delivered to your door anywhere around the world.

So the way Vegan Athletic will operate in these early stages is on a pre-order system. Once a week we will take the list of pre-orders that have come through our online store and send that list to our factory. That order will go to production and typically will be made within a 3-4 week time frame, sometimes even faster depending on the time of year. Your order will then be bundled and shipped directly from our factory in Guangzhou, with tracking details emailed to you on despatch. Over time we will be able to recognise what products seem to be most popular and with extra capital behind us we will begin to have those products pre-stocked and stored at our factory which will dramatically speed up the time that you receive your order.

Hopefully this is all starting to make sense and you’re able to appreciate how lucky I am to be working with a manufacturer who can allow me to operate in this way. The amount of skilled labour and detail that goes into making technical athletic apparel can easily be taken for granted. To be able to have the ability to design and produce what I believe is some of the highest quality products in the game, in such small runs and quick turn around time but most importantly in an ethnically responsible environment, is honestly the only reason why I believe Vegan Athletic is able to even exist.

We are getting closer people! I’ll keep you all up to date and I do apologise for the delays in getting the products ready. Everyone who has written in asking how long until release have all been so understanding and I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am to be building a brand that is serving such a beautiful community of humans!

I apologise for this getting long winded but I just haven’t taken the time to sit down and get everyone up to speed for a while. I’ll be writing and possibly vlogging more in the next few days and weeks ahead on a range of topics that relate to the products soon to be launching, the social responsibilities that the brand is constantly considering and a deeper look into the conscious effort to change the way we look at buying and using athletic apparel.

Until then. Stay great. Stay vegan. And keep being the proof that the Vegan Athletic life is the way to a far better future for us all.

Big love,
Daniel