The Longest Journey We've Taken as a Company

The Goal We Didn't Reach
When we started out in business over a year ago, we set ourselves a few goals for the year ahead. The first goal was to simply make it to one year in business. Thankfully, that one came through, phew. Other goals included hitting 10,000 followers on Instagram and launching in the US.

Some goals we set were a little harder to measure. We wanted to collaborate as much as possible and spread a good message. We’d like to think we are on track there. However, there was one target that we set for ourselves that we unfortunately missed. That one was to have leggings/yoga pants launched by the end of 2017.

Not hitting that target was a small bit disappointing but not entirely. We weren’t in a rush. The leggings launch is possibly our biggest launch to date and we wanted to ensure that everything was perfect. We didn’t want “good enough”, we wanted premium quality

Designing our leggings was a huge undertaking for us as a team. Like any other major project we have taken on, our first instinct was to turn to our community for advice. We listened to suggestions from the wider community. We took in every comment, message and email received. The list of likes and dislikes gave us the base we needed to get underway.

We then reached out to some of our ambassadors to discuss some finer details. We knew that functionality is of utmost importance when it comes to leggings and yoga pants. We wanted to get first-person opinions from experienced yogis, weight lifters and fitness instructors. We got together with yoga instructors Liz of @postive.fitness.project and Julie of @Juliebyoga, Olympic lifter Sinead McSorley and Poundfit instructor Carla of @movewithcarla. We were so grateful for their insights, below is a sneak peek into the creative process.

Collaboratively Designed Leggings
The idea behind collaborating with our community was to take you guys with us on the journey. We figured the best way to create something which our community would love was for our community to take the reins. We wanted you to tell us the must-haves in functionality and the style pitfalls to avoid.

Olympic lifter Sinead highlighted the most important aspects with regards to training. “Comfort is so important when Olympic lifting. The seams need to be very strong as you drop into very low positions. The material needs to be on point, you can’t have any see-through issues going on.” Having our leggings “squat-proof” took on a huge importance. The leggings had to be able to support your movement, allowing you to give your very best. Of course, yoga pants aren’t solely for squatting but the only way to ensure reliability was to push the limits.

Julie B was one of our yogis on the inside and highlighted some crucial considerations. “Comfort is the key. You move around so much in yoga. Your leggings have to be able to move around with you while also holding their shape. They can’t go loose around the waist or ankles. Quality is very important.”

Something that came highly requested was bringing leggings with pockets to the market. Leggings are meant to be all about versatility and functionality. Designing leggings with pockets is something that made complete sense to us. Our 'Breathe' style range contains a power-net pocket. We are delighted that leggings with pockets has become a reality through that range.

The Three Keys - Quality, Support & Comfort
Quality is something that means a huge amount to us at G+C. We don’t want anything but the very best for our unbelievably supportive community. During the course of this journey we managed to secure a partnership with one of the most renowned manufacturers in the world. One which works with some of the biggest brands in the world. This partnership has given us immense confidence and the results speak for themselves. The partnership allowed us to design a product that is top of class in support, comfort and quality.