Angelica Jenett鈥檚 interest in fashion design started early: she grew up running around her family鈥檚 garment factory in Lima, Peru. 鈥淲e did knit T-shirts and screen printing鈥攆un stuff,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 always had an eye toward that.鈥 The decision to go to art school and become a clothing designer was easy. Her first job was at Old Navy. After several years and a stint at business school, she found her way to the outdoor world. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just so much more empathy in the activewear industry,鈥 she says. 鈥淲hen we talk about the product, it鈥檚 not as much about what聽someone thinks is cool or what鈥檚 trending. It鈥檚 more about how we serve the actual needs of the customer.鈥
Put Yourself Out There
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I wanted to be a runner until I was 20 years old. Because I鈥檓 Latina, I didn鈥檛 see myself in a lot of spaces. I didn鈥檛 want to do yoga or run because I never saw people like me doing it. But once I finally did those activities, I was like, Why isn鈥檛 everyone doing this? For me, working in activewear is about discovering this for myself and wanting to share that feeling with a bigger audience.鈥
Find Inspiration
鈥The Drive 3-Pocket Bra was born out of the need to keep your phone on you while running, but the design was inspired by yoga, because there are some moves where you put your hands behind your back. Those moves helped me think, OK, I can actually reach a pocket in this or that spot.鈥
Appreciate the Effort
鈥淚鈥檝e done apparel day in, day out for my whole career. But bras are a whole new world for me. I鈥檓 so happy that there are people who dedicate their lives to study- ing the movement of breasts as you鈥檙e run- ning, because it just makes the product so much better.鈥
Get Personal
鈥淚鈥檝e actually been a model in some of the bra fittings. It鈥檚 very interesting to join a meeting and have someone say, OK, it鈥檚 bra-fit time. Let鈥檚 take your top off.鈥