Beyond Yoga is ready for the heat and introducing its first dedicated high-sweat performance collection under the name Glowzone.
Nancy Green, chief executive officer, described it in an exclusive interview as a “proprietary fabric and system” that’s been in the works for two years and will complement the supple Spacedye fabric used in many of the brand’s existing looks.
“It’s designed for higher intensity, more heated classes,” Green said of Glowzone. “It has a lighter weight and is gently compressive, so very comfortable. It literally feels almost, I wouldn’t say naked, but it feels really light and easy on your body.
“This is the biggest innovation launch we’ve had in activewear since Spacedye,” she said. “It’s an ‘and’; it’s not an ‘or.’ People still love Spacedye, but they also want this. It also has this more saturated color.”
Glowzone is launching with shades of green, pink, brown, blue and black and will layer in more nuanced colors, like olive, later in the season.
Beyond Yoga’s Glowzone is optimized for hot workout sessions.
Courtesy of Beyond Yoga
Count Glowzone as the latest new thing from Beyond Yoga, which Green has been revamping with new categories — including fleece and more cold weather styles — more stores and a special emphasis on color and fabrication.
“We’ve had to rebuild the foundation because we had a very narrow product range,” Green said. “We’re establishing a new foundation, which is this range of categories that span both active and lifestyle as well as addressing a range of activities that we didn’t have products really designed for, like running, cold weather, things like that.
“Our fabric library is significantly broader than it was two years ago,” she said. “We did not have fleece in the business, which is so foundational to what we have today.”
The change is evident in the brand’s results, reported by parent company Levi Strauss & Co., which bought Beyond Yoga in 2020.
First-half revenues increased 19.3 percent to $85.9 million, with the direct-to-consumer business jumping 31.8 percent to $62.6 million as wholesale stepped back 4.9 percent to $23.3 million.
Operating losses tallied $3.2 million as Beyond Yoga built to grow.
Green said it was category expansion and new stores that were driving growth, which she described as “very strong.”
“We’re seeing the customer that we have today as well as new customers come in for the core, which is Spacedye sets, as well as loving all the new products,” she said. “We’re building systems around fabric. And it’s really fun so you can mix and match. It all works together.”
The company has new stores set to open in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Scottsdale; Denver, and San Clemente, Calif.
A look from Beyond Yoga’s new Glowzone line.
Courtesy of Beyond Yoga
“As we open stores, we see that halo effect,” the CEO said. “Stores drive a lot more volume. We create a multichannel customer, which is a very valuable customer. Once they’re able to try it on and have that experience with our team, it’s a fabulous service experience that can feel the product, try it on an environment.”
Green knows something about growing an active brand, having been CEO of Gap Inc.’s Athleta as it expanded from 39 to 175 stores.
“We’re constantly building and we do a lot,” she said. “We can move really fast. There’s some things that take a longer period of time, like developing this [Glowzone] fabric and the system. It’s technical. You really need to make sure everything is working really well.
“That’s an example of longer lead innovation,” she said. “And once you get that right, then you can move fast on silhouette diversification. First you’ve got to get the fabrics in your portfolio that you feel really good about. This is a very premium, high quality brand and so you don’t want to just get into [a category] for the sake of getting into something.”
