At triyoga we love working with independent brands, and its always a special moment when one of our teachers becomes a fan of the brands we stock, which is exactly what happened when our Barre and Pilates teacher Isa-Welly set eyes on the Pepper & Mayne Star Set. Of the set she tells us that “The star set is the comfiest set I own! The fabric is soft, the cut flattering and the print super sexy! As you can see on my instagram, I pretty much live in mine! Athleisure at it’s best!”
After such a glowing review we thought we’d catch up with Leigh May Evans, founder of Pepper & Mayne to let you know more about the brand.
What inspires you when thinking about Pepper & Mayne?
The ‘Strength and Elegance’ of the ballet aesthetic is our consistent message, we want our customer to feel both strong and beautiful but actually, the way people live is probably the biggest motivator for our product development and design team now. Our customer is constantly evolving, becoming more educated about technical clothing and living a more fast paced, varied lifestyle. Our clothing has to be as versatile as possible whilst living up to the rigours of daily life and the different practices and classes she takes. Whereas it was traditional yoga and ballet a few years ago, now we have to consider performance in hot climates (Bikram), friction resistant fabrics (Aerial yoga) and Anti Bacterial Treatments (the Barre to Brunch lifestyle!)
We have an amazing community of brand ambassadors that feed into our product development too. They consist of professional ballerinas and ballet teachers, yoga instructors, even stunt women! Through them we get direct feedback on the collections and hear all the lovely compliments they receive from their own communities. The thoughts and needs of our network of ambassadors and customers inform each season ahead.
As a yoga studio we care where our brands come from, can you fill us in on the Pepper & Mayne design and production process?
All Pepper & Mayne active clothing is produced in Europe. We have strict Ethical and Fair Trade policies and spend a lot of time physically at the face of the manufacturing, with the technical teams, so we know what’s going on every step of the way. We’ve been operating from the same place in Northern Portugal since day one so we’ve learnt lessons and developed ways of working that mitigate any negative impact on the environment, people or surroundings. Manufacturing is heavily regulated in Europe but we carry out audits to ensure that we’re adhering to our own internal standards and don’t slip into any bad habits or take short cuts. We don’t just want a feel-good product we want that integrity to underscore our practices and brand culture too.
And finally, what’s your favourite yoga pose (or Barre!) and favourite place to practice?
I’m still working on my sideways crow so (I’m not sure favourite is the right word!) I’d have to say that right now. Aside from that I love a good handstand! And triyoga of course!
