There's plenty of great research and data from the past 5 years that can point to the growth of activewear growing beyond the sports world and morphing into an entire form of comfortable fashion on it's own- athleisure, but that's not what got me started down this path.
I've always loved wearing comfy clothes, but joining the 'professional world' in my early twenties meant filling my closet with dress pants, blouses and blazers, nudging out my favorite leggings and hoodies. Then, 2020 happened, there were layoffs, there was work from home, and for me, the start of a series of serious medical conditions, all of which disrupted the way I dressed.
To make a long story short, my lung collapsed at the end of 2020- it wasn't due to Covid, but it made me very high risk if I were to catch it. I would be working from home for the foreseeable future. My lung healed, collapsed again, was surgically repaired, collapsed again, repaired again, infected and on and on until mid 2021. My body changed a lot during this time, and I just wanted to be comfortable, the items in my closet that still fit me were also the comfiest, they were my old athleisure favorites.
I wore them to the hospital, in bed at home, and eventually to physical and occupational therapy, and finally, athletic training to get my body healthy again. My much beloved pieces slowly started to wear out, some of them were cheap and didn't hold up to the strain, others served valiantly for many years. When it was time to replace them, living in Sheboygan, WI, options were pretty slim.
My body had changed, I wanted to try clothes on in person to see how they fit, but my only options for athleisure were big boxes like TJ Maxx or Kohl's, where the products were of questionable quality and even more questionable ethical and environmental backgrounds. I scoured the far corners of the internet, and many boutiques across the country while travelling for work or for fun, and slowly discovered ethical, sustainable, quality products, but never found a place where you could find all of them together. That's why I started Juniper!
You deserve to be comfortable, you deserve clothing that is stylish and will last, and our planet deserves a little love and respect. Juniper Athleisure is the place where all those things meet- it's that nexus point, and it's in Sheboygan, WI. Just another reason to ask the question- Sheboygan, who knew?