From racing a marathon in the 2020 Olympic trials to obtaining a Ph.D. in English literature, Ann Mazur has accomplished more than most. Now, she’s adding store owner, fashion designer and entrepreneur to her already-lengthy resume.
After single-handedly running the operation online out of her Charlottesville residence for the past two years, Mazur’s activewear business Relay Active has set up shop in the former Brigid & Bess gift store inside Charlottesville’s Dairy Market food hall.
“Sustainability and really high-quality production is super important to us,” Mazur told The Daily Progress on a morning last week, standing behind the store’s large counter sorting through packages filled with sports bras and shorts.
The shelves and tables inside the redesigned front window space in the Dairy Market are stocked with these items as well as, quite literally, a rainbow of other athletic apparel, including tank tops, leggings, lightweight shirts and hoodies
“We have a lot of bright things,” Mazur joked, pointing out the several eye-catching, tie-dyed running kits throughout the room. “People almost had to talk me into making black activewear. So, we have black too, but lots of fun, vibrant colors and tie-dye.
Though infusing some of her colorful, creative side into the clothing is important to Mazur, she also ensures her designs are comfortable for all female body types, not just “Barbie.”
This emphasis on inclusivity was in part inspired by Mazur’s own teenage experience. After failing to find any running clothing for girls in stores, she showed up to her first cross country practice in high school sporting denim shorts with a red drawstring.
“Times have changed,” said Mazur, who, after graduating high school in Pittsburgh, went on to compete for the Notre Dame cross country team. “I’ve always loved running clothes and running and just making clothes that are comfortable and really built for running.”
In addition to personal attire, Relay Active also provides a service for customers to customize and purchase running singlets at a low minimum suitable for running clubs or even a group training for a race. Mazur’s husband, Phillip Robb, manages the custom program using his experience with his own graphic design and custom cycling kits company, Cutaway USA.
While Relay Active is the perfect amalgamation of her two passions, the activewear enterprise is actually an offshoot of another one of Mazur’s entrepreneurial pursuits. While studying for her Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in 2012, Mazur started her first one-woman operation, Runners Love Yoga TV, a series of instructional videos and blogs to help runners all over the world “do yoga run faster,” which served as the program’s tagline.
She was first introduced to yoga by her aunt who lived in Los Angeles, a city known for its mindful movement and meditation scene. A lifelong lover of exercise — unless it involves significant hand-eye coordination — Mazur was quickly infatuated with the mind and body movement.
She began working as a yoga instructor when she arrived in Charlottesville, teaching classes at the UVa Recreation Center, Farmington Country Club and launching Runners Love Yoga, which allowed her to put into practice some of her teaching experience. Currently, she teaches yoga and running for fitness courses in the UVa kinesiology department.
“There’s no way I could even do what I’m doing now, if it weren’t for my Ph.D. in English literature,” she said, adding the work ethic and research skills she developed in the program have also benefited her entrepreneurial journey.
All the while, she was beginning to try her hand at designing the types of clothing she would want to wear whether running or in warrior pose.
“The activewear just kind of naturally and organically kept growing and growing,” Mazur said. “Then I was like, ‘This just needs to be its own thing.’”
And, in June 2022, it did. With Mazur handling all of the research, design and sales, all of the products are made in an overseas factory that’s received the highest certification from the International Organization for Standardization and packaged in 100% recycled poly mailers, a lightweight, environmentally friendly material.
Operating solely as an e-commerce company out of her house for the first two years was like living “in a warehouse,” Mazur joked. She said the easiest thing about moving into the Dairy Market was simply emptying out the storage unit back home and stocking up the store.
The Relay Active space itself has taken on a whole different feel from when it was the Brigid & Bess boutique gift shop. The entryway remains arranged for retail, but a wall separates the shop from a newly constructed yoga studio in the back fitted with a bamboo floor.
With industrial elements and plenty of natural light coming in from the windows spanning the length of the store, the space is exactly what Mazur has been searching for over the past several years in order to launch her own in-person yoga studio.
“The aesthetics of the space were really important to me, just like the aesthetics of the clothing are important,” she said. She said she searched long and hard for the just-right facility. “This one became available with just perfect timing, and I was like, ‘OK, let’s do it. Say a prayer and cross my fingers and hope it works.’”
Though business has been relatively steady in the first week, with people dropping by out of curiosity after a meal in the market dining hall, Mazur is tapping into another one of her interests to attract potential customers: kittens.
On a few upcoming Saturdays throughout the fall, adorable and adoptable kittens from the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA animal shelter will be present at Relay Active yoga classes, where a portion of all the proceeds will go toward the nonprofit animal welfare organization.
“Animal rescues are a really important part of our brand,” said Mazur, who has three cats of her own and who donates 1% of all sales to animal rescue groups.
If allergies or a particular loyalty to dogs prevents some individuals from coming out to kitten yoga, Relay Active is starting up its yoga schedule offering either vinyasa or yin classes throughout the week, taught by Mazur and two other instructors.
“We’re capping the yoga at 15 people for yin and 20 for vinyasa, because it’s really important to me that people have a good experience and space,” said Mazur, who wants to incorporate other mindful movement events into the calendar, like a “New Moon Goddess Circle” yoga class she partook in while in California.
Relay Active is open from noon to 6 p.m. every day of the week with the weekly yoga schedule available on its website.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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