How ADAY is Empowering Women to Live on Their Own Terms

To close out 2016, ADAY ran a campaign called #adreamADAY where the popular women’s brand - known for merging fashion, performance, and technology - asked their community to share their dreams. The stories were captivating; From finding a cure to Alzheimer’s to a woman’s dream to help her mother rebuild her home that was destroyed when she fled civil war in Angola. Each goal represented ADAY’s mission to empower people to take the leap, whatever it may be, to live a fulfilled life.

“It was the week after the election and we wanted to be inspired by our community,” Co-founder Nina Faulhaber says. “A year or two ago, a lot of people would have had personal dreams and goals. Nearly everything we received was global, political, and social. At ADAY, we constantly think about the future and our contributions to it. We want to create the future our community is dreaming of.” 

I loved spending time with Nina on Beyond the Headline where we chat about pushing design boundaries at ADAY, the challenges that accompany rapid growth, as well as how the team is creating a brand for real life. Here’s a glimpse of our conversation. 

What does it mean to “design clothes that empower women to live on their own terms?”

We all grow up thinking that we know what’s right for us. I went into finance because I wanted to keep up with the boys. I wanted to be that high-energy, masculine type of woman, who does it all. I quickly realized that my passions are around creativity and the arts. Going after what I’m passionate about is the most important decision I have made in my life. 

Only when you take the leap to live life on your own terms can you make the impact you want to have on the world.

ADAY represents that for me. Our mission is beyond women. It’s about people. We believe that no one should feel bound to or restricted by the things they think they have to do. Everyone should go after what is important to them. 

Due to ADAY’s transitional philosophy, your team views each piece as having its own journey. Can you give us a glimpse into your design meetings? 

The inspiration that is core to our ethos at ADAY is that we are thrown off by fast fashion; The need to constantly reinvent new styles and churn out something new. Our mission is the polar opposite: To create products that have a unique reason for existing coupled with quality, design, and character that makes them worth buying. 

Since the beginning, we start our design process by asking: What are the few pieces we really can’t live without? If we had to get rid of everything else in our closets, which pieces would stay? Our ideas come from everyone on the team. We look at our favorite staples and reimagine them to have more longevity and an aesthetic that pushes the limits. 

What is the most interesting customer feedback you have received? 

We started out focusing on the performance factors of ADAY. When our customers started wearing it they told us they were wearing it for all sorts of things: Running marathons, going to the office, and even pitching the Prime Minister. We are amazed by the things people are doing in ADAY. The biggest feedback we take to design is that people want more for real life. This year, we are launching pieces that are inspired by your work wardrobe and technically tailored. We’re really excited to share them. 

What does it take to build a brand for real life? 

It means building something that has a real purpose for existing. It’s about enabling people to do the things they want to do rather than creating something for the sole purpose of it being consumed, thrown away, and then repeating the process. Our community really resonates with this. We are becoming much more conscious consumers, investing in high-quality products versus purchasing a lot of little things. It’s important.

We don’t want to live in a future where consumption is our reason for being. 

I’d love to spend some time chatting about the team. How do you talk about your vision internally? 

We actively involve everyone. As the product has evolved, our vision and everything we know about ourselves has too. We have gotten to know each other more deeply. We recently had a big mission workshop where everyone brainstormed and shared their ideas. It was all about how we live ADAY. We believe it’s really important to get ideas from everyone in every part of the business. As we go into 2017, a lot of projects and values you’ll see stemmed from those conversations.

We constantly talk about startup values - we write them on walls and print them on t-shirts. Can you tell us about a time when the team really lived ADAY’s values? 

At the end of the summer of 2015, we had just launched in the UK and the US. A lot of our early press was in the States. The US customer was early adopting, keen, and very excited so we felt like our physical presence was really important. My Co-founder Meg, our community manager Jess, and I were constantly going to New York for events. In August, we went back to London and talked to our team about transferring our HQ to NY. The whole team was up for moving. We packed our bags and all went. It was really amazing. It showed how every one of us lives ADAY’s values in real life. We want people to go after their dreams and do things differently, really pushing the boundaries to impact change. Our team did that. 

ADAY has a very global perspective with team members hailing from around the world. How does that influence your work? 

Our team has lived in the UK, Germany, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Switzerland and more. It really makes us believe that anything is possible. 

Don’t restrict your dreams and experiences to the known. Go after the unknown.

That’s how you challenge yourself. It’s about always thinking about the bigger picture, never focusing solely on the U.S. market or the problems people have in very wealthy, first-world countries. 

You thrive on never-ending to-do lists. What are you most excited to create and explore next? 

To-do lists are always long so it’s important to stop and breathe. I’m most excited about taking ADAY to the next level. We have amazing customers who have helped us refine our product but we’re really young and have our entire future ahead of us. We’re getting our vision out there more. We’re going to bring more of our social perspectives into the conversation and do projects around them.

Both your team and you talk about the seamless integration of work and life, which we all aspire to. What have you learned about how to achieve it?

It’s about going after your passions and dreams and figuring out if it’s something the world really needs. It’s also about detaching yourself from things like money and pure success on paper. If you are really passionate about something, go after it. Your work and life will mesh together.