Making Fitness Fashionable For Women
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Turn It On Fitness founder Juetta West, wearing the Paleo Top and Speed Pant |
We’ve all been there before. You work out in your ugly sweats, run to the grocery afterwards, bump into someone you know and immediately wish you were wearing anything but those ugly sweats. Or you’re at work, would love to squeeze in a workout before picking up the kids, but you forgot your gym clothes.
Wouldn’t it be great if your workout wear could double as your fashionable everyday apparel, and vice versa? That’s exactly why two local ladies joined forces to launch Turn It On Fitness, new designer fitness clothing line.
It all started as wishful thinking for Juetta West, a former runway model and Cincinnati Ben Gal. She knew there had to be a solution to the “ugly sweats” and “forgot my gym clothes” scenarios. She and her husband began sketching out her initial concepts, but she knew she needed an expert in fashion design and fabrics to bring these ideas to life. That’s when she contacted Dayton native Althea Harper, the runner up on Project Runway Season 6 and designer of her own fashion line.
Harper loved the concept and together they launched Turn It On Fitness November 18, 2013 as an ecommerce site after nearly two years of developing the concept, brand, designs and fabrics.
“After I retired from the runway, I have devoted my life to fitness. It became apparent to me that fashion runway styling was missing from women’s fitness wear,” West says, “I asked myself why women’s workout clothes couldn’t have style and be worn outside the studio ‘every wear?’ That’s the genius of the brand — it’s a women’s fitness fashion line.”
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| The Paleo Top as workout wear. |
Turn It On Fitness offers women a new category of fitness wear that West refers to as the “Crossover Concept.” Crossover enables women to wear Turn It On fitness styles as fitness, fashion or both by adding heels, jewelry and accessories. “This duality of function brings convenience and value to our styles in that one garment has more than one use,” West explains.
While West is the CEO and founder of Turn It On Fitness, she says it’s truly a group effort between her and Harper, as well as her husband, son, and a staffer in charge of Quality Control.
“As fitness fanatics and fashion professionals, we’ve addressed a fundamental problem with fitness wear, lack of versatility. Using performance fabrics and designer styling we’ve created a line of fitness wear that is the fusion of fitness and fashion,” West says. “Turn It On provides fitness wear with function and style that crosses over from fitness wear to ‘wear’ by simply adding your closet to our styles. Value, convenience and time savings are inherent in the use of our products.”
According to West, Turn It On Fitness is making a name for itself in the active wear market by simply focusing on two things: the Crossover Concept and the overall value of each garment in the line. The Crossover Concept mixes high performance fabrics with high style to create the idea that the garment can perform well in the studio and as fashion when out on the street. This concept, West says, is absent from active wear styles out there now which is what makes Turn It On Fitness so unique. The second thing that the active wear clothing line focuses on is the fit, function, performance and fashion of each individual garment.
Turn It On uses performance fabrics that have four-way stretch, moisture wicking properties and high fashion design when creating their products. “Because of this, many women have described the products Turn It On creates as the best feel they have ever felt in a fabric,” West says. “The line also uses high fashion quality trims and notions as well as zippers and bindings from the world’s leading manufacturers in fashion.” Turn It On Fitness tops start at $80, the skirts at $90, the pants at $105 and the jackets are typically around $140.
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| The Speed Pant as workout wear. |
Since the launch of Turn It On Fitness, West says the line has been recognized by NYC magazine editors and bloggers, Project Runway and in various online press releases. “Women have positively responded to the brand’s unique look, sliming effect and the soft feel of the fabric,” says West.
As West and the Turn It Up Fitness team continue to work on the fitness fashion line, they also update fans through their Girl Talk Blog on their website. There, you can find posts with helpful and inspirational thoughts on fitness, fashion, nutrition and healthy living. West hopes that with some capital investment, hard work, focus and luck Turn It On Fitness will be recognized as an extremely successful company that changed the way women look at fitness.
To learn more about Turn It On Fitness, visit www.turnitonfitness.com.
