Overview

MATERIAL, a fashion inspired collection of activewear, was founded by Amy Jurkowitz and Tina Mikkelsen. Like most women they packed way too much in one day – running from exercise to work to kids. They would throw on exercise clothes in the morning and never found time to change out of them.

This realization sparked the idea for MATERIAL. There was a tremendous need for clothes that could truly work with a woman’s busy lifestyle—clothes that were fashion-forward, fun, sexy, and versatile. The design was clean, classic, sexy—pieces that hug where they should hug, lift where they should lift. All with the goal of making a woman feel good about her body.

MATERIAL was true “lifestyle wear” offering the same comfort, ease and performance properties of exercise clothing, but instilling a vibrant sense of fashion into the day. What began as a seedling of an idea grew to a collection of over 300 pieces and sold in over 200 stores, gyms, spas and hotels.

Branding, Marketing, Sales, Merchandising, Design were all undertaken and developed to create a successful business platform.

Material 1

Material Design/Product Development

Each season, a new collection was designed, manufactured and sold. Approximately 20 styles and 60 sku’s made up each collection. The collections sold in and out extremely successfully.


Public Relations

The brand was created out of a grass roots public relations effort. We pitched all major magazines our story – created by two women, who lived and understood the need for a collection of fashion inspired activewear.

We received a lot of press and were featured in many magazines including IN STYLE, MORE, NEW YORK TIMES.

Material Press

Marketing and Branding

MATERIAL was started from the ground up. We created the name, look, feel, concept, image — the full brand. Marketing MATERIAL was critical to its success. We knew the importance of building a brand especially in the competitive retail space.

Our web site was a great source of marketing as were our many email campaigns.

We created TEAM MATERIAL made up of successful and influential women – from architects to designers to doctors to teachers to mom’s. We sent them complimentary outfits from each season and via word of mouth we built a lot of momentum.

Our marketing efforts grew via a grass roots strategy. We held hundreds of trunk shows throughout the US and after a successful show would be recommended to the appropriate local retailers.

Material Website2up