Entrepreneurial sisters are toasting success after their fashion fitness company YANA Active secured a pop-up shop at retail giant John Lewis.
Charlotte and Sophie Wilson founded YANA Active last December, aiming to empower women by designing and manufacturing high-quality, sustainable activewear in the North East.
Now, less than a year from launch, the duo are celebrating after securing a pop-up shop at department store John Lewis in Newcastle.
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Sophie, 25, and Charlotte, 32, are originally from Skelton in North Yorkshire but having both graduated from universities in Newcastle – seven years apart – they decided to set down roots in the city and launch their business here.
The sisters, who are in the process of moving from Newcastle Quayside to Jesmond, joke how they’ve barely slept over the last couple of years as they worked towards their dream of building their own business.
They have invested their own money into the project, using funds from their personal savings and full time jobs at separate engineering companies.
As a sideline they also develop properties, a creative hobby they started six years ago when they bought two homes in the Beamish area at an auction at Ramside Hall – an experience which landed them an appearance on BBC’s Homes Under The Hammer. Since then they have also bought and developed properties in Heaton and Jesmond to renovate.
Their main focus for the last two years, however, has been perfecting designs for YANA Active.
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All the garments have been designed by Charlotte, who has a degree in fashion marketing from Northumbria University and was named one of Italian Vogue’s Top Ten designers to watch in 2012, after creating a lingerie collection for Graduate Fashion Week.
She said: “The vision for YANA is to provide women with functional and beautiful activewear that won’t let them down, whilst creating an inclusive, yet exclusive community via YANA’s blog and social media channels. The aim is to bring like-minded women together, share goals, dreams, accomplishments and even failures.”
All the clothing is made in Newcastle, using organic cotton and bamboo where possible and recyclable packaging, also ensuring they maintain a lower carbon footprint than if they manufactured or imported items from overseas.
Sophie, who graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in business leadership and corporate management, and works full time at technology firm Raytheon as a programme manager, said: “We haven’t had any days off for a while! But YANA is our real passion - it’s been our dream to have our own business as far back as we can remember.
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“We’ve always been very independent women and it’s great that we can work together and live together – we’re very close.
“Our first year in business hasn’t been as we expected and planned due to Covid-19. When the country went into lockdown, we turned our efforts to supporting our local community by raising money and donating YANA activewear to Newcastle Women’s Aid and producing content for our community of ‘Everyday Warriors’ to engage with from their homes.
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“To secure a pop-up shop in a nation-wide retailer with a reputation for high quality and customer service, aligns closely with our brand and is exactly the opportunity YANA needed during a year which has been very difficult to launch a start-up.”
YANA Active will have its pop-up stall on the first floor in John Lewis Newcastle Eldon Square branch from October 26 to November 1.