Jeevika Tyagi, Co-Founder of aastey, India’s First size-inclusive athleisure brand

Interview with Jeevika Tyagi, Co-Founder of aastey, India’s First size-inclusive athleisure brand

Jeevika Tyagi is an woman entrepreneur and the co-founder of aastey, an innovative athleisure brand in India.

With a passion for consumer insights, content creation, and the creative space, Jeevika is dedicated to bridging the gap between commerce, and emerging technology, and fostering meaningful interactions between people and brands.

She has worked on both brand and product marketing to help businesses thrive, and she has been a CXO, mentor, and consultant with many of them since their creation.

In 2020, Jeevika and Kanupriya co-founded aastey, India’s pioneering size-inclusive and sustainable athleisure, activewear, and essentials company for women. aastey’s mission is to break down barriers between function, fashion, comfort, size, and fitness.

By offering a diverse range of unique designs in categories such as basics, activewear, and athleisure, aastey aims to transform women’s performance clothing into a more sustainable and inclusive experience.

Tell us a little about yourself

Jeevika Tyagi: I am Jeevika Tyagi, the Co-Founder & CEO of aastey, India’s first size-inclusive sustainable athleisure brand for all women.

With my extensive experience working with tech companies, in finance and marketing, and my passion for building and growing start-ups.

I have not only created a community where women can be whoever they want to be but have also provided them with an alternative to fast fashion through “live aastey,” encouraging them to appreciate the little things and be fully present in the moment.

– Before aastey, I had the opportunity to build two companies, which further fueled my excitement for the start-up world.

My journey began after graduating from Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj in 2007, where I pursued a degree in Computer Science.

Subsequently, I was enrolled at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where I graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2011 with a degree in Business Administration, specialzing in Finance and Marketing.

As part of my educational journey, I also had the privilege of spending a year studying abroad at Imperial College London, where I delved into International Marketing, British Culture, and Architecture.

Can you share with us the inspiration behind co-founding aastey and what led you to create India’s first size-inclusive athleisure brand?

Jeevika Tyagi: The brand is about ‘’being present in the moment’’, living mindfully and to create clothes that suit every Indian body type. The idea was born in the pandemic of 2020 but the company was started in August of 2021

– I oversee all aspects of our operations, growth, investments, and marketing. I take personal involvement in shaping the front face of our company as its official spokesperson.

This includes designing our website and providing direction for our communication across various offline and online channels.

– Under my supervision, aastey has achieved significant milestones. We became the first brand in India to launch sustainable activewear, which is a remarkable feat considering that the activewear industry predominantly relies on polyester and elastane materials.

Within the first six months of our launch, we crossed 1 crore in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and are currently experiencing a three-fold growth rate.

The idea behind aastey was to create one outfit that could be worn for a lifetime, suitable for various occasions throughout the day and night.

This concept stemmed from a simple question: What if women could wear a single outfit without the need for multiple changes throughout the day?

This inspiration led me to build an entire brand around this vision, and it has been incredibly rewarding to witness its growth and impact on women’s lives.

In a market that often focuses on standard sizing, how does aastey ensure inclusivity and cater to a diverse range of body sizes and shapes?

Jeevika Tyagi: Size inclusive and sustainable activewear for women. Women can chose to dress the way they want to without any judgements.

At the same time look and feel good about themselves. Through our research, we immediately saw a glaring need gap in the fashion industry, especially on how brands, even today, create mutually exclusive categories like petite and plus size to divide, isolate and exclude women across all age groups.

Surrounded by brands that had limited availability in sizing and were continuously producing clothes that were harmful to the environment, we wanted to create something polar opposite, something that offers a counter-culture to fast fashion culture.

Keeping these things in mind, we decided to build a brand on the foundation of two core values: sustainability and size inclusivity.

We want to embrace everyone without judgement and want to give comfort priority over everything else.

Thus, we created the term ‘live aastey’ which means to be fully present in every single moment. It was a decision to recognize the biases we ourselves faced.

We started this brand because we want to begin a conversation about all the stereotypes that have been forced on women for so long and change the narrative.

What is your biggest USP?

Jeevika Tyagi: The brand is called aastey which in the very core essence is to take it easy and live mindfully. Right now our main USP is to be sustainable.

We are changing the brand strategy and innovating fabrics to be sustainable. aastey has already innovated and launched with sustainable and organic fabrics.

We already have 100% sustainable fabric blends. It’s up to mark with the same blends that the global competitors are using at a much affordable price as a homegrown brand and it’s sustainable and good for the planet along with it.

aastey has made size inclusivity its core value. How do you approach the design and production process to ensure that all customers feel empowered and confident in your athleisure wear?

Jeevika Tyagi: aastey seeks to make a difference by creating the most comfortable yet sustainable apparel, no matter the woman’s size, colour or shape.

This is why we also plan to create a standardised size chart across India which is a massive task considering our country’s diversity.

Our next steps will always be towards expanding our community by crafting more solutions to support and uplift themselves, including exploring other lifestyle spaces. aastey’s Research and Development will focus on continuously innovating with sustainable fabrics and creating original blends that are sustainable but also that create the best experience for their tribe.

Jeevika Tyagi: The focus is on comfort and size inclusivity. One thing we have understood is that our customers want to feel their best in everything they do.

And in India we have a huge market. We have to understand every body type can be catered to and that’s exactly what we are doing here.

We decided, as an initial solution, to develop clothes that addressed women’s issues, like not having pockets, lack of multiple sizes in each category, the need to alter store-bought clothes and short-lived fast fashion.

As the co-founder of aastey, what challenges did you face in introducing and promoting size inclusivity in the athleisure industry, and how did you overcome them?

Jeevika Tyagi: It was tough to build what we have as an aastey product in the market now. No vendor was ready to do low MOQ for sustainable fabrics.

Additionally, size inclusivity in the backend means manufacturers making sizes that are not part of their usual cataloguing.

Literally every manufacturer said no to us when we started on this journey. The fabrics themselves were not easily available in India and building this global supply chain took a long time.

But it was worth the time and effort as we presently work with manufacturers who produce the same quality like the global brands.

The community or investors need a mindset and understanding of why we need to reduce carbon footprint and how it is crucial for our planet.

It’s not easy to change mindsets so the challenges are ongoing, They aren’t a one time thing. We have taken that challenge in stride and have resulted in making our brand size inclusive and sustainable.

What was the inspiration behind turning an entrepreneur

Jeevika Tyagi:I oversee the overall operations, growth, investments & marketing. I am personally involved in creating the front face of the company as its official spokesperson, including the design of the website to the direction of our communication in any offline or online channels.

Under my guidance, aastey has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first brand in India to introduce sustainable activewear.

The activewear industry heavily relies on polyester and elastane, but we have successfully launched eco-friendly alternatives.

I’m proud to share that within just six months of our launch, we surpassed 1 crore in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Currently, we are experiencing an impressive three-fold growth rate.

The idea was to have one outfit to live in for the rest of your lives. My inspiration came from a very simple problem statement.

What is that one outfit a woman could wear from day to night without having to change for multiple occasions? And that’s how I ended up building a whole brand around it.

aastey aims to revolutionise the perception of athleisure. Could you discuss the unique features or design elements that set your brand apart from traditional athleisure brands?

Jeevika Tyagi: We want to be remembered as a size inclusive community and a brand that made you feel comfortable and beautiful.

The philosophy we follow here in aastey is to be your true authentic self and embrace who you are fully and honestly, speaking your own truth. We want to brand to be seen and identified as a women-led community that rejects societal norms.

aastey is India’s first size inclusive athleisure brand that has also decided to have signature sustainable blends.

Our conviction in forging a better path in the athleisure space is what makes our solutions unique. We believe that our continuous effort to make our brand sustainable, from manufacturing to packaging, sets us apart.

Innovation takes a lot of time and money, especially when you have to create the best for the customers.

When it comes to producing sustainable and durable clothes, it becomes even more challenging because, in India, it is not particularly easy to manufacture sustainable fabrics.

But, we have taken that challenge in stride and have resulted in making our collection 80% sustainable. aastey seeks to make a difference

by creating the most comfortable yet sustainable apparel, no matter the woman’s size, colour or shape. This is why we also plan to create a standardised size chart across India which is a massive task considering our country’s diversity.

Our next steps will always be towards expanding our community by crafting more solutions to support and uplift themselves, including exploring other lifestyle spaces. aastey’s Research and Development will focus on continuously innovating with sustainable fabrics and creating original blends that are sustainable but also that create the best experience for their tribe.

What are your future plans and aspirations for aastey? Are there any upcoming initiatives or collaborations that will further expand your reach and impact in the athleisure market?

Jeevika Tyagi: aastey is a community of women with unique personalities and lifestyles. It is a community of women who believe that there is joy in living in the moment and having a mindful life without putting unrealistic expectations on yourself.

Our priority is to serve our community firsthand by creating more environmentally conscious solutions for our tribe to build an environment where all women are treated as equals irrespective of their size, colour, age, body type, lifestyle or race.

We will continue to work towards this making this vision even bigger and expanding this sentiment across markets and geographies.

Our next steps will always be towards expanding our community by crafting more solutions to support and uplift themselves, including exploring other lifestyle spaces.

We spent more than a year developing sustainable and internationally competitive products, and I plan to compound on this experience and offer solutions to make women’s lives better.

Currently, we utilise recycled fabrics, or organic fabrics in 100% of our clothing. Our pledge is to create a closed-loop cycle for all our products and we aim to work on that. aastey seeks to make a difference by creating the most comfortable yet sustainable apparel, no matter the woman’s size, colour or shape.

This is why we also plan to create a standardised size chart across India which is a massive task considering our country’s diversity.

What are your success tips for young and aspiring entrepreneurs?

Jeevika Tyagi: One key success tip for young and aspiring entrepreneurs is to find your passion, embrace failure, and surround yourself with a strong team.

Continuously learn and adapt, focus on your customers, build a strong network, be resilient and persistent, and embrace sustainability and social impact in your business.

In addition to finding your passion, embracing failure, and surrounding yourself with a strong team, there are a few more success tips for young and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Continuously learning and adapting to the ever-changing business landscape is crucial for staying ahead.

By staying updated on market trends, attending workshops or conferences, and seeking mentorship, you can expand your knowledge and make informed decisions.

Furthermore, focusing on your customers and understanding their needs is essential for building a successful business.

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