When I was conceptualizing Praali, I had 3 functionality criterias I needed Praali to meet:
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I wanted to be able to breathe deeply and freely in my set - so no hyper tight fabrics or silhouettes
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I wanted something more on the modest side. Something that felt like it covered me, while still being cute. A set that I could easily wear to a temple to teach yoga… a set that I could do forward folds in without spilling out of my top… a set that I could do malasana in without my butt cheeks hanging
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I wanted the design to support my flow, not get in the way
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- I hate when during headstands my shirt would fall to my face exposing my entire stomach
- I hate how the thick bands in most sports bra digged into my chest
- I hated when in a downward dog, my shirt would cover my face, obstructing my drishti
- I hated how crop tops would fit in the wrong areas, exaggerating my tummy rolls
- I hate how gross it felt taking polyster off after sweating in it
- I hated when in tree pose, or transitions, extra fabric around my legs would get in the way and cause me or my leg to slip
If you can’t tell, I’m a hater of modern yoga clothing. Not a single company has innovated around the above issues, because all those companies were founded by random middle aged white men, who probably aren’t even yoga practioners! I always say, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.
So here I am, a woman who actually does yoga, hoping to solve these issues I know we all endure with Praali. I am my own target market, and I get the struggles, so let’s walk step by step through the features in Praali designed to make your practice more functional and fashionable:
The Capri Length
Besides launching in the summer, the reason we made a capri is because capri’s are form fitting in all the right places, and loose (but not too loose) in the right places.
Capris are more form fitting around the thighs and knees, meaning there won’t be any extra fabric hanging to intrude your flow. Form fitting in that region is great too, because as a teacher, clear access to where my students' thighs knees and ankles are helps me check their alignment and help them do an asana more deeply or best suited for their bodies.
Their 3/4th length makes the capri perfect for your heated classes, allowing air to still pass through, and keeps them a chic option to easily take outside of the studio to the rest of your plans.
The U Shape of the Waistband
If you look closely at the waistband, you’ll notice the middle slightly dips. That’s intentional for two reasons: firstly, it helps you breathe more deeply and feel less contracted around your diaphragm. Secondly, a U-cut is just way more flattering, especially if you’ve got a little tummy like me and no matter what, your pants tend to fall a bit during forward folds. With this cut, even if they slip slightly, the sides still stay gripped to your waist so the pants feel secure and still fall in a flattering way.
The Shirt Length
When I was doing market research for Praali and speaking to hundreds of people about their grievances with modern yoga clothing, almost every single woman said the clothes were too revealing.
While creating one piece of clothing for all body types is a fool’s task, we tried to create a shirt length that would fall on the upper hip bone for most people. Paired with our capris, you’ll feel covered and held during your practice.
I would love to hear how the fit and lengths are feeling on you. Please write to me and share your experiences so we can keep improving! Also, keep supporting us, so soon, we can introduce tall and petite versions of our clothing along with increased size ranges!
The Armholes
I have a DD chest, so most sports bras and shirts available do not fit me right. My biggest gripe is the insane amount of spilling out/side boob I have with most sports bras/sports tanks. I wanted to fix this with Praali and create armholes that would support chests of all sizes and types.
It took us 12 samples to find that perfect cut. We’ve tried it on chests bigger than mine, and chests smaller than mine, and I don’t know how we managed it, but this arm shaping fits, holds, and supports everyone perfectly. They’re cut slightly higher up than most athletic brands out there, but are designed to mimic a halter neck to keep you looking chic and polished.
Not even lying, these armholes make me believe in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants magic.
The “O” cutout
Along with the arm hole, this also took us 12 samples to find the perfect circle positioning and size. Some of our circles were too big, some were too small, some were weirdly positioned, some didn’t even look like circles.
Our choice of including the circle was purely aesthetic. We wanted the circle to create some skin breakage, since we knew we were going to do fun bold prints for our sets, and to highlight our charm feature.
But, we also needed to make sure the circle wasn’t too revealing where it would feel uncomfortable to work out in or would sit odd on different chest sizes. Again, I call it magic, because after lots of trial and error we found the perfect positioning and diameter that looks great on most chests and bodies.
The Built in Bra
Not much to say here besides it’s fabulous and supportive. We used a one inch elastic band at the bottom so that it would be thick enough to support you, but not too thick it digs into your skin.
Our clothes are not designed for you to go running in, so obviously don’t do that in this shirt. But pilates, yoga, barre, strength training? This set is begging to be used for those purposes!
No Branding on the Outside
I loooove not looking like everyone else. There is no better feeling than someone coming up to you and asking where you got xyz thing because they can’t simply read it or tell from the logo. We’re embedding that special, niche, taste-maker feel by skipping the outside logo on our clothes.
Also, Praali is designed to go from studio to dinner to club, and branding on the outside wouldn’t allow for that, now would it? Let’s let athleisure in the club be our little secret!