On The Days You Have To Dress Up For Your Zoom Meeting…

Comfort meets elegance with ADAY.

It’s 7:45 AM and you’ve exhausted all of your ‘snoozes’ for the morning—you frantically roll out of bed, brushing your teeth and prepping yourself for that 8 AM call you stayed up all night preparing for. 5 minutes on the clock and you dart towards your closet “are pants even necessary today?”… You make the executive decision to choose a combination of comfort and class—your fav go-to blazer, some quick blush and your favorite sweatpants that aren’t really sweatpants. You join your zoom call with 30 seconds to spare and think to yourself “Damn, I have my shit together”

And while we know it takes more than 15 minutes to get ready, we’ve got our hands on a brand that’ll have you rocking the “I just woke up” look no matter where you go and how long you have to get ready. Say hello to Aday, the queens of comfort, versatility and undeniable class. Aday is the ultimate choice when you’re looking to go from your Zoom meeting to a socially distanced date in the city in less than 10 minutes. Taking simple to the next level, Aday has created a selection of timeless and seasonless staples that you can go back to all year round — here’s how they do it.

Could you give us a little more insight into how Aday came to be?

ADAY was born of a need: we (Meg and Nina!) wanted clothing that was comfortable and technical, but also visually appealing and beautiful. At the time it was pretty unlikely that we’d start a fashion brand ourselves because neither of us had traditional fashion backgrounds. We spent our careers in the technology world at venture capital funds and tech startups, and saw a lot of friends doing really cool things, but no one was truly innovative in the industry we were most passionate about: the clothes we wear every day. Nina grew up as a competitive gymnast and Meg completed her yoga teacher training in California, so both of us knew how comfortable activewear felt, but we wanted more from our everyday wardrobes. We reimagined everyday seasonless staples with intelligent fabrics, smart construction, and minimalist design to create apparel that simplifies life. It was a long journey to get to where we are today: we had to learn about fabrics, design, manufacturing, we traveled to fabric shows in Paris, visited mills in Italy and a ton of different factories in LA, Portugal, and Asia until we found some that could make what we had in mind.

What are some pros of a simplified wardrobe?

Mentally, downsizing the wardrobe to pieces that matter has a very relaxing effect. We call it simplifying. Barack Obama and Steve Jobs taught us that eliminating wardrobe choice by wearing the same outfit every day provides us with valuable extra mental space to use for important decisions. Now let’s be honest: we know most ADAY women like fashion too much to subscribe to this method entirely, however, we do like a lot of the elements of it. So we think of ADAY as the uniform and base layer in your wardrobe, those superhero staples you pair with nice earrings or some cute shoes. Headspace, it’s nice to meet you.

How do you see fashion evolving in the future?

We believe that consumers will recognize the need for change in the fashion industry - moving on past fast fashion and season-driven high end fashion. On average, consumers wear an outfit 7 times before throwing it away. Crazy, right? But investing in better quality pieces that you can wear for a longer time is better for your wallet (hello savings) and the world (bye waste). Small steps, like buying fewer pieces you can do more in, add up to have a big impact.

For far too long, clothing choices - and the fashion industry in general - have remained the same. The industry needed change, and that’s why we started ADAY - to create better, more long-lasting pieces for work, travel, and life in general. Our vision of the future of clothing is that it needs to be beautifully designed and sustainable - we work to set a new standard: for your wardrobe and for the environment. Clothing that is ‘lived-in’ versus pieces that are worn only once will become more popular in the future of fashion retail. Consumers are becoming more and more keen on the idea that their clothing needs to serve a larger purpose.

How do you create pieces that are transeasonal?

We focus on design so our pieces can be worn anywhere, anytime and through the seasons. Think the classic white t-shirt that acts as a base layer in winter, as an outer layer in summer and survives from Spring 2020/21 to Spring 2026/27 and is still in trend. We also design our clothes to snap, wrap, and tie in different ways to increase their versatility, so they can be worn anywhere, anytime – smart apparel that simplifies life. This has a conscious impact too, as we eliminate the need to replace wardrobes every season. We also know our audience is global and (normally) traveling, so seasons are very relative especially when each piece is so versatile and classic.

What kind of fabric do you use? What special technology goes into the fabrics you use?

We chose our fabric partners specifically for their sustainable practices, technological superiority and overall impact on the world. Our mills are world leaders in high quality performance fabrics and make fabrics that are strong, comfortable and long lasting. We’ve been selective in choosing partners that are Oeko-tex + Bluesign approved—meaning the chemicals used to treat the fabrics aren’t harmful to the environment. And, as we grow, we’re using more recycled and regenerated fabrics, creating new textiles where necessary. When we can’t find what we’re looking for in fabric suppliers, we make it ourselves. We created a custom fabric, Recycled Scuba, which is created from recycled water bottles.

Tell us more about how your brand fosters inclusivity and diversity?

Meg is Asian and queer, so it’s foundational to us embrace inclusivity and diversity as a core value. This is something we are passionate about as a brand, but also as individuals and we’ve worked to build an inclusive community throughout our history and to amplify underrepresented voices. Over the last few months, we’ve doubled down on these initiatives. We have a new weekly team series in which a teammate presents on a historical event from all perspectives rather than from only traditional sources. We are working on partnering with BIPOC founders & organizations to provide support through activism, financial grants and mentorship. We launched a concerted effort to work with and support BIPOC creatives, both in front of and behind the camera - we’re so excited to partner with Deun Ivory in our latest shoot.