A Look Inside Plum Practicewear

  Plum Practicewear......... a leotard brand that has come up and become one of the best. Because of the fact that I actually have a Plum leo, and LOVE IT, I decided to do the first interview of my blog, with them. Plum Practice Wear makes comfortable, cute, tank leotards that make gymnastics practices fun! I have one of my own, the Zany Zebra leotard, and it is TOTALLY my style, and I didn't even have to beg my mom to get me it, because it was so cheap! Finally, it was great not to have an hour long discussion with my mom telling her WHY I need that leotard.

  How Did Plum Get Started? 

We started out as a group of friends with an idea. We wanted to make leos that grabbed your attention... leos that were fun and funky. We also knew from experience that gymnastics is an expensive sport. We thought we could make at least one piece just a bit easier on the parent's pockets. Then we realized that there was something else we wanted to focus on. Some of these gymnasts wear their leotards longer than they wear their street clothes! They train 5 or more hours at a time. Eight hours total per day. We always keep those gymnasts who wear them in mind. I feel personally connected to every gymnast who wears a Plum. Every girl who wears plum is one of "Our Girls".     

How Fun Is It to Work With the Girls at MG Elite and other Gyms? 

Those girls have such a special place in my heart. They are such sweet, kind, humble girls. They are also very funny and FULL of character... which makes them PERFECT Plum Girls. Our photo shoots always require a bit of theatrics and Laurie, Ari, and Jazzy are always ready to bring the perfect amount of comedy and drama to each shoot. They can totally change into whatever character we are wanting them to be... like flipping a switch. It's a gift they have. I'm super blessed to have been welcomed into the MG family. Shooting in their gym is one of my very favorite things to do. They are just astounding athletes. Olivia is still fairly new to Plum.. but fashion is her second passion so the Plum shoots are her "playtime". She has that super girlie, super-cute look, and listens and takes directions really well. When she comes on the set, we are always confident that she can pull off whatever we need. In the gym, she is a FORCE- very intense and focused. She knows what she needs to do, and just does it. 

Let me just say, I am a fan of your Zany Zebra leo (I have one of my own). Do you have anymore of those leos in the works? Leos in general?

Thanks so much!  Fun Fact:  Zany Zebra made it to the 2014 P&Gs.  The MG trio wore it for a workout while they were there. Not for this most recent line, no.  We try to stretch out and do very different things…  You might see a few familiar patterns here and there, but for the most part we love DIFFERENT.  It’s one of the reasons that we do not restock when something sells out.  There are so many fun fabrics out there…  why keep making the same old thing over and over again?  

Can you leak some secrets about your next line of leotards?

Well… the new line comes out this Thursday and we’ve been giving Sneak Peeks since Friday.  There are a few unexpected patterns thrown in (of course!), a few for Valentine’s Day (including what might be my personal favorite) and a couple of show stoppers.  The biggest thing is our 3 Signature Line leos.  These are fabrics that we created out of our icons, logos and trademarked “Chalk It Up” tagline.  We just LOOOOOVE them!!  The rest are just F-U-N!  We have added black training shorts to the mix, which is something that our gymnasts have been asking for. Of course we are already thinking about the next line… and we’ve got some really cool things up our sleeves ;-)

How do you keep such an amazing leotard design company up and running? 

 

It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of communication.  Luckily we are a very high-energy, highly creative bunch.  We keep each other on our toes.  Someone is always coming up with some great new idea and it really revs the rest of us up.  It’s great that it’s not really ever the same person driving the company.

What is the proccess for designing one of your amazing leotards? How long does it generally take?

That’s a really big question.  It all depends.  If we are custom creating a fabric it takes a bit longer.  We work out the graphics and have a test piece made.  If we like it we run with it.  If not, it’s back to the computer and another test piece.  Even with the fabrics that are “ready-to-go” it’s still a process…  One of my favorite parts is deciding on a contrasting trim color.  Many times it’s the trim that can make a leo go from ordinary to WOW!  I would say from concept to photo shoot to web launch it takes about 3 months to push out a new line. Fortunately, all of our products are made locally on the East Coast which helps to speed up the timeline, and minimize our environmental footprint.``

Besides the gymnasts from MG Elite, Do you work with any other elite girls?

We are soooooo very blessed to have begun working with the lovely and amazingly talented Olivia Dunne from ENA Paramus over the past few months.  She is an up and coming new elite… just 12 years old and so much talent.  Her family and coaches Craig and Jenn have been wonderful to work with, just fantastic people.

What's your biggest accomplishment so far?

  This is a really hard question since we have had such an amazing 6 months.  In August, having Plums at the 2014 P&Gs was incredible! MG Elite’s coach, Maggie Haney, decided to have Laurie, Ari and Jazzy wear “Fusion” to the first podium training as well as “Zany Zebra” to a workout session. Shortly after this the brand went “international”. We have products in Holland, Australia, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and the UK to name a few and are in 48 of the 50 states in the US! Also, we love it when orders come in with very high profile names attached to them… and then when those same gymnasts order AGAIN!  This is happening more and more frequently, and it just tells us that we are going in the right direction.  And then those leos start showing up at camp in Texas…WOW!!! But most of all, it’s the every day gymnast that we are trying to give a voice to. These amazing girls send us pics while they are practicing, and we can just see it on their faces how much they love their Plums. In our eyes, every gymnast that purchases our product is a #PlumGirl

How do you make the leotards so comfortable?

We keep it simple. We let our bold, fashionable patterns do the talking so that we can minimize our seams.  We also think about the friction points on the leo… all those little spots that are going to rub.  We make sure that our binding (the fabric that goes around the neck and arm holes) is soft and smooth for maximum comfort there as well.

What differienciates you from other leotard companies like GK? 

Our focus is PRACTICEWEAR. We focus on our gymnasts each and every day, so we don’t think about what the competition is doing… we just know that “fun” and “comfort” is what our gymnasts want and “affordability” is the goal for our parents. Our leos have a fun factor, but are specifically designed for comfort.  Something that we hadn’t planned on, but is becoming viral is the team bonding element of the brand.  We’ve had gymnasts write to us and tell us that they honestly feel that Plum has brought their team closer together.  Gymnasts are talking about which Plums they love… which ones they want to get next. They are planning Plum Twin days!  Sometimes they triplet, sometimes quadruplet… we’ve even had quintuplet picssent to us!  Because of the combination of comfort and style gymnasts are wanting to wear Plums to gym.  Because of our great price point, the parents are able to stock up the Plums their girls want!

What's your biggest goal as a leotard company?

We would like to be a presence in every gym in the nation.  We want Plum to be what you WANT to wear to gym.  Of course, we’d also love to expand our international market as well.

Do you think you'll ever extend to competition leotards? Or will it just be tanks?

I don’t like to say NEVER, but this is our thing.  We are about PRACTICEWEAR…  PracticePerfect® is what gets you there. So, Chalk it Up!®

     I would love to thank Plum for this amazing opportunity. I love their leotards. It just makes gym a little bit easier, not having to fumble with my leotard ALL THE TIME. And even though I only have one Plum, I plan on filling my whole leotard drawer with them (All gymnasts have at least one leotard drawer in their closet, at least I do) Anyway, I am so excited to get my hands on more Plum leotards. And it'll be nice not to argue with my mother again about costs. So all those gymnasts out there, if you don't have a Plum Leotard, get one. And to all the parents, they aren't expensive!!!!!!!! Plum is a leotard comapny that mixes style with comfort. I absolutely loved interviewing Plum as my first interview. Good luck Plum! I hope you get your leotards to gyms across the Nation, and when time comes, around the world.