Non-Toxic Activewear Made of Plants with Mary Bemis

Mary Bemis, the founder of Reprise, is on a mission with the tagline “Wear plants, not plastic” to save your skin by freeing your closet from plastic. Offering maternity activewear as well, she has all the conscious mamas and pregnant mamas turning their heads to learn more.

By designing clothing made with non-toxic plant-based materials, Reprise creates a softer, healthier, more comfortable way for you to care for your skin.

Today, Mary takes us through her journey of over six years of launching and operating Reprise—a journey including, but not limited to powerlifting, boxing, working two jobs, and innovating new materials.

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Q: Who are you before labels, titles, or what someone could Google about you?

A: I love this. You know, this one I struggle with because I think I've been able to tell my story so often, and I really always define myself as either the founder of Reprise or the activities I'm really into. I box. I power lift. I'm a great friend to a lot of people. I love to be social. But, those are all titles. So, I really struggle to know how to answer. But, I love the question. I have focused so much on being able to define myself by those titles. There's so many ways to be able to describe who you are and what you're interested in, so I don't know if I have an answer other than a few of those things I listed now. But, I love it, and it's something I think I'm going to really think on the rest of today. But I think the most important—now I just go back to the titles—I'm a founder, hard worker, creative. I'll work on that one.

Q: I would love to know how you got into powerlifting.

A: It's such a funny story. So, I started boxing pretty intensely during the pandemic. I'd always taken classes for fun. The gym that I was going to shut down during the pandemic, so they started teaching classes outside and I started going. I lived alone. I worked alone. I started going really as a social activity, and I totally fell in love with it. I was going from two days a week to three to four to five. It was a really great group of women that I was learning with and training with. I got really into it and I started to learn how to spar. It was really nice. We were all learning together, and it felt very approachable. It wasn't something I ever thought I was going to get into, but I totally loved it.

So, I decided I wanted to start fighting, like competing in boxing. So, probably like a year or two after the pandemic, when things started opening again, I started competing in boxing and I boxed for a year. I had seven fights and I loved it. It was a ton of fun, but it was also a lot of work while still working a full-time job and having my brand on the side. I decided I needed to take a step back.

A month after I took a step back, I really missed training for something and competing. It was so nice to have intention behind working out. So, one of my closest friends and one of my coaches at the gym had mentioned she was going to do a powerlifting competition in four months. I don't know what came over me, but I was like, “Can I do it with you? I really want to be able to try that.” She said absolutely. We had done a lot of weight lift training for boxing, so I was familiar with the lifts. But, this was the first time we would put heavy weight on it. So, that's kind of how it started. We did two competitions over the last year.

It's such a different feeling of training from boxing. But I loved that. It's all personal growth. When you hit a new PR, it's really just you feeling strong and confident, like you did this. I loved that feeling of being able to track your growth and feeling good and strong. I think as a woman, things like boxing and powerlifting, those moments of feeling really strong and confident and capable have been so important.

Q: What were you doing before Reprise?

A: So, I'm actually still working this job. This is still, I like to call it, my main job. I work at a large ad agency on the data and analytics side. So, we handle a lot of special customized intelligence analytics projects. I'm more on the marketing team for the analytics projects.

I feel really, really lucky. I've actually been at this job for, I just hit eight years there. They've been really supportive of me doing both. I've had pop ups and launches and they've all become customers. So, it is probably part of the reason I've stayed trying to do both for so long. In addition to living in New York, which is an expensive city—and it's always great to have benefits and a paycheck and health care and things like that. But, I am really grateful for the community and just being able to build alongside.

There's been some really amazing moments where we've launched new advertising products. We launched a podcast advertising a few years ago and they needed just an audio to test with just to make sure that the pipes work. So, they let me record a little feature for Reprise. We did it. They put like $100 or whatever at it. It was very cool that they support the innovation. So, I feel lucky that I've been in a place where I've been able to build and do both.It's definitely not lost on me.

Q: How did you—or when did you—come up with the concept for Reprise, and when along your fitness journey did you also start taking steps to build Reprise?

A: It's been such an interesting journey. I originally was working in finance. I was working at a big investment bank in my early 20s when I first moved to New York, and it's really what I thought I wanted to do. I had moved to New York to work in the finance industry. To be honest, I just got burned out fairly quickly. It wasn't really what I thought. I was working until like 2 a.m. most nights. I ended up leaving and I didn't have another job lined up. I just kind of hit a wall and I was like, I have to go.

In that time in between, I really was able to take a step back and look at if I'm going to change careers or get a new job, what would I want to do? I started to explore a lot of my passions. I grew up in a very environmentally-minded household, so I was always very interested in sustainability. I also grew up in a very active household. I have three brothers, and I played probably every sport. We did hockey. I was the only girl on the boys football team in fifth grade. I’ve always been very sports-oriented. So, I think when I started to do some of those self-reflection exercises, I realized those were the two things I kept coming back to in terms of passions. I started to explore could I create this as a reality?

At the same time, I watched the documentary that most people in sustainable fashion watch that really helps them understand the complexities of sustainable fashion. The true cost. I was totally blown away by learning about how our clothes were made and how much plastic is in our clothing. That was just one of those moments that I started to look at my closet and understand what polyester was and how much of my closet had polyester in it. That was sort of a moment of like, wow, all of my activewear particularly was made with plastic. We're eating healthier, investing in clean beauty. Yet the stuff that I'm putting on my body is entirely toxic and plastic-based. I love to work out. I want to wear stuff that's better. I started to do some research and really couldn't find anything. So, that was sort of the initial idea, just being in this very impressionable young 20s moment of I want a new career and I'm going to really start to learn.

I took the advertising job around the same time. I just needed to start getting paid again. But, that whole time I was—our office was across the street from fit—so, I was taking classes to learn about sustainability. There was a non-credit, sustainable design entrepreneurship course. So, we learned all about fabrics and manufacturers and sustainable marketing. A lot of the professors worked in the garment district. So, that's how I really started to put together, like teasing the idea of plant-based activewear. I started to meet some of the teachers, work with the manufacturers that they worked with. I would sneak out during my lunch break and go look at samples and things that I was getting made. At the beginning, I was putting it together very locally, working with all local people just so I could learn and understand the process, see the fabrics. We launched with a Kickstarter six and a half years ago.

Q: Talk to us about the Kickstarter. What was that like?

A: It was amazing. I mean, it was terrifying. It was amazing and terrifying. I'm a little bit more of an introverted person. So, putting a creative project out there that was a totally different type of project, I went from working in banking and finance and being very behind-the-scenes to all of a sudden putting out this huge life change, creative shift, sort of vulnerable project out there. Asking people for support was not a natural thing for me. But, I think people saw my passion and how hard I worked.

I worked on the brand for a year before I had launched it: testing product, doing photoshoots, learning about the fabrics, and getting friends to try it out and giving me feedback. So, I felt good. But it definitely was super nerve wracking. With Kickstarter, you have to hit your goal in 30 days or you don't get any of the money. We raised just under $20,000 to be able to fund. I hadn't bought any fabric or anything because I didn't just have $20,000 lying around. So, I was really determined to raise that amount so I could truly start the business.

It was just so cool to see how many people came out and supported me and bought things and shared with their friends. So, it was a ton of work, but it was probably one of the coolest months of my life getting the business started, following a passion, boldly stepping into something new, and seeing how many people were willing to support. It was a really cool moment.

I feel so lucky that six and a half years later, it still feels like that. We're doing a pop up now, and people have come and surprised me and shown up. It's a roller coaster. Building a business has a lot of highs and lows, but at the end of the day, more highs than lows to keep you going.

Q: How did you hear about Dream Ventures? Tell us about your experience with it.

A: I got connected through Kelly. I was trying to put it all together. We actually saw, at one point,

Reprise wasn't growing like I had wanted it to. I was starting to explore, do I continue to run the brand, or do I take my interest in sustainability and my background in finance and maybe look at more of a sustainability investing role. So, I took a program called Pipeline Angels that trains women to become angel investors. They also have a VC in residence program that trains women who want to get into investing more in the impact space.

So, Kelly was going through that to do her angel investing program, so we met through that. I think I was following her on LinkedIn. Then, when she launched the Dream Ventures program, I was like this is super cool. It was a few years later. Reprise had continued to grow at that point, and we were on an upswing. So, I was like, okay, things are really working out. The business is back growing. I'm back invested in running it and want to continue. Maybe it's time to start fundraising for it to really be able to launch and keep up with demand. We kept selling out. I loved Kelly. I had had that connection with her and decided that it was the right time to take on and go from a very bootstrapped side business to try to seek some friends and family fundraising. But, I really had no idea where to start. So, it felt like a good program to learn a lot more and meet other women in the same boat.

Q: Did you end up raising or starting to?

A: We did end up raising that summer. We met with so many people. I feel like that was one of the benefits of the Dream Ventures program was really just a network of amazing people they brought together. It's actually one of the few communities I feel like I've stayed in and stayed involved. That's how we obviously got connected is through the WhatsApp group. So, it's really great to continue to reap the benefits of just the amazing network there.

So, we now have a list of amazing people who are interested in the business. I try to send updates too, but kind of took a step back and realized if I can continue to bootstrap and turn to traditional business loans to continue to grow the business. Maybe it needs to be a  slightly bigger scale or more of a committed team was sort of the feedback we were getting. So, still very valuable feedback and great to now have that community of people who are interested in watching and supportive. So, maybe we'll try some sort of raise next year or the year after, but haven't raised anything officially. Still just kind of bootstrapping and doing business loans and things like that. Continue to grow it.

Q: How do you guys think about communicating without fear mongering?

A: So, my hope and the thesis behind the brand is really that fashion sits on your skin. It's the same thing as skincare, especially when you're sweating and your pores are open and you're more susceptible to absorbing a lot of the things that are on your clothing. We've all shopped for fast fashion at some point, and the clothes also make you smell. But also, I've had that time where you open up something and you're like, oh man, I can just smell the chemicals on these clothes.

So, I think what's been really interesting and a big personal learning journey is understanding how much time it takes to shift behavior. So, I've had the brand for six and a half years, and I think finally starting to see a huge shift in people being really interested in learning about cleaner options, especially clothing and especially activewear. But, it takes a lot of time. I think I greatly underestimated the amount of education and the amount of time it would take.

When I first launched, my concern was more on the environmental issue. I was very interested in microplastics, so I started with the messaging around plastic clothing and microplastics getting into the environment, and people were interested. They definitely cared, but not enough to shift and make a purchase.

So then, it's more to this idea of plant-based fabrics and activewear, and I think it got people's attention. A lot of people were like, you can make clothing from plants. That was always funny to me, because I'm like, well, cotton has existed for thousands of years, but we're so disconnected from just the entire journey of what our clothes are even made from. Even then, people were like, why do I need plant-based clothing?

So finally, with all the news around chemicals in clothing, we've shifted more to this language around non-toxic clothing, and we haven't changed anything. It's been the same product the whole time, but that has resonated a lot more because it's really that connection to why does it matter for the individual consumer and their health? I think that's the stuff that people are really interested in and investing in it. It's great because you can say you are protecting yourself from a lot of these chemicals if you're buying our products.

But also, we don't have the issue of microplastics or things like that—so it's sort of a secondary benefit. That was the thing around sustainability messaging and marketing that I learned a ton about. That's been a really cool journey to see what's worked and finally finding the messaging that I think is resonating with people. I feel very optimistic seeing the shift. It's Climate Week in New York, so we've been doing a lot of events. But it takes time. It definitely is a shift.

But, I don't ever want to scare people. I don't want to say like, oh, my gosh, there's been links between cancer and a lot of hormonal issues and these chemicals. It's true. But, I've tried to find the balance of trying to offer a solution rather than point out the problem. But it's tough. It's out there and there's more and more data supporting those links. So, I'm thankful for the data, but trying to show people we have a solution so they don't have to get overwhelmed.

Q: Talk to us about your maternity line, and when and why you decided to make those?

A: So, the material is really stretchy, which is cool because we do less than 10 percent spandex to try to keep any synthetic content to a minimum. It's tough because you need that stretch. But, all my pregnant friends have started sending me photos throughout their pregnancy wearing our leggings. They're like, these are the only leggings that are soft, stretchy, and comfortable enough throughout my pregnancy. So, it was totally organic. I had one friend who took her weekly bump progress pictures in our original shorts from the Kickstarter, and another one who did something similar.

I haven't had kids, so it didn't occur to me to create a maternity line. I was talking to a woman who was doing some marketing consulting for us. She was like, this product just created itself for you. You have your friends who are sending you all these photos. It's the perfect product.

I think a lot of women look at what you're putting on your body, you really want to take great care of your new baby. You want to have them have the best. So, you're looking at investing in organic baby products, and you start to think about if they're developing inside of you and you're wearing stuff that's full of plastic and chemicals. Unfortunately, there has been a link between finding microplastics in the uterus and in breast milk. They're sort of everywhere. So, especially if you're holding your newborn close to you, you want them breathing in organic fabrics.

So, it was a really cool moment of like, wow, we totally have something that would be great for this. It's that timing in life where you really start to invest in those kinds of products. So, we did a little bit of a test with the maternity line and it's sold out now. But, we'll come back with more styles next year. We want to just refine things based on the feedback we got. But, it was just a cool moment to put it together and have one of those things where your customers are kind of helping you create the market for you. It was an amazing experience. It was a lot of fun working on that one. I can't wait to bring it back and bring some more products for it.

Q: Talk to us about how you started sourcing the materials and what that process was like.

A: When I first started the brand, I wanted it to be perfect. I was like, wow, there's so many issues out there. I want it to be fully biodegradable. Zero waste. Only work with women. All local. Nothing plastic. All paper packaging. One of the fit professors, Kate Black, was like, you won't last in business. That's not possible. I didn't want to believe it at the time, but she was right. I think there's definitely people who have done it and it's incredible. But it's very niche and small, and very hard to scale and an expensive way to do things. So, she was like, you need to pick the one or two things that you care about the most, and then everything else can sort of be.

I think as long as you're transparent and say like, we have that 7 percent spandex. Right now, there isn't a commercially scalable way—especially for a small brand—to get a natural rubber. They are starting to develop plant-based spandex, but even that is 70 percent corn oil, which I'm not sure is actually that much better. For me, the biggest thing was always the fabric and using plant-based or non-toxic fabrics. If we can do that really well, everything else, of course we still try. We send everything in paper mailers and I try to work with local production or other small businesses when I can.

My passion point is the material development piece. It is always something that I try to be transparent about. But, I am really interested in finding a more green spandex option and we're working on some new product development. It's a bit of a switch, but really trying to meet customers and what they're looking for, but still try to stay true to our brand values.

I had no idea what I was doing. But, I was able to meet people and say, I'm looking for fabric. Can you help me? I'm looking for a manufacturer. Do you have any connections? It doesn't always come right away. They may introduce you to one person who introduces you to someone else. Sometimes, you have to have 20 conversations before you find the answer. But, I think, in this day and age, there are so many amazing resources, whether it's classes or TikTok or YouTube. I just took a really helpful course on Udemy about Facebook and social media ads. So, I think there's a ton of resources out there. You just have to be willing to ask. Or, the networks, like our Dream Ventures network. I feel like so many people ask questions in there all the time.

It's hard. There's going to be times when you're like, where do I even go? But, it's a step by step process. You're creating something that's brand new. It takes a long time to test and develop and do something for the first time. But, hang in there. I think I was very young and naive starting the brand thinking, oh, I'll just create something. I’ll do a Kickstarter. I’ll put a website up and it will be good and I'll be working for myself in no time. It's six and a half years later and the brand has grown a ton, but it still is a lot of work. It doesn't ever get to that run itself moment. So, I think for people who want to do it, it's possible. You have to love it. It's a lot of work and it takes time, but hang in there for things that you really are passionate about. They just take time.

Q: Anything else that you would recommend to other founders, whether they're fully full-time or they're managing their time with another full-time job? 

A: We all have moments, I think, especially when you're building something you're so passionate about and you put everything into it. I think at the beginning during the Kickstarter, I was like, okay, all these people ordered for me, it needs to be perfect. It needs to be on time. It needs to be delivered right. I was really stressed about it.

I think at the end of the day and, again, I think I can only probably say this because it's been six years, but everything works out as it should. I know sometimes that's such an annoying thing to hear, because when you're going through something, you're like, yeah, but right now it's not. I just want to know how it does, but it truly does. We've had every issue—pilling fabric, fabric that came back the totally wrong type of fabric, a manufacturer who just completely shut down mid-production and walked away with $5,000 and I never got back. In the moment you're like, this is awful. We've been through it all and it's still here, still standing. So, I think everything does work out. So, I know if you're listening to this and you're going through something now, it is kind of one of those annoying pieces of advice, but it truly does.

The other piece of advice that someone else gave to me—so I can't take credit for this—was that if you think about if you have a corporate job, you're given vacation days, you're given sick days, you're given time off. I think as entrepreneurs, we don't take that. We think you're the only person and there aren't out of office contacts you can give or things that you can take a back seat on. But, at the end of the day, they have those for a reason, for mental health. If you're sick, you have to take a day off.

So, I think realizing that it's okay to step away from your business for a couple of days. You put in so many hours, so many years of work that the business isn't going to just completely go under if you take a vacation or a few days off. It's tough. I still check emails and will respond to a few things, but I try to make sure to, every once in a while, take a couple of days to just truly reset or travel or sleep or whatever you need. Spend time with family. Because, at the end of the day, you have to take those days.

I think that's something that makes so much sense when you're not working for yourself. But as soon as you own a business, it's hard to take that time. But, I think that's equally as important. So, making sure you're giving yourself those days off when you're building your own business is something someone else advised me. I've been thankful for that advice.

Q: Talk about any upcoming launches. What are you guys excited about?

A: So, the material innovation side is my passion. We have this amazing new factory in Portugal who has been doing a bunch of product development for us. The products we have now are incredibly soft and comfortable, but they tend to be a bit more of an athleisure product. They’re definitely more for a low impact activity. One thing that we've gotten requests for the most is something a little bit more high-impact. I power lifted in the stuff before, but always wanted something that felt a little bit more similar to synthetic without being synthetic and full of chemicals.

So, we are next month, in October, launching our brand new material. It's a high-performance, fully-biodegradable, polyamide fabric that carries the Oeko-Tex 100 Certification, meaning it's free from over 2,000 chemicals. It's great. We'll have a high-impact bra. Then, both the Aspen and Sage, which are our best selling leggings in this new material. It's compressive, it's sweat-wicking. It's great for high-impact activities. So, I'm super excited. I've been testing it a ton, boxing in it, running in it. So, that will be available mid- to end of October on our website. I'm really excited to have now both options, something more high-performance and non-toxic and then something more low-performance and plant-based and non-toxic as well.

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This blog post was written based on kozēkozē Podcast Episode 386: Non-Toxic Activewear Made of Plants with Mary Bemis.