Meet Spire Movement. A local line of athleisure wear focused on affordability, trendiness and quality. The line carries mainly female apparel – leggings, joggers, sports bras, work out tanks – and plans to expand to male options in the future. The brand just celebrated its two-year anniversary in December and launched its website to celebrate and cater to the challenges of Covid.
Owner of Spire, Lisa Beharry, says the brand all began with her being the active person. “Spire is as a result of me finding it difficult to find activewear locally that is good quality, durable and affordable, unless I went abroad, ordered online or decided to pay three times the price at one of the major local sports stores. And I associate with lots of people involved in various physical activities as well with the same issue. So that urged me to look further into the idea as a business and Spire was born.”
The key feature of Spire pieces is the focus on quality and functionality. The pieces are thick, made with durable, moisture wicking material, are high-waisted, comfortable, provides support yet doesn’t restrain or stifle and includes pockets for essentials.
“Aside from the actual active wear, I want to position the brand as an advocate for active lifestyles and the importance of finding a physical activity that helps to improve your well-being and urging you to stay consistent with your journey. The idea is to get people more interested in outdoor activities and to learn that even simple physical activity can make a difference towards your overall well-being.
Lisa says the brand is not about fitness. “None of the marketing is directed towards getting fit or being fit. And I want to show people that there are many other ways of staying active outside of going to a gym. I believe that is what sets Spire apart from other local active wear brands. Our messaging always speaks to active lifestyles and the benefits you gain from it, not about working out to lose weight.”
When it comes to the name “Spire”, Lisa shares the story. “So it started off with the idea of sweat. Then in consulting with a friend who is brilliant in many ways, he led me along the path of perspire, and with some additional background research we learned that the suffix ‘spire’ had its own origin and meaning. So I marinated on that thought for a bit and realised that Spire had a certain something about it that I liked. The whole one-word thing that piqued one’s curiosity, which in itself is very versatile both as a word and a creative thought. I very much liked it and it stuck.”
Why the idea of sweat? Lisa clarifies “Because sweat is what happens naturally as a result of physical activity. The sweat has meaning because people are attracted to the end result but are not always able to endure the journey. It represents the hard work, both the physical and figurative hard work. You sweat, you make progress, you move forward, you get closer to your goal.”
Lisa calls these the 5 spires – aspire, inspire, perspire, respire, transpire. “They all relate back to the meaning behind the brand. The ‘movement’ came about by accident and I use it as a tagline so to speak, but it has naturally become associated with the brand which I’m not mad at because of course, movement equals physical activity.”
Lisa also has a full-time job though she wishes she could do Spire full-time. “It’s extremely challenging trying to juggle both, especially since I am a team of one in both aspects (full time job and Spire). My job can be very demanding and tiring. Then I come home and work my ‘second shift’. The biggest challenge for me aside from the low energy levels after a full day’s work, is that it is hard to keep coming up with fresh, engaging content and then creating it for sharing. And naturally a new business needs a lot of dedication and I feel like sometimes I can’t give it the attention it needs. So it’s a constant work-in-progress and I just have to find ways to keep pushing on.”
As for what inspired Lisa to start and build the brand Lisa simply wanted to create something to call her own. “I wanted to build something on my own and see it grow into something promising, something beneficial and something purposeful. I wanted to see the rewards of my own hard work.”
With Spire just celebrating its second anniversary, I asked Lisa what have been some of the milestones of the brand. “In 2019, I was able to do a collaboration with The Gentle Yogi Studio in Valpark run by a yogi-sister duo. It started with Spire being a sponsor for their TV programme on ieTV last year. And the partnership continued this year with placing my items in their studio and online store called The Om Shoppe. I also launched Spire’s new website www.spiremovement.com/. I had some help in the initial stages of the site thanks to some business students that used Spire as a case study for their course of study, and then I completed it on my own.”
And what about lessons learned as an entrepreneur so far? “The work never ends!!! So just prepare yourself for it. And it can be a lonely journey sometimes so keep finding ways to persevere. Keep going and make small progress. Every little achievement counts. Use it as a catalyst to push on. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get the immediate expected results.”
With two years under her belt, Lisa also has some advice for budding entrepreneurs. “Do your research. Talk to people with experience and get advice. Don’t hold back, put your all into it. Plan! Set goals and deadlines. Don’t stop learning. Move at your own pace. Keep track of your progress and hold yourself accountable. Build relationships and collaborate with others to bring mutually beneficial results. Keep promoting your business, even if people get fed up of you.” Certainly some great advice there, Lisa!
Lisa certainly believes in the brand that she continues to build here in T&T. “The quality of our items is impressive according to the feedback from our customers. That is one of the areas we focus on. We keep everything at an affordable level so people are not turned off by the prices. I see there are some new local active wear suppliers that offer lower prices, however, I can guarantee that Spire’s items will stand the test of any activity, any washer or even dryer in the long run. This is also confirmed by my customers.”
Spire pieces are stylish enough to be used outside of working out and can look just as fashionable, funky and dressy as your other liming wear, lounging wear, travel wear or club wear.
