“The Outdoor Voices girl is a spunky fun whip with drive, ambition and curiosity. She’s a delight to be around, quirky — and, she’s cool, but not trendy,” says the high energy creator of Outdoor Voices, Tyler Haney. Like everyone else, Team Camille Styles can’t get enough of this stylish and comfortable new line of workout attire, so we sat down with the 25-year-old former track star to find out more about her J.Crew-approved line and got all of her tips for how to look great when you work out.
featured image by Naomi Shon
When did you first think of the idea for Outdoor Voices?
I grew up in Boulder, Colorado where activity is intrinsic to everything you do. Getting home for dinner requires a spin up the hill. Casual activity was baked into our lifestyle — similar to how it is here in Austin. I then found myself graduating from Parsons at about the same time it was really becoming an aspirational thing to get out and do activities regularly — basically make a little time for yourself to reflect and recreate daily. This is a totally counterintuitive mentality for New York — which rewards professional intensity over personal sanity — and I became fascinated with finding a way to make activity delightful rather than additional pressure or something added on your to-do list.
Image by Kate LeSueur
Beyond that, I think my main inspiration came as they do for most entrepreneurs: I couldn’t find the product I was looking for. I’m a jogger, swimmer, yoga-er so I was definitely searching. But all the usual suspects didn’t really offer anything for me. Everything was overly macho performance-y with perforated streaks where muscles should be. I certainly wanted performance fabrics, because that’s the whole point; but also simple and elegant designs and a presence that spoke to me as a multifaceted person and not an Olympian ultra-marathoner.
Image by Naomi Shon
How long have you been working on it?
I started researching fabrics while in school at Parsons Design School. I worked at a number of companies through out school, but would spend my nights sketching and drafting initial inspirations for what would eventually become OV. It’s wild to look back and see the evolution — though the spirit of the brand was there from the start. I started OV when I finished school — 2 years ago. A wild thing to do, but I thought heck why not now, I’ve got nothing to lose.
Image by Naomi Shon
Where do you find inspirations for your designs?
Shapes! Our main inspiration is the body and the beautiful shapes we each can make with ours. We encourage bending, folding, jumping, extending, twirling — it looks so cool and feels good too. Body! ‘Vogue Body and Beauty Book’ from the 70’s — delivers health, wellness and beauty tips with such a delightful witty tone. It’s got these simple illustrations of this girl doing various exercises and I like to create outfits for her. She’s a total babe, and flexible too.
Image by Kate LeSueur
Why is Austin a great place for OV?
OV makes Apparel for Recreation. When I think about Austin I think Recreation. People live well here — they’re out walking, jogging, paddle boarding and enjoying every moment of it. They’re mindful about their health and wellness, but also know how to enjoy themselves. At OV we approach activity with moderation, ease, humor and delight and I think Austin is the perfect place to do this.
Image by Kate LeSueur
Have you always been in to fitness?
Yes, I was quite the little sporty spice growing up. Track was my favorite though you could find me on most team rosters — my Auntie Em taught me how to hurdle over a broomstick when I was in fifth grade and from then on I didn’t understand why you wouldn’t want to jump over things when sprinting around the track. I ran the hurdles through high school and was supposed to go to USC to continue, but decided to head the other direction to NYC. *Tyler is pictured with her business partner Andrew Parietti.
Image by Kate LeSueur
What are your tips for looking great while you work out?
- Friends — I‘m all about fitness and sociability and love bringing people together through activity.
- Surround yourself with nice things — I bring a Morihata Japanese Towel with me to yoga, it’s this lovely airy cotton and is so much nicer to wipe your face with than the often scratchy towels studios provide. I also bring Evian facial spray with me for a quick spritz pre or post sweat. (available at OV shop)
- I like wearing my leggings a size up — A little room and slight slouch feels a lot more hip to me than super super tight spandex.
- Grey — People are scared to wear grey when working out in the event a little sweat might show, however I almost exclusively wear grey and lots of it. The material we’ve developed is textured and you can’t see sweat! It’s the best and so much cooler than all black everything.
- Ankles socks with a little ruffle — we’ve got these in development, but I’ve been rocking a few on my jogs and I certainly love adding a little spunk to my outfit.
Image by Kate LeSueur
How would you describe the OV girl?
She’s a spunky fun whip with drive, ambition and curiosity. She’s a delight to be around, quirky. She’s cool but not trendy. She approaches health, beauty, and fitness with moderation, ease, and vitality. She’s got a special mindfulness about her that exudes confidence, self-respect, and happiness.
Image by Naomi Shon
What’s next for OV?
Our ambition is to become the Lululemon of our generation. We want to build community around activity and have chosen Austin as our first place to do this. We’ve just opened our first shop in an old craftsman cottage behind Clarks Oyster Bar at 606 Blanco in Clarksville — we’re really excited. For us OV is about community. To have a physical space to bring people together is really special. We love the neighborhood and have begun hosting yoga and pilates classes on the lawn with various local instructor friends.
Image by Kate LeSueur
How did you come up with the name Outdoor Voices?
Remember when you were little and your mama told you to use your indoor voice? Well we say to bring on the Outdoor Voice!
Image by Kate LeSueur
