The combat sport of boxing was a part of the Olympic Games in 1905, not long after the ancient event was revived at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in 1896.
More than a century would pass, however, before women were allowed to box in the Olympics.
It’s part of a broader trend across the martial arts, which are historically male-dominated.
But more than 13 million women train martial arts worldwide—many of whom still rely on unisex clothing, which is typically based off mens sizing and considerations, according to martial artist Christina Morrow.
Morrow is hoping to the buck the trend by improving female-based messaging and marketing in the combat world.
The Vancouver-based entrepreneur, who has been training Muay Thai for six years, is aiming to achieve this goal through Wicked Rose, a modern apparel company targeting women athletes.
Fresh out of the entrepreneurship@UBC HATCH program, Morrow says her team has been working on its flagship product, the Phantom Collection, for three years.
The collection consists of Phantom Rash Guards, available as short- or long-sleeved, as well as combat sport leggings built for females.
Morrow is utilizing online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to secure funds to push out the technical, female-focused kit.
“The Phantom Collection is our first full collection,” Morrow states on the campaign page, “and we’re so incredibly excited to get it out into the world via this Kickstarter campaign.”
Since it was founded in 2020, Wicked Rose’s goal has been to develop quality and performance-oriented garments “in the same way that there were things available for men, but even better.”
The Canadian-made apparel is manufactured with a recycled spandex and polyester fabric at a local partner in Vancouver
“We have our fabric suppliers, pattern makers, sublimators, and cut-and-sew manufacturing all locked down and ready to go,” Morrow says. “Our manufacturer can make up to 1,000 pieces per day between her two factories, so she has more than enough capacity to fulfil our order, no matter how successful our Kickstarter campaign is.”
The entrepreneur believes her collection is sustainably sourced; in addition to leveraging local partners, Morrow says seven plastic bottles are diverted from the waste stream per metre of fabric produced.
So far, the Lauchboom Accelerator-powered campaign is slated for success, with nearly $6,000 raised from more than 40 backers. The goal is to raise a total of $10,000 and there’s just under a month left to do so.
In the future, Wicked Rose is looking at making a wider range of combat-oriented apparel, including Muay Thai shorts, wrestling singles, and gis.
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