Jennifer Sey launches new activewear line

Former Levi Strauss & Co. executive and former competitive gymnast Jennifer Sey has launched her own direct-to-consumer athletic apparel brand, XX-XY Athletics.

Sey, who was Levi’s brand president, has launched XX-XY Athletics to offer “best in class” premium casual athletic clothing that also focuses on brand messaging that is “being brave, telling the truth, and protecting women’s sports”.

Commenting on the brand launch, Sey said in a statement: “Throughout my life, I’ve risked my reputation and standing in my community to stand up for children, women and free speech. XX-XY Athletics is the culmination of everything I’ve ever done in my life.

“Twice in my life I’ve challenged the orthodoxies of the day. First in 2008, with my book ‘Chalked Up,’ which was the first first-person account to reveal the emotional, physical and sexual abuse rampant in the sport of gymnastics and the Olympic movement overall. Then again in 2020, when I advocated for open schools during covid. It can be scary to stand up and do the right thing, to speak an unpopular truth. But the alternative is even scarier. Because then we live in lies.”

The debut collection is centred around casual cotton basics, including T-shirts, joggers and a fleece, which will be followed up with a second release rooted in performance fabrics offering leggings, bike shorts, tees and tanks for women as well as T-shirts, shorts and layering pieces for men.

Sey claims that no athletic or fitness brand celebrates women or has taken a stand to protect women’s sports, while her vision of XX-XY Athletics “is not afraid to speak truth and defend girls and women’s spaces, and the right to a fair and equal playing field in sports”.

“World class brands inform and drive the culture,” states Sey. “Right now, there are no brands that give consumers the opportunity to weigh in on this subject. If we give them a way to say I stand with women and girls, I believe they’ll take it and join us because they’ll know they won’t stand alone.”