Feel Fit is an award-winning sustainable fitness studio and gym-wear brand based in Bristol, UK. Frank asked founder and strength coach Ellie Crawley what makes Feel Fit so fab.
Ellie, describe Feel Fit in three words.
Sustainable, Fun, Body and Earth Positive
That’s more than three but we’ll let you have that! Tell us what makes Feel Fit a green business?
It’s the small things as well as the big ones. Our clothing range uses a combination of recycled and organic material. We use 100% compostable packaging for all our mailouts and 100% recycled material for our labels and swing tags.
We have also tried to make our studio as green as possible. We use recycled rubber gym flooring, recycled rubber bumper plates and up-cycled furniture. We reuse things as much as we can.
We plant a tree for items sold, memberships taken out and events. We now have over 1,500 trees in our forest. Our eco power comes from our indoor cycle bikes. They have generated over 10,000 green energy watt-hours since May 2021 and this continues to increase as our eco spin classes are extremely popular!
Tell us about the sustainable activewear Feel Fit has created
We use ECONYL®, a 100% regenerated nylon fibre from fishnets recovered from our oceans and pre and post-consumer nylon waste. By producing 10,000 tons of ECONYL® material we are saving 65,100 tonnes of CO2 emissions. When you buy from or train at Feel Fit you really are making a difference to our planet!
We created the activewear with REAL people in mind: for every shape, size and look. We create items you won’t throw away as they are classic items that you go back to time and time again. They will never let you down in any workout. Feel Fit is not only your best friend in a pair of leggings but in the studio too. We are supportive, encouraging and uplifting – just like that bra top – wink wink!
How exactly is Feel Fit different to other studios or gyms?
We don’t believe there is one size that fits all. Fitness doesn’t have a shape, size, look, colour, gender or age – it is a feeling and everyone should have the right to feel it.
We try to make fitness fun and sustainable and we encourage people to remember training is for life!
We understand that everyone has different life circumstances and we have created a safe space so people don’t need to feel intimidated about training. There is no judgement here.
We specialise in women’s health, training, hormones and nutrition; we know how to adapt things to suit every chapter of a woman’s life. Feel Fit really is a different space that will help guide, support and coach you to your goals, to maintain strength physically and mentally and to help you get stronger.
Tell us about the charity work you are doing.
We have set up Feel New and are working with charities in Bristol to offer our fitness classes for free. We built a programme to suit new students and we help build their confidence, strength and understanding of fitness. We coach nutrition, wellbeing, fitness and resilience. Our aim is to work with the charities to help more people who don’t normally have access to a gym or studio.
For some people it can be as simple as not having the right clothes to work out in.You can donate your old activewear to us online or in-person at the store – we will then give this to the charities we work with.
Our offering is available to other charities within the local area and we hope to provide this service to a lot more very soon.
We believe strength and fitness shouldn’t be a privilege – it should be a right and available to all. We believe in you and making you feel fit, strong and confident just as you are.
What are your top three tips for shopping and caring for clothes more sustainably?
Firstly, know your materials! Virgin materials such as polyester make up 55% of clothes globally and these are derived from fossil fuels and take years to break down.
Try to reduce your water footprint. Production of textiles uses 93 billion cubic metres of water annually, that’s equivalent to 37 million Olympic swimming pools. Be more conscious about your water footprint: organic cotton uses 97% less! Shop our organic cotton range on our website.
Finally, avoid microplastic pollution. Washing our clothes releases thousands of microplastics into our waterways and oceans, causing harm to marine life and eventually to us. Use a guppy bag or similar to wash your clothes in.
