Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Yoo & Lauryn Huston. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Ashley & Lauryn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

Athleisure is not a new concept but we’re loving how now women are living in their activewear unlike before. From leading lives that are more wellness focused and the new world of working from home women are looking for elevated activewear that is multipurpose. We want to keep making styles and pieces that you can be comfortable in and do it all at the same time. One of our brand ambassadors recently sported our new bestselling jumpsuit from pilates, to a happy hour event, to a concert!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Attending FIT and having the city as our campus, we were surrounded by creatives who inspired and showed us that we can create something our own. We have worked or interned for many small female founded brands so we were able to see how running a business with maybe one or two people looked like. We wanted to create a community of women and apparel that would do the same.

Throughout this journey of running the business, we have full control over our creative production of our designs. Because everything is handmade and produced in-house we have so much fun with trying new designs and producing different styles based on what everyone’s preferences. Our jumpsuit has been our bestseller and it’s so awesome to see different people and body types rock it!

We are most proud of the community we’ve built. We have grown to know so many amazing people and now we get to hang out or work out with them through our events and mingle with them in person! Our favorite thing is when they show up in their 5B outfits and come to take yoga with us or meet us out and about.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like a lot of businesses and people, we had a major pivot over the pandemic. we launched 5B as a swimwear brand when we started. We were ready for our big summer 2020 swim launch when everything was shut down, we were at a stand still and pivoted over to activewear. Since our pivot, we’ve had some amazing activewear collaborations and have created a whole new community. 5B has grown in so many ways since and lived several lives. It has taken so many trial and error and putting ourselves out there to find our place and grow our 5B brand and community. With the pivot of our business it has aligned with our own personal pivots and now we both are in wellness spaces and are in totally different communities ourselves!

How’d you meet your business partner?

We met freshman year at the Fashion Institute of Technology here in New York City! We had a mutual friend and lived in the same dorm when we both moved to NYC. Ashley studied textile design and Lauryn majored in fashion design. During senior year, they teamed up and collaborated on a senior collection involving hand prints on fabrics and making them into swimwear. Post-graduation we decided to take this to the next level and 5B was born. We both bring our different skills and strengths to the business and it’s been such an experience to see where we both fit into growing 5B.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shop5b.com
• Instagram: @5b.nyc

Image Credits
@Olivia.steuer