“The life of any entrepreneur is full of extreme highs and lows,” says Amy Fettis, founder of Jesmond-based AIM Athleisure and Studio 54, and the first interviewee in our series of short profiles of Jesmond’s enterprising business people.

Fettis’s business began as an “athleisure” brand, supplying clothes that blur the line between what you’d wear to the gym and what you’d wear to lunch. But now Fettis is branching out, and with Studio 54 is helping clients launch their own brands as well as delivering fashion apprenticeships. 

Fettis says she has always been fitness-oriented and enjoys an active lifestyle. However in 2014, she also noticed a shift in the way we were dressing and living. “Thanks to the 2012 Olympics and the rise of the selfie generation with social media, gym attire suddenly went from being ‘any old clothing’ to needing to be as nice and as desirable as everyday clothing,” she says. She launched AIM Athleisure as an affordable brand that would fit the need of consumers.

The COVID-19 outbreak means Fettis has had to suspend sales through the AIM Athleisure website, but she is keeping in touch with her team and clients via Zoom. She says both companies will be able to progress development projects via remote working, so long as the post office and couriers are still operational. “Enquiries for new development work have actually picked up,” she adds. “I imagine people now have some time on their hands to revisit their ideas and get them started. I think this is a really positive experience for entrepreneurs to try out new and potentially more efficient ways of working.” 

Watch our interview (completed before the lockdown) here: