Recently, we posted a blog where we mentioned that there are (Newsflash!) other woman-owned endurance sports companies in the world. And (Warning…we’re about step in marketing poo again) some of them also make clothing and we really like and respect many of them. https://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/14473053-five-reasons-women-owned-companies-are-winning
Now, we’re aware that most experts would say that you shouldn’t mention a competitor by name and you certainly shouldn’t pay them a compliment. And perhaps the “experts” are right.
But, when we founded Coeur, we decided that we were going to be a “Values-Based Business” and try to do what was right instead of just doing what was profitable. So, to a large extent, we decided to ignore the experts on this topic. In our last post, we stated clearly and for the record that Kristin at Brand Betty is a super cool lady and that Sally and team at Oiselle are doing a lot of good things. We absolutely respect both companies.
Fortunately, after we published that post, our Ambassador team didn’t resign “en masse” and the heat presses, computers and (most importantly), the motor in our wine cooler didn’t slow and finally just grind to a stop.
In fact, quite the opposite. We received tons of nice comments and even a few questions from other start-ups (which we gladly answered). Because of that, we decided to expand on the concept and share some more information about other companies and people that we admire.
Now, to be clear, all of these aren’t 100% women’s specific but they (in our humble opinion) do all have great products and services and they also do things the right way.
So, here goes. Wait…first, let’s have a cork screw ready just in case we do cross this line this time.
Osmo Nutrition: Dr. Stacy Sims and team at Osmo have one of the best tag lines we’ve seen in a long time. “Women are not small men.” We wish we’d thought of that one ourselves. Prior to Osmo, Stacy worked as an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist at Stanford University. She likes to say that “We made Osmo for us. And if you sweat, you’re one of us.”
Their products are based on proven but cutting edge science and they rely on input from athletes to fine tune them. The Coeur Ambassador team uses Osmo and the feedback has been fantastic. Similar to Coeur, Osmo knows that there are subtle but hugely important differences between women’s and men’s bodies and they take those differences into account.
Bia Sport: If someone asked us to describe Bia Co-Founder Cheryl in one word, we couldn’t. We’d demand at least three and that would be cutting it thin. No, you know what? We couldn’t do it in less than four words. We’d go with “Smart” (as in really, really smart), “Energetic” (like nuclear powered, turbo charged energizer bunny energetic), “Enthusiastic” (come on! Let’s take that hill!!) and then we’d use “Smart” a second time. Ok, screw it, we’ll go over our limit. She’s also super nice, a great mom and she’s an Ironman.
Cheryl and her business partner Sylvia got fed up with the other GPS watches on the market and decided they could do better. And by all accounts, they have. The Bia Sport watch comes with an SOS safety device, GPS quick connect functionality and 17 hours of battery life!
The Edge Athlete’s Lounge: (http://www.edgeathletelounge.com): At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if you asked us to describe Founder Robyn in four words, we’d use “Smart, Energetic, Enthusiastic…ok, I think you can see where we’re going here. But it’s true!
We met Robyn at Ironman Arizona when she had to hurdle the furniture in the lobby of the host hotel to get over to say hello to our dogs. Ten minutes later, she looked up and said hello to us! She and her husband Brian were doing the race too and they had left their “fur kids” at home and she needed a “dog fix”. We knew immediately that she was a “good person”. She’s also an Ultra-Runner, a USAT Level-1 Coach and Certified Metabolic Efficiency Specialist.
She and Brian knew that, in general, athletes couldn’t or didn’t recover properly after their hard workouts. So they did something about it and will be opening “The Edge Athlete’s Lounge” in the next couple of weeks. The Edge Lounge will set the standard for state of the art recovery. Athletes in Chicago will be able to take advantage of almost every kind of recovery device available. In addition, they will be able to refuel and even train some more if they’d like.
Endurance Sports Newswire: http://endurancesportswire.com/ Have you heard the news? What news you ask? Well, pretty much any and all news related to endurance sports. If you have, you probably heard it through Endurance Sports Newswire (“ESW”). Tina founded ESW and it has become the absolute “go to” place for anything related to Endurance Sports. At Coeur, we use it for all of our major announcements. You may spot a trend here because Tina is smart, energetic and super nice.
She’s quick to provide advice and an absolute joy to work with. She also showed that she has a sense of humor when she agreed to go along with our April Fools prank this yearhttps://endurancesportswire.com/coeur-sports-makes-ground-breaking-new-product-announcement/ .
Oh…Endurance Sports Newswire has also added a “Job Board”, so if you’re thinking about getting into the “biz”, check it out.
So there you have it. Four great companies to consider. Now, this isn’t a comprehensive list but we can say without a doubt, these folks not only provide a great product or service but they also, “do things the right way”. So check them out if you get a chance!