Letter from Mari: Reflecting on MAAREE's 2023 Journey

Wow, well what a year 2023 has been for the team at MAAREE. A year that has bought many challenges but has provided us with opportunities to adapt and become resilient against the back-drop of tough market conditions. Many businesses in our position have decided 2023 was to be their last, so we are so thankful to our incredible sisterhood for the support they've shown us this year.

Here is some of the amazing things that we have achieved in 2023:

New Sports Bras, and more awards

We launched our first encapsulation style sports bra, the Battle Bra. Launched in parallel with our campaign for gender pay equality, we donated 11.3% (the gender pay gap in 2022) of our Battle Bra sales to the Fawcett Society. Our Solidarity Sports Bra got two brand new colours, Saffron Yellow and Mint, and won the coveted 'Sports Bra of the Year' award from Women's Fitness, while it was our Empower Sports Bra that won 'Sports Bra of the Year' from Women's Running. Two bras with two amazing awards.

Empowering Sportswomen

This year has been a groundbreaking year for our partnerships with elite sports teams and organisations. We partnered with netball super league team Severn Stars to give their players the support they deserved when competing at the highest level. The women's Volleyball Super League got a new name sponsor. The MAAREE Women's Volleyball Super League now all get their support from MAAREE sports bras.

It's not just elite level teams benefitting from MAAREE's support, Birmingham University netball are getting their support from us and junior football team Portrush FC Under 14s in Northern Ireland all get support from MAAREE sports bras.

We launched our 'Supported by MAAREE' initiative, giving sportswomen from elite to grassroots sport the opportunity to receive education, workshops and sharing information on breast health with their audience in return for support from MAAREE.

Fitting Thousands

Our virtual fitting service, a FREE, 15 minute, unlimited bra fitting service has had it's busiest ever year. We fitted over 2,800 Women online, plus many in person fittings at expos and events such as the National Running Show (book your fitting slot for 2024). A huge part of sports bra support success is down to size. 85% of women are wearing the wrong size sports bra, and we will continue to offer this service for free, as long as this statistic remains. You can book your virtual fitting HERE.

Delivering MAAREE around the world

In 2023 we opened our first fulfilment centres in Australia and the Netherlands, making our delivery, exchanges and returns process much smoother for those throughout Europe and Australia/New Zealand. Adding to our UK and US locations, we now have our operation in place to provide an excellent service to 98% of the MAAREE community.

Adding award-winning, women led activewear

We've added some amazing new products to our line-up in 2023, from our supremely comfortable Socks utilising recycled and organic fibres, to our recent award winning, best in test Uplift Hoodie. We bring our innovative and women design led mindset from our sports bras across our sportswear collection. More is to come in 2024, and we cannot wait for you all to see what we have in-store.

Looking forward to 2024

Thank you for being a part of this incredible year, and we have so much more to come in 2024. We wish you all a wonderful 2024, and we promise to continue supporting women to achieve their potential through the best sportswear and support.

Mari Thomas-Welland

Founder, MAAREE