The #PACEforward Movement

This summer, two fitness enthusiasts, based halfway across the world from each other, have decided to collaborate and start a movement to encourage women to lead and maintain active and healthier lifestyles, fuelled by fashion, photography, art and culture. 

The #PACEforward movement stands for Photography, Art, Culture and Exercise and is the brainchild of two friends, one from Malaysia and the other from United Kingdom. The background story of this movement can be found in our post titled 'Encouraging Sports Through Fashion and Art' if you click *here*.

The driver behind this movement will be a series of photographs released by the duo on the Fit Rebel and Neil Shearer Photography Facebook and Instagram accounts. These will be released on a weekly basis for 18 weeks, starting from June until September 2016. 

These photos will be a stunning collection of images showcasing women engaging in active pursuits, decked in the colourful leggings of Seni by Fit Rebel. The end goal of #PACEforward is to produce awe inspiring art through stunning sports photography to inspire viewers to get active.

To further strengthen their commitment to this movement, Fit Rebel will be holding weekly giveaways throughout the entire summer for all followers. By simply sharing their social media posts, followers will stand a chance to win products from fitrebel.com every week!

Fit Rebel ships internationally, so women all across the globe are welcome to follow this movement and stand a chance to win prizes all summer long through Fit Rebel’s weekly giveaways. 

 Be a part of the #PACEforward Movement! Details below:

• Photos will be released every Friday, starting 3rd June until 30 September. Therefore, one photo will be release every week, for 18 weeks in the Summer of 2016.
• Photos will be released on both our Instagram and Facebook accounts. Follow any one you prefer:
• Fit Rebel
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fitrebelapparel
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/fitrebelapparel
• Neil Shearer Photography
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/neilshearer_photography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/NeilShearerPhotography
• Share our photos on either Facebook or Instagram.
• Mention both Fit Rebel & Neil Shearer Photography in your caption (Or to make it even easier, just share the original caption of the photo which will already have all the details).
• Please include this hashtag #PACEforward.
• Tag us in your photo.
• A new winner will be announced every Thursday via our social media accounts.
• A winner will be selected at random, so everyone stands an equal chance!
• The winner will win one free sports bra as below. Colors and sizes are available while stocks lasts. We will ship this item for free, anywhere you are located, so women all over the world are welcome to participate.
• Share our photos with your girl pals and get ready to be inspired to have an active and healthier summer! With the possibility of winning a new sports bra, there is even more incentive to follow the #PACEforward movement!

 *Stand a chance to win any one of these sports bras below every week for the next 18 weeks starting from 3 June 2016 till 30 September 2016*

Encouraging Sports Through Fashion and Art

There is no such thing as a bad workout. The only bad workout is the one that you did not do. 

This summer, two fitness enthusiasts, based halfway across the world from each other, have decided to collaborate and start a movement to encourage women to lead and maintain active and healthier lifestyles, fuelled by fashion, photography, art and culture. 

The #PACEforward movement stands for Photography, Art, Culture and Exercise and is the brainchild of two friends, one from Malaysia and the other from United Kingdom. 

Nadia Hasbi hails from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is the founder of Fit Rebel (fitrebel.com), an e-commerce site which offers fashionable and affordable active wear for women. Named as one of the top local e-tailers by Timeout Magazine, the site has also featured in Women’s Health Magazine, Shape Magazine and Urbanette. The brands carried by Fit Rebel include Seni, a line of leggings created by Hasbi which features the hand painted works of art by traditional batik artists from Malaysia. The line supports local artists and gives them an alternative platform to showcase their work. The idea is to create leggings so beautiful that women can’t wait to wear them, get out of the house and get moving!

Neil Shearer is from Manchester, UK and is an accomplished photographer, specializing in sports and active lifestyle photography. He has shot various sportsmen such as footballers, cross fitters and even the Ford GT racing teams in USA and UK. The founder of the ‘Sports As Art’ Project, Shearer spends his free time working with athletes to elevate his craft and further explore his passion for sports through creative ways. In May 2016, his work received the Gold Image Award from the National Photographic Society of the United Kingdom. 

Huge admirers of each other’s works, Hasbi and Shearer decided to combine their passions in fashion and fitness to initiate a movement to motivate women to be more active. Thus, the #PACEforward movement was born.  

The driver behind this movement will be a series of photographs released by the duo on the Fit Rebel and Neil Shearer Photography Facebook and Instagram accounts. These will be released on a weekly basis for 18 weeks, starting from June until September 2016. 

These photos will be a stunning collection of images showcasing women engaging in active pursuits, decked in the colourful leggings of Seni by Fit Rebel. The end goal of #PACEforward is to produce awe inspiring art through stunning sports photography to inspire viewers to get active.

To further strengthen their commitment to this movement, Fit Rebel will be holding weekly giveaways throughout the entire summer for all followers. By simply sharing their social media posts, followers will stand a chance to win products from fitrebel.com every week!

“Seeing Seni’s art inspired leggings on athletes, shot against scenes across the UK has resulted in incredible imagery which I believe, firstly, will make you fall in love and then will motivate you to get more active this summer. We are combining the arts and culture of both our backgrounds to create this international movement for all women to enjoy and participate in. It takes 21 days to form a new habit, and in this case, we are pushing this movement for the entire summer of 2016, which leads me to believe that women will continue to lead active and healthy lifestyles even beyond this,” said Hasbi.

“I was interested to work with Nadia as we share the same passion for sports and finding ways to make it beautiful and more enjoyable. Our shared dedication to create images to inspire women to get active has turned this into a fun project and I am looking forward to the responses received from women who decide to follow this movement,” said Shearer. 

Fit Rebel ships internationally, so women all across the globe are welcome to follow this movement and stand a chance to win prizes all summer long through Fit Rebel’s weekly giveaways. 

#PACEforward is a testament to what happens when fashion meets photography, coupled together with passion and culture of two uniquely distinct individual’s love for leading active lifestyles and wanting to make a difference. For more details, please visit fitrebel.com.

Counting My Blessings in the Month of May

May 2016 has been quite a month. Lots of ups and downs, but one thing that always comes through in the midst of all this madness is that regardless of what happens, we gotta keep moving forward and keep pushing through otherwise we will be stuck, and that is never good.

Let's start by counting my blessings for all that was good in this month.

For starters, SENI by Fit Rebel was featured in this month's issue of Women's Health Malaysia!

We were featured in their Style Scoop section in page 28. Yay and a big shout out to the team who made this possible!

TimeOut Magazine has nominated fitrebel.com as one of the best local online stores for active wear! Link here: http://www.timeout.com/kuala-lumpur/shopping/the-best-local-online-stores

In early May, my brother and I traveled over great distances to meet up with fabric suppliers and manufacturers to tie up some loose ends and finalized some details before I start production of the Seni by Fit Rebel leggings. Meetings were successful and I do not foresee any issues with production when the time comes.

Now, let's talk about the crowdfunding campaign.
For those living under a rock and have no clue about what I am referring to, here is a link to my campaign: igg.me/at/senibyfitrebel

So far, I have raised USD3,622 and we have 12 more days to go till the end of my crowdfunding campaign. Although this is a relatively low number, to a certain extent, there is a sense of pride, as I did this all by myself with no previous experience.

After a heartfelt discussion with my manufacturer, we have agreed to proceed with production of Seni by Fit Rebel leggings, but with smaller quantities that originally planned. I now hope to raise at least USD4,000 which will cover all costs associated with the new minimum order quantity (MOQ) as discussed with my manufacturer.

Being ever positive, I know I just need to push and hustle for the next 12 days. Leggings are priced at USD39.00 per pair, and these prices are only available through this crowd funding campaign which runs until 31 May. After this date, the regular retail price for the leggings will be set at USD59.00.

To all friends reading this, do contribute, if you haven't done so already! A small contribution of USD5 can go a long way if I have 100 friends who are willing to contribute that amount. Sacrificing 2 designer coffees at your favorite hipster cafe is definitely worth seeing your friend's dream come true, right?

Well, I guess I will end here. Whatever happens, the dream will live on and I will continue to push forward with my vision.

Thank you for reading and have a great weekend, ya all!

x

Nadia

On Crowd Funding and Manufacturing

The Seni by Fit Rebel Indiegogo campaign has managed to raise 18% of our intended goal of USD15,000. With 22 days left in the campaign, we are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to meet our target.

For those who have not been following this blog, Fit Rebel is creating a new line of high performance leggings featuring hand painted batik designs by artists from South East Asia. These leggings are suitable for a wide variety of fitness related activities as well as for casual wear. The designs were created by traditional batik artist and were hand drawn and painted using traditional batik painting techniques.

For more information about this project, click here: https://igg.me/at/senibyfitrebel

On to other matters.

Last week, my brother and I did some traveling to meet with fabric suppliers and manufacturers to confirm all the details before we begin with the manufacturing process of the leggings, which will commence immediately after the Indiegogo campaign ends on 31 May 2016.

All meetings and negotiations went smoothly and we foresee that the manufacturing of the leggings will go just fine.

We hope to meet our target of USD15,000 and begin manufacturing as soon as possible. Having said that, even if we don't raise USD15,000 we will still go ahead with the manufacturing of the leggings anyway. We are determine to make these leggings a reality for everyone to experience and enjoy!