Community Highlights: Meet Becky Patel of Ame Yoga Clothing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Becky Patel.

Hi Becky, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
After 3 years of teacher training, and two years of assessments, I became a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher in 2014. Soon after that I took my first trip to Pune, India, to study with the Iyengar family. Anyone who practices Iyengar yoga has probably seen the traditional shorts that many teachers and students wear for practice. They are affectionately known as “Pune Bloomers”.
During my trip to India I decided to buy a pair of these practice shorts and see why they were so popular. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the freedom of wearing shorts instead of leggings. So when I came back to the US, I looked around and realized that these shorts were quite hard to find. My background is in textile design and I had worked in the fashion industry for over a decade at this point. So I decided to combine my passions for yoga and design by starting a small business making these Iyengar yoga shorts.
Los Angeles is a garment manufacturing hub so it was not difficult to find great fabrics and vendors that I could work with to make this business come to life. I wanted to bring some innovation to these traditional shorts, without compromising what teachers and students had come to love about them. My ideas was to make them in fun colors and in new types of fabrics that made them a little more flattering or interesting for practitioners, and of course, easily available.
My husband’s uncle was visiting us from England at the time I was deciding what to call this little business. He suggested Ame. My husband’s family is originally from Gujurat (a large state in India) and in their language ame means ‘us’ . I loved that this name leaned into a sense of community, which is something I cherish about Iyengar yoga. Wherever you go in the world, you can find an Iyengar yoga teacher or studio, and when you walk through the door, you know immediately that you belong there. That is how Ame Yoga Clothing came to exist.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road necessarily. I have an advantage that my husband works in clothing manufacturing, so his relationships with businesses here in LA help to get my designs produced. Since I am such a small business and theses shorts are quite niche, I only make very small quantities. Most vendors in this business don’t want to work with you unless you can meet their large minimum requirements. My orders often get pushed to the back of the line, sometimes it takes weeks or months for things to get done. For a long time I ran this business alongside my design career, as well as teaching yoga. So I only had small amounts of time to put into making things, finding customers, marketing, shipping, etc. There are no employees, it is just me doing all the things. I invest in the business with my own money, and things go wrong all of the time in the clothing business. Fabrics, trims, dyeing, – not everything goes to plan. You have to be really flexible and willing to keep chugging along even when things don’t work out the way you hoped. I’ve been very fortunate that my friends and colleagues support me and that the feedback from buyers is always very good. I have over 800 5-star reviews on my Etsy shop. When buyers write to me and tell me how happy they are with their shorts and how much they love practicing yoga in them, it encourages me to keep going.

We’ve been impressed with Ame Yoga Clothing, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I specialize in making a traditional yoga short, that allows you to move freely in your practice. The difference in these shorts and other types of yoga clothing, is that they are not made of synthetic materials and they have a stretchy band around the leg opening that allows for a wide variety of movement with discretion. Not everyone wants to wear clothing that squeezes and compresses them while they practice, and the world is realizing how harmful it can be to wear synthetic fabrics close to the skin. One of the phrases you hear a lot in reference to Iyengar yoga is that “yoga is for every body”. I feel that Ame is for every body, too. No matter what size, age, color or gender you are, you should feel good in what you wear, and feel that you belong in yoga.

How do you think about happiness?
Being in nature, being with friends that share my interests, seeing art, listening to music and dancing, and learning new things all make me very happy. Practicing yoga with extraordinary teachers and passing on that knowledge to others makes me happy. These things make me happy because they are simple, they are not expensive, and they are within my grasp. You can find art and beauty in many places. If you are curious and have good people around you, happiness is not far away.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ameyogaclothing.com
• Instagram: @ameyogaclothing
• Facebook: @ameyogaclothing

Image Credits
Laura Kunin, Kalli Moon