{"id":13692,"date":"2017-06-12T09:47:03","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T16:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=13692"},"modified":"2023-06-08T15:16:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T22:16:07","slug":"women-behind-the-gear-oiselle-founder-sally-bergesen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/women-behind-the-gear-oiselle-founder-sally-bergesen","title":{"rendered":"Women Behind the Gear: Oiselle Founder Sally Bergesen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Studying migration patterns, scientists have found that just one bird can urge an entire flock to change directions. Sally Bergesen is that bird.<\/p>\n

She wanted to create a different kind of company\u2014one run by and for women\u2014so she founded Oiselle, a running apparel startup. With a small staff working above a country music bar in Seattle, she learned garment design in real time\u2014and she\u2019s doubled her growth every year.<\/p>\n

Sally\u2019s strength is in creating identity. In her previous life she was a brand strategist with a penchant for naming. (Her claim to fame: she named the emergency contraception pill \u201cPlan B.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Oiselle is the French word for \u201cbird,\u201d an allusion to the weightless, soaring feeling of the runner\u2019s high. The brand has attracted a cult following in the form of the Vol\u00e9e (French for \u201cflock\u201d), a global team of women runners with diverse backgrounds and competitive goals. They gather at summer retreats called Bird Camps, share stats and photos on social media, and cheer each other on at races.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to know that you are worthy of advocating for your rights, even when the power dynamics are not in your favor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cCommunity is everything,\u201d Sally says. \u201cRunning is beautiful that way\u2014people all over the world come together to share it. I like the fact that the brand has been a catalyst for people connecting to one another, but honestly if Oiselle went away, and there were thousands of new connections among women around the world, like, job done<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oiselle is also the only women-led company that sponsors professional track & field athletes\u2014the Haute Vol\u00e9e\u2014and Sally makes it a point to value the whole athlete, not just their results. Champions like Lauren Fleshman and Olympian Kara Goucher have left lucrative contracts to join Oiselle for that reason\u2014they\u2019re free to be themselves, and they feel they\u2019re part of a family.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething I think about is, how do you create an inside without creating an outside?\u201d Sally says. \u201cOur goal with the Oiselle community is to have a community of diverse women that have different opinions, and have a model for how you respectfully talk to each other about those differences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething I think about is, how do you create an inside without creating an outside?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sally herself is known for rattling the status quo, and fully embodies her brand\u2019s ethos of \u201cfeminine fierce.\u201d She recently launched a Speak Out campaign as \u201ca call to conversations big and small that are important for women, the sport, and the world.\u201d She encourages her followers\u2014including her teenage daughters\u2014to stand up for issues that matter. \u201cIt\u2019s always going to be scary, but you need to know that you are worthy of advocating for your rights as a woman, even when the power dynamics are not in your favor,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

For this perspective, she credits her father, a former civil rights lawyer. \u201cHe\u2019s always been my mentor in terms of taking a stand,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of how I\u2019m wired.\u201d<\/p>\n

All things considered, the Oiselle brand identity has evolved into an outspoken sisterhood of committed runners, and its growth shows no signs of slowing. \u201cI have big goals, but I want to grow thoughtfully,\u201d Sally says.<\/p>\n

 \u201cCommunity is everything. Running is beautiful that way\u2014people all over the world come together to share it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her next step is expanding the flock\u2014and not just to women at their peak. \u201cWe see that there are valleys in every woman\u2019s life, and we want to play a role there,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of them is getting your first sports bra. Girls will often decide whether or not to stay engaged in sports based on that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Oiselle is launching a new sports bra donation program for middle school girls in need. When those girls grow up and reach another valley after high school or college, when there\u2019s no longer a school team to ground them in community, the Vol\u00e9e will be waiting to embrace them.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Studying migration patterns, scientists have found that just one bird can urge an entire flock to change directions. Sally Bergesen is that bird. She wanted to create a different kind of company\u2014one run by and for women\u2014so she founded Oiselle, a running apparel startup. With a small staff working above a country music bar in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":13697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[726,665,359,651,1444],"internal-tag":[1676],"class_list":["post-13692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-run","tag-force-of-nature","tag-oiselle","tag-run","tag-women","tag-women-behind-the-gear","internal-tag-pre-redirect-run"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/run\/women-behind-the-gear-oiselle-founder-sally-bergesen","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Women Behind the Gear: Oiselle Founder Sally Bergesen","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/women-behind-the-gear-oiselle-founder-sally-bergesen","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/women-behind-the-gear-oiselle-founder-sally-bergesen"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/06\/sally.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/06\/sally.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365"},"articleSection":"Run","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aer Parris-Hoshour"}],"creator":["Aer Parris-Hoshour"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["force of nature","oiselle","run","women","women behind the gear"],"dateCreated":"2017-06-12T16:47:03Z","datePublished":"2017-06-12T16:47:03Z","dateModified":"2023-06-08T22:16:07Z"},"rendered":"