Designs With Purpose: Online fitness brand helps rehabilitate and outfit diversity

Dallas locals, Emma English and Joel Cantu co-own, love and operate an online fitness and athleisure brand called Man Made Athlete that’s been live online for a little over two years. Man Made Athlete offers an alternative spin on the athletic wear that’s typically worn by athletes and fitness connoisseurs. Their social profiles describe them as, “an inclusive, online fitness and athleisure brand created for athletes, by athletes” but that only scratches the surface.

Joel and Emma are two marketing and IT geeks who started Man Made Athlete after fighting for a lifechanging 170+ pound combined weight loss. During the course of the weight loss journey, they were able to evaluate individual physical obstacles and realized they were both in search of scalable athletic wear that accommodated “baggage” but wouldn’t break the bank. Man Made Athlete was born out of an experience many rebounding athletes have— “I’m not comfortable in the clothes I wear to the gym”, and from there the pair agreed they wanted this brand to have a purpose.

The creative duo did over 72 hours of non-stop brainstorming about the intentions of the brand and how they could use the platform to help others. Several cups of coffee later, they discovered two key themes. First, they wanted to promote athletic diversity through hard work, perseverance and resilience. Second, to aid the rehabilitation of individuals with pre-existing congenital disorders or acquired injuries, an obstacle both Joel and Emma have a lot of experience with— and that’s how they eventually decided on the name, Man Made Athlete. The name by design has two meanings and can be interpreted as ‘man made’ for self-made or ‘man made’ as rehabilitated or reconstructed—either way, it seemed like a perfect fit.

Man Made Athlete launched with only a few foundation items which included their best-selling ‘Anything But Average’ tee, a design that proudly presents the team’s unofficial brand mantra, “Anything But Average, Always Extraordinary”. When asked about how they chose California-native, Bella + Canvas, as their clothing manufacturer, Emma says that while they’re, “…always proud of [their] designs, it was also incredibly important that the apparel be supportive down to the thread. They share our same values for quality of life and are WRAP Certified with a mission to promote ethical, humane and lawful conditions and practices in their facilities”. Emma and Joel wholeheartedly believe that putting positive things out into the world is the only way to get positive things back, so responsible creation and quality is one of Man Made Athlete’s core values.

Just a few months after the e-shop’s debut, both co-founders began partnering with local businesses, non-profits and other charitable organizations, designing custom apparel and donating a portion of the proceeds to assist with fundraising goals and awareness. One of the many aspects of Man Made Athlete that makes them unique is their flexible shipping method designed specifically for organizations who don’t have the budget or space to accommodate a large amount of inventory. Joel says, “Emma and I made drop shipping a key design factor in our partnership model. We wanted to give our partners the opportunity to increase contributions without the risk of a large investment—an investment most non-profits can’t always afford to spend”. This unique strategy makes all Man Made Athlete donation items available to supporters all over the globe without putting financial strain on their partners.  

Perhaps the most meaningful partner to be added to Man Made Athlete’s team is Iowa non-profit, Clubfoot Solutions, a non-profit organization that provides children all over the world with leg braces and other effective treatment for a congenital lower leg deformity called clubfoot. Emma says, “Clubfoot Solutions is an organization that’s very special to us because it provides aid, education and rehabilitation for the lower leg deformity that I was born with—a condition that literally helped fuel the creation of Man Made Athlete“.

The first series of items scheduled to launch on behalf of Clubfoot Solutions will feature a graphic Emma designed that proudly reads, “Clubfoot Strong”. The team says we can expect to see them on manmadeathlete.com in October with previews available on social media in late September.

Man Made Athlete’s brand and apparel is designed to illustrate their core objectives: embrace what makes you different and find strength in your struggle.