Athleta built its brand around athletic activity. But when we looked at what customers were actually doing day to day, the picture was much bigger than workouts. Dog walking, working from home, coffee runs, travel, time with family, etc. And Athleta had no presence in any of them.

To understand where the brand could actually show up in that bigger picture, our team conducted research with yoga instructors, Athleta employees, athleisure wearers, and fitness enthusiasts, starting from the initial brand challenge and building out frameworks to synthesize what we were hearing across each group. The research pointed us in a direction we didn’t expect.

What emerged consistently was a desire for conscious consumption: people wanted their everyday choices, including what they bought and where, to reflect their values. Two themes rose to the top of what mattered most to them: building community for women and girls, and supporting environmental initiatives.

From there, we designed an in-store experience paired with an app that puts that values-led desire into action. At checkout, customers choose where their purchase's donation dollars go. Their token then syncs to the Athleta app, where AI matches them with local events tied to the causes they care about, turning a single purchase decision into an ongoing connection with their community.