Wellness Influencer Ayda Field Williams Launches High-end Athleisure label, Ayda
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Ayda Field Williams, an actress and wellness and fashion influencer, is launching a high-end athleisure label called Ayda Activewear created with the active, over 30-year-old woman in mind.
Along with her husband, musician Robbie Williams, Ayda Field Williams has grown her own community of like-minded working moms and dads who approach the chaos of life with a sense of humor. She has 664,000 followers on Instagram.
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Her activewear collection consists of 18 stock keeping units, including leggings and bra sets in blush, coral and olive with black for everyday wear. The performance pieces feature functional design to support various bra sizes with an adjustable Velcro plush elastic under band.
The performance leggings complement all body types with color-blocked panels adding a bright turquoise color way mixed in. There are soft lounge sweatshirts in heather gray luxe brushed French terry and a nylon windbreaker in a branded colorway with branded pops on the trim. Ayda accessories will include vintage-inspired baseball socks with a signature black cap. The pricing starts at $18 for socks and goes up to $228 for outerwear.
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“This is 100 percent my first venture into clothing,” Williams said in a telephone interview from her Los Angeles home. “I have had the thought for quite some time, and I’ve always been passionate about fitness and wellness, and the only things I wear is my athleisure,” said the mother of four.
Williams said she had thought for awhile to do an activewear line, but she had a lot of self-doubt and felt it was a saturated market and she wasn’t a wealthy investor. But during COVID-19, when everyone was free-falling, she thought, “I can f–king do this.”
Williams felt there were things missing in the pieces she was wearing and they were functional but she didn’t feel attractive in them or empowered in them. They weren’t the type of clothes that she wanted her husband to see her in, or meet her girlfriends in. Williams said she wanted clothes that she could be comfortable in all day since she didn’t have the time to make three wardrobe changes a day.
She started with the sports bra with adjustable straps as a foundation. She said she put hidden pockets in all the pieces for credit cards or iPhones.The leggings are 7/8-length because she feels they are flattering when the ankle shows. She’s also making statement socks, which she sleeps in and wears with her Birkenstocks or just around the house.
She designed the performance pieces for high-intensity workouts, boot camp and spin classes. The washing instructions say, “Be kind to animals and enjoy the f–king dessert.”
“I want the women to know we’re in a dialogue together in this,” Williams said. “There is no such thing as perfectionism. We all have our stumbles. I want women to feel embraced in this space.”
She assembled a small team of people at her home office, including a designer. “I don’t have to do this. I do this because I choose to. I want the journey to be just as enjoyable as the result,” she said. “I’m finding people who can take the things that I love, what I need from the clothing, the ideas that I have in my head, and run with it,” she said. “It’s a family affair,” said Williams, who has asked Robbie to send things out. “Enough of his singing, just drop it off,” she quipped.
Everything is manufactured in China. She plans to offer two collections a year.
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The collection will be available starting Tuesday at Shopayda.com. She is self-financed.
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Born in California, Williams is best known for being a regular panelist on the British television show “Loose Women,” a judge on the British “The X Factor,” alongside her husband, and for her roles in “Fresh Meat” and “Days of Our Lives.”
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