Our Story
Everyone agrees, 2020 was an incredibly difficult year. The part I found the most challenging was being a parent amid the divisive sentiments of our country. It felt impossible to stand firmly behind the beliefs on which I was raised. The instructions of our own parents to, “play nicely” seemed distant aspirations, at best. How could we possibly ask this of our children when the world-at-large seemed to be slipping ever so swiftly into a pattern where manners didn’t matter and rigidity of beliefs exacerbated controversy, inappropriate behavior, and a seemingly infectious absence of empathy.
This is not a political statement, this is a reflection of the human experience. As a human race, we seemed to have lost our way. As a parent, this was a heartbreaking glimpse into a future I did not want for my children.
Bringing Pickleball Home
When my husband decided to paint a pickleball court in the front driveway, it seemed a fun but insignificant gesture at the time. Knowing little about the sport, we thought it would be a fun way to engage our five teenage children and to keep them active amid the closure of schools, sports, and their social lives.
Pickleball was a sport we knew our parents and their friends played. The smaller court and dink-style play allowed for varying levels of exertion and therefore was accessible for people of all ages. We quickly became well-versed in the game and began inviting neighbors and friends to play, all while maintaining social distance and excessive sanitizing of equipment. This was the sport we could play with our parents AND our children. Birthdays and holidays in 2020 were always spent eating outdoors and rotating through a few games of pickleball. Simply put, pickleball brought us together
Unifying Sport
Civile Apparel was born out of that tragedy and darkness of 2020. From the heavily polarized sentiment of our nation, to the isolation and exclusion that was forced upon us as a result of the pandemic.
Upon diving further into the fashion behind the sport, I noticed that there was no urban-facing apparel brand that married my active lifestyle with who I am as a woman, and definitely nothing out there that felt as multifaceted as I do. I want to be able to go from my office, to the pickleball court, to the store, golfing with my husband, and maybe out for drinks, all with a great performance fabric fashion piece as the base.
We at Civile Apparel see pickleball as the unifying sport that offers everyone an accessible, fun, and competitive outdoor respite. We're just making it more fashionable.
Learn more about the team behind Civile.
Civile reminds us all that, no matter which side of the line you play on, BE CIVIL. PLAY NICELY.
Aubri Steele, Founder