Athleta Dance Wear
Abby Settle and Emily Cunningham
The Ask
Create a prospective series (or multiple) deliverable for a subcultural group . Your presentation should focus on three elements:
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The Messaging
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The Cultural significance
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The overall ideas of your prospective advertisements based on the analysis you made
Gen-Z professional and pre-professional dancers ages of 18-30
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Male, nonbinary, and female dancers with emphasis on those who are not traditionally marketed to within the dance apparel industry (focus on male and nonbinary dancers)
Intended Audience
BIG IDEA
"We design for movement, not for categories –
apparel made to move with identity, not against it”
Creative Approach
Launch Athleta collection (gender-inclusive apparel, durable and supportive for dancers)
Tagline: “Designed for motion. Defined by no one”

Rationale
Our campaign introduced a gender-inclusive dance-wear collection for Athleta, designed for Gen Z dancers of all identities. Dance is more than performance—it’s identity, activism, and community—yet mainstream dance-wear still centers female-presenting bodies. We aimed to bridge that gap through inclusive representation and “champion identity,” encouraging dancers to embrace who they are, not who the industry tells them to be.
Using black-and-white imagery, we stripped away gendered expectations and highlighted form, fabric, and movement. Minimal copy let the apparel speak for itself. Diverse dancers reinforced that movement is personal and that Athleta supports the dancer, not the stereotype.