The first AJE ATHLETICA store has opened at Westfield Newmarket. Image by Wono Kim.
Celebrated Australian fashion brand Aje debuted their conscious AJE ATHLETICA range in May 2021 and the athleisure collection has found great success. To build on that success Aje co-founders Edwina Forest and Adrian Norris have commenced the roll-out of eleven AJE ATHLETICA standalone stores across Australia and New Zealand with the first Kiwi store opened in Westfield Newmarket in late December 2021.
The new store exclusively sells Aje’s consciously designed, performance enhancing athleticwear brand and the store itself was designed as a reflection of the brand’s modernity, harnessing cutting-edge design and technology. Taking customers on an immersive wellness experience, AJE ATHLETICA’s Newmarket store is a physical manifestation of the brand’s mantra of ‘Performance through Wellbeing’.
“Following the successful global launch of Aje Athletica in May and the strong demand for the brand from our New Zealand customers, we are thrilled to be opening our first stand-alone athletica store in Newmarket,” says Co-founder and CEO, Adrian Norris. “The Aje brand has continued to experience significant growth and traction in New Zealand particularly since we opened our first physical Aje mainline store in October 2019. We also feel strongly that the physical retail environment is the best way for us to continue to tell our brand story. The Aje Athletica store, or sanctuaries as we like to call them, will offer a high fashion service proposition for an athleticwear brand and take customers on an immersive wellness experience.”
Aje’s sleek new store was developed in consultation with design partner, ProSpace, and built locally by Fitout Solutions. The cutting-edge store design has been carefully considered and respects the natural environment and the brand’s Australian heritage whilst embracing sustainable practices, local expertise and materials. The modern and contemporary spaces feature curved forms, inspired by the sculptures of Richard Serra. Each of the AJE ATHLETICA stores are designed to be sanctuaries for customers and feature natural materials with organic shapes and lines – metal and rock and muted, earth-tones.
Aje is truly going from strength to strength in the retail sector with it’s expanding footprint meaning the brand has added 28 stores to the group’s portfolio by the end of last year with an additional six stores opening across Australia early this year.
AJE ATHLETICA can be found in Westfield Newmarket, Shop S280 on level two. Customers can also shop AJE ATHLETICA online at ajeworld.co.nz.
Images by Wono Kim.