Respect Your Universe, Inc., the performance training and fitness brand with origins in MMA, made several hires for its design and product development team.
 
RYUs new team includes Juliet Korver as Product Design Director.  Juliets past roles include Lululemon, ONeill, and Filmar.  Juliet has a strong background in apparel manufacturing and has worked for direct manufacturer, Filmar Corp., developing private label products for many of the top brands in the outdoor and performance sports labels.  Customers include North Face, Vans, Marmot, Spider, and Swix. As the Brand Product Manager at Lululemon, Juliet was responsible for branding of collections and integrating technologies, fabrics and products which helped shape some of Lululemons most popular apparel products. As the Product and Marketing Manager at Filmar and ONeill, she shaped product strategies, including overseeing and directing the design and technical product team. Additional experience includes visionary, creative, and entrepreneurial roles in active lifestyle apparel and specialty equipment companies.  In her new role Juliet states:
 
What our team is creating will fill the gap in the market that no performance active wear brand has accomplished to date.  As an active athlete, I am very excited to be joining the innovative, high quality, and fast growing Respect Your Universe brand.
 
Damien Kelly, President of Bad Monkey Design, has joined the RYU team as Head of Research and Design. Damien brings a wealth of experience in innovate design and brand development.  His client base includes Thule, Lululemon, Atomic, Simms Fishing, Race Face, Sitka Gear, Blurr and Marmot. As a designer for these apparel and specialty equipment companies, Damien created unique and ground-breaking products that produced unprecedented results for these brands.  Damiens team was instrumental in the design for Lululemons first technical outwear line.  Bad Monkey has won numerous awards for ground-breaking innovation in apparel, hard goods, and accessories.
 
Damien states: As a designer, I am eager to be joining the Respect Your Universe brand at a time when we have the prospect to create unique apparel and accessories to influence, change, and penetrate a very exciting market opportunity.
 
RYU is also very pleased to announce a strategic partnership with the President of Performance Textiles, Treya Klassen. Treya is the former Director and President of AnK Apparel Manufacturer, one of the leading technical apparel manufacturers in Canada and Asia.  AnKs customer base included Polo RLX, Lululemon, Eddie Bauer, Cabelas, Sitka, Gander Mountain, Department of National Defense, Mountain Equipment Co-Op, and Arcteryx.  With over twenty-eight years of experience in the apparel industry and the current Account Manager of Polartec, Treya will be assisting the team at RYU in developing and creating the newest, most innovative textile platforms. Polartec are the creators of Polartec® fabrics-the most advanced performance textiles available today.
 
Marcello Leone, RYUs CEO, President and Chairman, stated, We are thrilled to have solidified our product development and design team with the hires of Juliet, Damien, and Treya. The RYU focus remains clear for the future in becoming a global presence in the apparel industry. Our next-generation lines of apparel and accessories due out in early 2015 will clearly define our DNA and demonstrate our uniqueness and performance over other brands.