Jennie Walker, an up-and-coming singer, has launched JennieGirl, a new line of boxing apparel and equipment for women.
The JennieGirl brand was born out of Walker’s personal transformation at the boxing gym. She lost 30 pounds working with her personal trainer, a former Olympic boxer from Guyana, John Douglas, in an effort to get in shape for her music career. During her sessions at the gym, she felt there was no interesting boxing apparel or equipment just for women.
“Most major boxing companies all had the requisite 'breast cancer awareness pink' option to their apparel and gear, but I did not like pink,” says Walker. “And, the women's breast cancer movement had done such a good job marketing their cause, it was hard to look at pink hand wraps and boxing gloves and not think of the underlying disease. I wanted an alternative. I wanted to wear something that reminded me I was strong, resilient, passionate, fearless, focused and dedicated. Something that captured my personal transformation at the gym.”
The range will include boxing gloves, hand wraps and sleeveless hoodies with boxing boots, bags, headgear and bandanas on the way.
“I knew I could bring something special to the women’s boxing marketplace with my JennieGirl brand,” says Walker. “First rule of the brand – no pink! Black, a favorite color of New Yorker's and a personal favorite, would be the color base from which all else would flow. Red, the color of passion, would be the branching out point and White, the color of renewal, would symbolize a fresh start.”
The line will be officially launched at the world famous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, NY, during an all women’s boxing clinic April 17-19, 2014. Legends as Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Roberto Duran are among the 131 World Champions who have trained inside the gym’s hallowed walls.
Bruce Silverglade, president of Gleason’s Gym, says, “JennieGirl is a great new way for the women of Gleason's to look good wearing new fashionable clothing and to train hard in new fashionable equipment.”
Along with items from her new boxing line, Walker will be unveiling to the public her first collaboration with historic boxing belt company, Sartonk. The JennieGirl/Sartonk Collaboration will create unique boxing inspired belts for women. Most visible of Sartonk’s works are the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belt designs.
Sartonk Founder and President, Edward S. Majian, adds, “JennieGirl Brand makes the statement that women’s boxing apparel can be, at once, empowering and stylish. We’re proud to help make that statement.”
Walker, originally from Texas, was a 2011 top 10 winner in the British Airways Face of Opportunity Small Business Competition, with a pitch for her small business around her ASCAP affiliated music publishing company, and debut album release. Walker used the British Airways in-flight entertainment platform to launch her album, “Night Flight to London” internationally in late 2011.
