Inperspire Motivational Fitness Towels started as so many things do: as a random inspiration at the gym. Darla Dale, an assistant dean at Washington University "approaching 50", was trudging along on the treadmill somewhat less energetically than usual when she noticed that everyone around her had a towel to cover the screens on their machines.
"The towels should have a mantra written on them so you can stay on," Dale remembers thinking. She wrote the idea down in her idea journal, but the plan didn't come to fruition until January when her husband Jimmy, tired of traveling, quit his job with Southwest Airlines. They joined forces with Dale's sister Dana and her husband Greg, who live in Seattle. Says Dale: "What better time to start a company?"
Unreal: In the middle of a recession?
Darla Dale: That's what my parents said.
Er...
It's not the sanest thing, but we love it so much and have had so much fun putting it together.
When did you start?
Last Friday, June 19, at 6:34 p.m. That's when we launched the website.
Why 6:34?
That's when I got home from work.
What in your background has prepared you to design towels?
Nothing!
That's so sad, but it's very true. I'm an archaeologist, an assistant
dean, I advise, I teach. There's one thing: I organize a freshman
program every summer. The first year, I thought, "I know! We need
T-shirts!" I love making T-shirts up.
Which towel is selling best so far?
The one that says "Haba na haba hujaza kibaba".
It's a saying I picked up in Kenya. It means "Little by little fills
the cup." I get so frantic there and that's what people say to me. Five
people have gotten this one. It's very strange. I don't even know them.
Which is even stranger.
Do you have any new ones in the works?
I'm thinking of "Join the Revolution" and making a play on Che Guevara.
You could make a green one to show solidarity with Iran.
That one's going in the future towel file.
And it's never coming out, is it?
No.
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