Rowers from University of Iowa Launch Unbreakable Female Athlete Clothing Brand to Empower Young Female Athletes

Jaecee Hall and Emma Dabinett, two tenacious University of Iowa rowers, founded the Unbreakable Female Athlete apparel line with the goal of empowering future female athletes. Hall, a native of Ankeny and a former star football player, joined the university's women's rowing squad after a back injury changed the course of her sports career. She met Dabinett, an accomplished rower from England, there.

Hall and Dabinett decided to shift the narrative after becoming frustrated by the lack of support given to female competitors at all levels of competition, particularly in lesser-known sports like rowing.

"We are a sport that doesn't make money, but we are also the same girls that get up at 5 AM and train until 9 AM in the morning, then come back at 3:45 and train until 6:30/7 PM at night," Hall emphasised. We work hard there every single day, after all.

The University of Iowa women's rowing team has a high national rating and a mostly local roster of athletes who learned to row while in college, yet the group frequently goes unnoticed in the Iowa City sports community.

Women's sports have shown they can attract the same attention as men's if given the chance, Dabinett said. And in my opinion, getting the chance right away is what matters.

In response, the pair established Unbreakable Female Athlete, a clothing line with the mission of empowering girls and women across all sports and age groups. Their product line includes the UFA Fund in addition to sports bras and inspirational t-shirts. By providing necessary supplies like sports bras and funds for equipment, this project promotes females' minor sports teams.

"We want to provide funding at the younger level so that the girls can grow up and feel like they have the support at a young age," Hall further explained. Not when you reach our age and wonder where the support is.

Unbreakable has expanded beyond national boundaries since its start-up a year and a half ago, and it now operates as a worldwide business with a sizable client base encompassing the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Notably, Unbreakable's impact has spread to many Big 10 women's rowing teams, which compete in Unbreakable unisuits.

According to Hall and Dabinett, their successful usage of the social media tool TikTok is a key contributor to their organization's quick growth and outreach. Their writing struck a chord with a wider audience, creating opportunities for new alliances and partnerships.

Ally Hom, a California native with a background in gymnastics who is now pursuing rowing at Emory University in Georgia, was the subject of one such successful partnership. Hom is the brand's current Chief Marketing Officer after being attracted to Unbreakable's powerful message. Her own experiences as an Asian-American athlete in a largely white sport inspired her to spread the inclusion and empowerment message of Unbreakable.

Being able to convey that you can be whatever you want to be and achieve anything you want to do, regardless of your upbringing, according to Hom. Through Unbreakable Female Athlete, I truly want to move that cause forward.

Hall's future plans for Unbreakable include putting their items on actual retail shelves. She plans to get a master's degree in sports and recreational management at the University of Iowa to further her education and better position herself to steer the business towards a bright future.

Unbreakable Female Athlete is a monument to the strength of perseverance, teamwork, and the united objective of strengthening the following generation of female athletes, transcending borders of time and place to have a profound effect.