BeWear Relentless

BeWear Relentless

My name is Lindsay Bergen and I was a high-performance athlete in the sport of rowing for nearly 20 years, competing at numerous world championships and world cups. I culminated an incredible career with a silver medal at my third Olympic Games with partner, Patricia Obee, in Rio de Janeiro. 

I have an immense amount of gratitude for the opportunity to pursue such an incredible goal, as it has shaped the woman I have become, and most importantly, the mother I want to be. My journey was full of doubt, painful results and challenges with relationships and coaching. Though I do not regret any of the situations I ever ended up in, I recognize now that many of the interactions I had in sport, particularly with men, we're not "normal". Unfortunately sexism, maltreatment and dominance are still very much prevalent in the female pathway to the podium. 

As a mother now, I am determined more than ever to set an example for my daughters of strength, respect and self-worth. We live in a world where women and girls are constantly being told and shown that they are not good enough; whether that be in appearance, accomplishment or independence. This does not just exist in sport, of course, but for me, sport has always been a conduit to exercise my fortitude, my perseverance and my relentless spirit, and so I wish to create a clothing line that is not only comfortable for women and girls, but allows them to spread a message of strength and resilience as it appears in whatever sporting pursuit they love. I want to empower women and girls to recognize, that collectively, we can perform, sprint, jump, swim, fight...like a girl...and that has nothing to do with weakness. I want women and girls to be proud that they do whatever they want, "like a girl". I want women and girls to stand together and support each other. I have an olympic silver medal that symbolizes a female partnership built on trust, respect and FUN and I want to give a small piece of that to women and girls out there because together, we are unstoppable. 

Lastly, a small anecdote of how the name of my apparel came to be. One particularly hard summer training away from home back in 2010, I had an overwhelming urge to, make permanent on my body, a reminder that no matter what has happened to me, I have always chosen to push through, that I had never let myself down (yes, of course many times the result was not what I wanted), but I had never given up. A word that captured what I was slowly learning I embodied was "Relentless". So...I headed to the first tattoo parlor I saw on the streets of London, Ontario and I walked in and more or less begged that my wrist be tattooed with that word right then and there! At the start line of every race thereafter, or during particularly trying times, all I had to do was look down and remind myself that I will prevail, because I am "Relentless". So all of you out there:

Be RELENTLESS

Wear RELENTLESS

and beware of women who are RELENTLESS :)