From a young age, working in fashion has always been Ameliora founder Adrienne Kronovet’s dream. Following in the footsteps of her grandfather, an owner of a clothing factory in North Carolina, that dream became reality with the founding of New York fashion brand Ameliora, designed with the intention of helping women feel confident and empowered. This year, Ameliora will enter the pickleball space with a series of high-end, functional and fashionable products to serve the ever-growing pickleball community.
Kronovet hit the ground running following graduation from college in 2017, moving from North Carolina to New York City and founding Ameliora in her early 20s. Her commitment to the startup have paid off, with Ameliora expanding from a limited collection to populating stores across the States.
Kronovet credits her family’s history in the fashion industry for her early understandings of the business’s supply chain aspect and understanding of the transformative power of clothing and the impact they can have on any given day. That knowledge and perspective has solidified itself as a staple of Ameliora’s growing brand.
“We started with an eight-piece suit collection and then we expanded into shirting, which is what we’re probably best known for,” said Kronovet. “We have a button down collection that is in about a 100 stores across the country, which is really amazing.”
Ameliora’s Italian fabric, a lightweight, breathable and machine washable material, has been a hit with customers through the years. The quality of their lines’ fabric and overall products is indicative of the company’s attention to detail and care in the production of their products produced throughout the years, a key attribute in the continued success and growth of the company.
“Hearing how our clothes have been a positive force in someone’s life has been really moving,” added Kronovet. “One customer comes to mind in particular who was former military. She was very nervous about dressing business smart-casual after a 12-year career and wearing a uniform every day but wanted to thank us and our clothes for taking that fear away from her.”
Ameliora’s success has now opened the door to for the company to venture into an underserved but increasingly growing demographic of pickleball: fashion. Initially introduced to the sport by friends, Kronovet began hearing more and more about pickleball and it’s impact in her customer’s day-to-day lives.
“I would see people on their way to go play pickleball and their paddles would just be hastily thrown in a tote bag or a backpack,” explained Kronovet. “I kept thinking to myself, ‘There’s got to be a better way.’”
Enter the Ameliora Sport Collection, highlighted by a lightweight, durable and fashionable polyurethane sport bag that is available in three colours (pink, blue, black) with more than enough room to accommodate multiple pickleball paddles and pickleball accessories, such as shoes, water bottles, balls and even a wallet strap.
In addition to the sport bag offering, Ameliora’s Sport Collection features hats, a long sleeve and sleeveless, moisture wicking 1/4 zip top, dress with short, and long skorts for on-court activities.
“The idea was just to make easy options for our customers so they could really enjoy the sport they love and not have to worry about anything getting damaged or to have to compromise,” concluded Kronovet. “Our goal in creating this collection is to make people who play pickleball lives easier, frankly. We want to hear from people that it’s our bag that makes it easy to go from the office to go play pickleball and to hear that we are having a positive impact in their lives.”
