A Sports Brand for Spiritualists

All things considered, the pandemic worked out pretty well for Tom Daly and Max Vallot and their mindful athletic brand, District Vision.

Back in March 2020, when District Vision closed its scrappy office in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Vallot found himself pretty much without a clue, he said in an interview at the Marlton Hotel in New York in early April. “Then, from one day to the next, it felt like we got this backwind. Suddenly people were really into activewear, and we noticed the orders trickling in.”

As anyone who attempted to buy a set of three-pound weights or a bicycle during the early days of the pandemic knows, there was a run on fitness products. At the same time, many people who were attending to their physical health were also considering their mental health, which, as it happens, is the second prong of District Vision. The intersection of sports and mindfulness is the brand’s ethos.

In short order, Mr. Vallot, 35, and Mr. Daly, 34, had a 16-session online Mindful Movement course professionally produced, recorded and ready to distribute.

“That sounds really smart now,” Mr. Daly said. “But we are not that smart.” The timing was fortuitous, and the course took off.

By the end of the year, Mr. Vallot and Mr. Daly had moved their operation to Los Angeles and taken a salary for the first time in six years, they said. “It turned from a project into a company,” Mr. Vallot said. Next week, District Vision is introducing women’s apparel, with sports bras, singlets, jackets, leggings, bike shorts, arm warmers and gaiters.