Our Story

"Starting this company has been a dream of mine... It allows me to take my two most favorite passions: dance and fashion, and blend them into one: OXYjEN."

OXYjEN is the brainchild of Broadway dancer, Jennifer Balagna. After finishing college with degrees in both Economics and Fashion Merchandising, Jen - as her friends refer to her - set out in pursuit of her dream...to make it as a dancer! After performing in several Broadway shows (Wicked included), Jen's passion began to shift as she and her peers were constantly dissatisfied with the selection of fashionable, high-quality, well fitting dance wear. And so began her next big dream... to start her own line! She began soliciting the input of colleagues, peers, friends, and young dancers and by way of their invaluable feedback, OXYjEN was born, and with it, fun, colorful dance & active wear that can be worn to an audition, the gym, and even on the streets of NY. Oh and did we mention it looks fabulous on everyone?!   

First OXYjEN Design - The Braid Top

OXYjEN initially began with what is a rather labor intensive garment, the Braid Top. What started as an idea and has spread like wildfire, the Braid Top is consistently on backorder. One might wonder why this is the case...The catch?? Each strap is hand braided meaning Jen or one of her assistants spends a chunk of their time literally taping the three strands to a hard surface and braiding away. One of the very first things that will be done with our funding is put this top into production...including the straps. We have found a trim shop in NYC that will actually make continuous braids for us so that we do not have to spend our time slaving away (thank goodness!). 

Fitting, re-fitting, and...did we say fitting?

Our pieces go through a rather rigorous fit and quality incubator period. Although it sounds rather scientific, it is actually broken down into two clear and fairly simple objectives: to capitalize on the garment fit, we have our prototypes created in every size offered and then we not only partake in fit sessions with our fit models, but we take the garments to local gyms (hello, Upper West Side NYSC) and dance studios to have people of all shapes and sizes scrutinize, fuss with, and ultimately help us make a better product! As for our quality inspection, we spend roughly $100 washing/drying with high heat roughly 20 times...mind you, our care labels explicitly instruct to stay away from heat which is why we use it. We carefully check for colorfast, loosening of threads, shape retention and all of the other important details that define our excellent garment quality! It does not come easy but we recognize that in order to keep people excited about our pieces, we have to keep our standards rather high. Our customers are savvy thus we must be savvier!

Taking it to the Streets

Jen celebrated a first 'mini' launch of OXYjEN in the late summer of 2011 with a modest selection of about 50 pieces a style. They immediately sold out. Little did she know that this would become a reoccuring theme. One of the mothers from the hit television show, Dance Moms, contacted her about having the young dancers on the show wear her designs. Not realizing to the scale that demand from this show would bring, she willingly obliged and had all of the pieces requested sewn individually for each girl from local seamstresses. Fast forward to the dancers on Dance Moms sporting OXYjEN (did we mention it is a 3-million viewers an episode program) and we literally became backordered on our backorder list. Now we are not complaining, rather we are trying to illustrate to our potential backers (Friends of OXYjEN as we like to call it) how crazed it has been at our super modest dwellings in NYC. To only add fuel to the fire, Dance Moms asked to crash OXYjEN's most recent photo shoot in February...on camera! Which meant that now Jen and the brand are both on the television show and the demand is far outweighing the supply.

                              OXYjEN Fashion Photo Shoot

Funding

This is where we need you! Since completely selling out of every style except two in February, we have very slowly been attempting to regain inventory...but to no avail as producing in our small quantities does not allow us to gain any traction nor meet the immediate demand of our new customer base.  Not only are we not able to keep up with the demand of our already released signature Braid Top & Sweetheart Tops, but we have not been able to launch a vital part of our business - our 'One Piece' collection which include Leotards & Bikers (think leotard with shorts). We need your support so that we may produce enough styles to keep our business growing. OXYjEN will finally be able to have a proper debut to the apparel community so that we can make it available to you - with ample inventory in stock and a complete line of separates (tops & shorts, pants), leotards, and bikers. 

We will use the kickstarter funds to place initial orders from our manufacturers of our first 2 one pieces (1 leotards, 1 bikers) and replenish our stock in three OXYjEN best-sellers: Braid Top, Sweetheart Top, Tri-Color Shorts. If we raise more than our initial goal, then we will produce more pieces!! By producing in much larger quantities per style, this will allow us to fully keep up with our demand and help us make dancers and athletes alike look and feel good while working out. Glancing back on the past 9 months of business - it has been a dream come true to see the overwhelming response OXYjEN wear has gained from the dance & fitness communities. But we haven't even tapped a fraction of our market. We have huge plans in store for this brand but will not be able to make those strides until we have enough inventory to keep up with the demand. Our one mission is to produce beautiful dance & active wear to make dancers & athletes alike from all over the world look and feel beautiful!

If you help us reach our goal, we will be throwing an official Launch Party in NYC at the end of July - and you are invited! 

Launch Party
Join us for our official New York City launch party and fashion show in July. Sip drinks while watching our models display OXYjEN new collection. Get the inside scoop, meet our designer, and be one of the first to see our new one-piece line and take a picture with one (or two) of Broadway's finest.                              

Sizing

After our goal is reached, a survey will be sent out detailing our size chart and to collect your size. The sizes run from SC (Small Child) to LA (Large Adult). Should you have any questions at all, simply email us at info@oxyjen.com

Shipping

Shipping is included in your pledge price. International backers should add $15 dollars for shipping.

Rewards

$10     Signed headshot by our founder, Jen, along with a Thank You card

$25     Limited edition OXYjEN t-shirt

$50     One signature Braid Top

$80     2 OXYjEN pieces or 1 Leotard/Biker & a handwritten Thank You card

$130   1 Vip Pass to our official launch party in NYC and 1 OXYjEN top

$200   Shout out on twitter, 1 VIP Pass to our launch party, 2 OXYjEN pieces

$300   Signed poster by entire cast of a current Broadway show

$500   Four OXYjEN pieces, VIP invite for 3 people to our launch party in NYC, shout out on all of our social media outlets as an official OXYjEN sponsor

$750    Dinner for 2 with a Broadway actor & Jen, signed poster by cast of Broadway show, 1 OXYjEN Braid top

$1000   Backstage tour of Broadway musical (after seeing it), signed poster by cast, VIP invite for 4 to our launch party in NYC