We all know Aila Kaibara as our funny morning meeting speaker, the leader of student life, and a 1,000-point shooter on the court, but today, we have a fresh, new take on the “behind the scenes” of Aila Kaibara.
Following in her sister’s footsteps, Aila has been playing basketball for 5 to 6 years, and during her time on the court, she realized how the faulty design of women’s basketball shorts was an important topic that tends to be overlooked. The selection of shorts for women has always been limited; between soccer shorts, boy shorts, and running shorts, the options haven’t evolved to fit a wider range of body types. Investors have undeniably put more money into designing men’s shorts than women’s shorts. Throughout Aila’s basketball career, she has had very little success in finding good options for shorts. She rarely had the opportunity to express her love for fashion through her sportswear, considering that all high quality shorts were tacky or brightly colored, very expensive, and uncomfortable. Realizing this issue couldn’t be swept under the rug any longer, Aila took matters into her own hands.
After lots of thought and dedication, Aila’s brand, Dime Time, came to life. Her goal was to produce female basketball shorts with a more breathable material, a waistband similar to yoga/Lulu pants, and a more inclusive design that caters to all female athlete body types. Little by little, Aila fabricated 20 different samples of shorts to test on her PCDS teammates, seeking ways to change and improve the shape, size, and length of her shorts. Wary of the pollution produced by sweatshops, Aila sources her fabric from Greentex, a locally produced, fully recycled-material company. Although it is more expensive than the alternative, Aila will continue to manufacture her next batch of 50 pairs using recycled materials.
Moving forward, Aila wants to learn how to produce her shorts commercially, or maybe even sell her collection to a bigger company. With new plans in the works, Aila hopes to eventually make her shorts the official PCDS women’s basketball team uniform.
