Reflecting on a year of wearable wellness

When Neelam and I launched RANI Lounge, we created what we knew, satin pajama sets in beautiful prints and colours (not too different from the ones we had spent years wearing ourselves before starting our company). We also knew that we wanted to build something that stood for more than just nice sleepwear. From the beginning, we wanted RANI Lounge to have meaning, to stand for health, wellness, and intentional rest.

We loved our Jena and Mary original collections, and so did you. Influencers shared them, people bought them, and our small business started to grow. Selling something beautiful was easy. But what we were building started to feel a bit disconnected from why we started in the first place.

What mattered most to us, more than the products themselves, was the mission: to inspire women to prioritize their well-being through the magic of rest, and in turn, help them live happier, healthier lives. As much as we loved our satin pieces, we knew that creating more polyester pajamas didn’t align with that mission.

Polyester has a beautiful finish and is affordable, but it also has real downsides, low breathability, poor temperature regulation, and the potential to trap odour, bacteria, and microplastics. Once we started learning more about how these things could affect our health, we knew this wasn’t the path we wanted to continue on. 

That’s when part two of our journey began. We started diving deep into materials and looking for options that would better serve women’s needs. We tested everything: cotton, TENCEL, silk, bamboo, until we discovered Filium, a material science company revolutionizing the textile industry. Their patented technology makes natural fibers moisture resistant while keeping them breathable, soft, and comfortable against the skin. When we saw it in action, we knew we’d found our direction.

We tried our best to create these in beautiful prints, but the patterns just didn’t work with the fabric. So, we had to make a decision, and honestly, it was an easy one. RANI Lounge has always been about wellness first. While we were disappointed to let go of prints for now, we felt confident focusing on creating timeless sets in a thoughtful colour palette. We chose green intentionally, inspired by its calming connection to relaxation and renewal.

Women’s bodies go through so much, and our sleep needs change constantly, from our monthly cycles to fertility, pregnancy, post-partum, menopause, and beyond. Before getting into this space, I knew so little about my own body, and it’s been eye-opening to learn how much sleep impacts our long-term health.

Wearing a Whoop this year has shown me just how much my recovery fluctuates throughout my cycle. My recovery score generally drops from the green (85%+) during my follicular phase to red (10–30%) during my luteal phase. It’s a reminder that our bodies are dynamic, not consistent, but we live in a world that doesn't really acknowledge or accommodate that.

Since the world doesn't slow down for our bodies, we have to do what we can to support ourselves, starting with rest. That means building habits and environments that help us get better sleep, which includes what we wear to bed. 

It might not click right away why moisture-resistant pajamas are beneficial, but when you think about how active the sleep process is, and how hormonal changes can cause night sweats and temperature shifts, it starts to make sense. Our pajama sets allow sweat to evaporate naturally off of your skin instead of trapping it in fabrics, helping the body maintain its own natural cooling process.

This shift toward function and wellness hasn’t been the easiest path, it’s definitely harder to sell something that’s about science and well-being than something that’s just pretty. But this has been so much more rewarding and we’re so proud of what we’re building. 

And seeing the recognition that’s come from following our mission has been incredible, from features in major publications like Forbes, WWD, and ELLE, to being recognized by Sophie Grégoire Trudeau as one of her favourite Canadian women-owned brands because of how our products support women in perimenopause. What makes these moments even more meaningful is that they all came from genuine interactions, not a PR agency or big marketing budget, just conversations with women who believe in what we’re doing and love our pajamas. Not only have we seen our brand get recognized, we also got to attend an award ceremony in LA earlier this year where Filium receive the 2025 Innovation in Sustainability Award by the United Nations Association. 

Championing rest will always be at the heart of RANI Lounge, but it’s just one piece of something bigger. Women’s health has been under-researched, underfunded, and misunderstood for way too long. Despite being the majority of the population, women are still left out of most medical and wellness research. So much of what’s considered “healthy” - intermittent fasting, cold plunging, fasted workouts, are based on studies done on male physiology and can be sub-optimal for many women.

We need better research, better education, and better systems that acknowledge women’s biology, and I feel so grateful to live in a time where this topic is finally starting to receive attention and investment. But while that work continues, we also recognize that what we’re doing, creating sleepwear designed to support women’s rest, is just one small part of a much bigger picture. Even when it comes to sleep, there’s so much more needed to truly advance women’s health. For some, that might mean seeking medical support, testing, or major lifestyle changes. But it also starts with the basics, with the small, intentional things we can control, like building a nighttime routine, creating a restful environment, and choosing what we wear to bed with care.

Sleep well!

Serena