DUBAI: Kayanee, a wellness collective in Saudi Arabia, is redefining women’s health with its blend of fitness, fashion, nutrition, personal care, healthy eating and learning experiences. 

Kayanee – located in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter – inspires women to embrace a holistic approach to well-being. 

“Kayanee is 100 percent designed, created and executed for the purposes of encouraging and inspiring women into physical activity,” said Mimi Fraser, the managing director of Kayanee.

“Being healthy is not diet and exercise alone,” she added. “Being healthy means you have to engage your mind. You have to engage your body. You have to engage your friends and family. You have to engage your environment.”

To achieve this, Fraser and her team built Kayanee on six pillars: move, wear, nourish, restore, thrive and learn.

“Men like to go to the gym. They put their headphones on, and they just work out. Women are totally different. Women want something to do with friends. They call a friend. They’re like, ‘let’s go to a dance class. Let’s go on a walk.’ And why we designed Kayanee in this way is because you have to engage your mind, you have to engage your heart, you have to engage your body, all at the same time.”

Besides their Kayanee Movement class, which focuses on mobility, strength, and flexibility, the fitness facility offers the Kayanee Dance Fitness (KDF) class, created in collaboration with Zumba.

KDF combines energetic rhythms with unique music and choreography from the Arabian Peninsula. Kayanee offers special soundtracks for their dance classes, incorporating Khaleeji, darbuka (the primary drum used in belly dance music) and dabke rhythms, providing a high-cardio workout that celebrates Arab culture.

“We are a Saudi brand. We embrace Saudi culture and the Arabian culture,” Fraser said. 

Besides their activewear, Kayanee’s fashion line – made in Italy from fully recycled fabrics – includes knit dresses, chiffon capes, pleated skirts, cashmere cardigans, formal blazers and more.

“One of the most important things a consumer said to us from day one – it was so interesting – was  they weren’t as worried about what they wore in the gym as what they wore going to the gym and leaving the gym,” she said. 

“So we went into this thinking we were only going to do activewear. Then when we went into understanding the consumer and understanding what the consumer wanted, the consumer wanted a whole line of things that they could wear, almost like ready-to-wear, but made with activewear materials. Four times a year we bring out collections of what looks like ready to wear,” she added.

The Kayanee beauty line features shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, body creams, facial mists, scrubs, hair oils, hair sprays, and deodorant, all made with natural ingredients like shea butter, sweet almond oil, rose water, argan oil, seaweed, caffeine, coconut, rosehip oil and more.

They also sell supplements that improve overall health, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, omega-3, black seed oil, iron, zinc and organic apple cider vinegar.

“We have ambitions to grow this brand regionally and internationally. We want people to look at Saudi women anywhere in the world and go like ‘wow, is this really what Saudi women look like? Is this how they live? Is this what they like?’ Because it’s normal. We’re proud of it,” Fraser said.