Nicol Akins is a wife and mother of two. Yet, despite her marathon schedule she has never thrown in the towel for her passion for running or anything athletic. It is that passion in combination with over 13 years in the fashion industry that has motivated her to create DiRTY ReD “Athletic Wear for Women”. Nicol’s love for design began at the age of 8. By the time Nicol was 15, she was designing and hand painting t-shirts for family and friends. Soon, her hometown state of Missouri became a playing field for her to sell products to the public at local fairs. As if that was not enough, to satisfy her competitive hunger, Nicol began to participate in high school cheerleading and sports. But it was her love of running that would capture her heart and a 4 year scholarship to the University of Missouri- Columbia. It was there that she would become an 8 time “All Big 12 400m Runner” and graduate with a degree in Apparel Manufacturing and Design.
Nicol’s collegiate track career fueled her love for running and soon Nicol competed in countless marathons, ½ marathons, 10K and 5K runs. Her early design work set the pace for her professional career in the fashion industry.
DiRTY ReD is a brand where function, fashion and fit team up to create a great athletic product for women just like Nicol who are “on the go” with no intent of slowing down! Nicol believes that life is THE ultra marathon and no matter how you approach it, your clothes should be able to “hang” no matter what!
Nicol currently stores her running sneakers, husband and two beautiful daughters in San Diego, California!
Why “DiRTY ReD”? Nicol’s mother-in-law loved to tell stories about her son and she would always laugh about how he would have temper tantrums as a kid, fall out on the floor and turn bright red! She would just look at him and say “Get up little ‘Dirty Red’!”.
