KNOXVILLE, Tenn — For a Knoxville company -- 10 years of hard work landed its brand on the international stage. OZONE Leotards is now a part of Olympic history.
"When we turn the TV on, and we're watching her and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, like this is it.' It's kind of emotional, you kind of think back over all the years," said Leah Brown, the creative director for OZONE.
Leah Brown knows this success was not achieved overnight, but through plenty of hard work.
"It took us a while to kind of get the fit perfect. We didn't want to launch into the market until, you know, we had exactly what we wanted to put out there," she said.
She spent a decade trying to figure out what would work, knowing that someday they'd find their niche.
"In about 2009 to 2010, we kind of realized that in the market, there was an opening for something new and different," she said.
The company would build its leotard brand through unusual places of motivation.
"We get our inspiration from prom dresses, from ice skating, you know, just what's different. And you know, what's on trend," she said.
When American Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin reached out to them, it launched the company's brand on a national stage, which opened the door to OZONE becoming an official sponsor for Team Brazil in 2016.
"If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have been on that Olympic stage. You know, it had to it was a definite start from the beginning and you got to work your way to the top" she said.
With a Brazil gymnast landing a gold and silver medal -- OZONE found itself on the podium.
"You're like, wow, we came from trying to figure out how to make a leotard fit and now you're watching it on, you know, national television or, gosh, international television, see Olympic Games," Brown said.
Now seeing their brand on the biggest sports stage in the world, Brown has a message to those striving to make it.
"You just have to keep in mind that it definitely takes a village," she said.
The company said its next goal is to hopefully be able to make leotards for the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team in the 2024 Olympics.