Pickleball/tennis apparel company, Edara, born and raised in Park City

Local business Edara Apparel shoots to dress Park City and the world's tennis and pickleball players. Photo: courtesy of Edara Apparel

PARK CITY, Utah —Laura Nunnelly, owner and founder of the Edara Apparel company based in Park City, hopes the tennis and pickleball clothes are a hit with women athletes everywhere.

Nunnelly’s business philosophy encompasses the following, “Much of sport is a microcosm of life, from which we can learn so much about ourselves and each other. Edara Apparel embraces all angles of sport, especially the fashion bit and how it relates to a women’s sense of confidence on the court. When you look good and feel comfortable in what you are wearing, you can be the best athletic—and authentic— version of yourself.”

They sell dresses, sports bras, and sport specific headwear online. The name of the company is a smash up of she and her husband’s two daughter’s names, Edith and Clara, who both attend elementary school at Trailside.

Edara began one year ago at Nunnelly’s Park City kitchen table.  That was one year after moving to town with her husband and children from California. She saw a rise in participation in pickleball by both women and men, she also saw a niche which needed filling. 

After recovering from a melanoma scare a couple of years prior, she started seeking out and wearing tennis clothes to the court that provided as much coverage for sun protection as possible while simultaneously being able to serve, receive, and volley with no encumbrance of restrictive materials. 

Her art history background gave her the skills she utilized at that kitchen table for design, drawing, sketching, and sewing. Her background in real estate sales gave her the skills she utilized in marketing and ecommerce. And her background in tennis gave her the skills she utilized as the fit-model documenting the pros and cons of each first batch in real time. 

The pandemic dictated that those first fittings had to happen on Zoom after garments would get sent to her for measurements meetings. “Each dress took six or seven rounds of fittings, it seems surreal that we did all that over screens. It’s important to me that my clothes are made in the USA so the calls were only from Los Angeles.”

One-piece dresses are the signature item from Edara for the interchangeability of tennis and pickleball apparel. Those dresses, Nunnelly explained, which are meant to look like a two-piece, are “feminine, flattering and functional, creating one less thing to think about, one and done, simply step on the court feeling confident with no fidgeting, no pulling.”

They have hem grips with gummy elastic on the underside of shorts with ball storage pockets, and sweat wikking for high performance. 

Nunnelly told TownLift, “Tennis has been a passion of mine, really blossoming in my adulthood. Sports have always been a thru line in my life. Tennis was always the one hour a week whereby I didn’t answer client calls and maybe this then side hustle is now the main event.”

Her daughters play tennis at the M.A.R.C. in Park City and they love it so much they keep asking when they’re going to start making children’s sized clothes, which may actually be sooner than later.

She said, “I know that I don’t know everything, as a busy working mom, but I’m content that this fun company is growing at my own pace, thanks to all my loyal customers.”