Milton Keynes family sets up business designing gym wear specially for Sikhs

A fitness-loving family from MK have set up their own sustainable gym wear business, designing clothes especially for Sikhs.

Davinder Shergill, his wife Naminder and sons Arun and Jeevan designed the products themselves and launched their own brand called RAUR – and so far its initial range is proving a real success.

Already they are sponsoring British boxer Dylan Cheema as well as The Sikh Games. Dylan is training in the RAUR shirts, which are made of special fabric that ensures sweat does not stick to the wearer.

And in April the Shergill family was invited to the FA’s first ever Vaisakhi event to showcase their products at Wembley stadium.

The name RAUR is a cross between Kaur and roar, and is a nod to Singhs and Kaurs. Their slogan is: ‘When we train, we RAUR!’ said Davinder.

“Like many Sikhs the gym is a regular destination and a source of both physical development and mental wellbeing. It was here we saw people from all walks of life wearing a whole range of varying gym clothing,” he said.

"However, we didn’t feel the clothing really represented us as Sikhs, and this was a gap we wanted to plug.”

But the business hit a snag at one of the first stages – when Jaguar Cars lodged an objection to their logo.

"Using our Sikh designers, we developed our logo and navigated the route to trademark it. Would you believe we had an objection from Jaguar – it looked too similar to theirs, said Davinder.

“We weren’t sure about that but didn’t feel our pockets were big enough to double check. So we revisited the logo and with a blend of Singh, Kaur and Roar we now have the live logo, successfully trademarked.”

There followed another setback when Davinder suffered a heart attack. But he was wearing one of the RAUR tops and believes the compression helped with his circulation, preventing the damage from being too severe.

“The NHS were brilliant and I'm so lucky,” he said.

Physical fitness and sports have always been associated with Sikhism. As a family, the Shergills tried to adopt this, with both Davinder and Naminder qualifying as FA football coaches while their children were young.

"In recent years the children have taken this on by working out in the gym and with long distance running,” said Davinder.

With Maharaj’s Kirpa (God’s grace), while we have our health, we are and want to remain very active – not least because some of us really enjoy langar (the free kitchen/food you have in a Sikh Gurdwara)!”

So far the RAUR range comprises of unisex Short Sleeve T-shirts, women's leggings and women's sports bra tops, but many more products are planned.

Davinder said: “It’s exciting times! And the opportunity to work with The Sikh Games is wonderful and not one that we wanted to pass by. So here we are. The next few months will be very busy, but we can’t wait to bring RAUR to market.”

You can follow the company on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or Facebook.