Annelle Beebe has always been ahead of the curve. She started making women’s athletic apparel in 1986 — when most sports gear was unisex — and today she is still pushing boundaries by using recycled fabrics in her clothing line.

In her 24 years as co-founder of Ojai International, Beebe has grown the clothing store from a kitchen-table business to a Ventura-based company with three locations and half a dozen representatives scattered across the United States.

Beebe and her partner, Julio Varela, switched the company’s focus from athletic apparel to environmentally friendly garments in the late 1980s. She was part of the first generation of people to use tencel, a cellulose-based textile that can mimic suede, leather or silk.

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