Underwear for real life, not the runway
When Joanna Griffiths pitched Knix in 2013, retailers didn't have a category for what she was selling. "Leakproof underwear" wasn't a shelf, a search term or a market - it was an idea about the way women's bodies actually work.
Griffiths, who had worked in media and marketing at CBC, Universal Music and the Toronto International Film Festival, launched Knix with a crowdfunding campaign and a single product: reusable underwear engineered to absorb periods, light bladder leaks, sweat and postpartum discharge without a pad in sight. The premise was blunt and, at the time, faintly taboo - women bleed, leak and change, and the intimates industry had spent decades pretending otherwise.
A decade later, that premise is a business. Knix describes itself as the #1 leakproof brand in North America, with a catalogue that now spans period and leakproof underwear, wireless bras, activewear, swimwear, shapewear, sleepwear and a teen line, KT by Knix. In 2022 the Swedish hygiene company Essity bought an 80% majority stake for $320 million USD - a deal widely reported as the largest exit by a Canadian female founder.
The scoreboard
Figures compiled from public sources including Essity, Forbes, The Globe and Mail and company statements. Valuation and revenue figures are approximate where not officially disclosed.
Our mission is to empower women to be unapologetically free.
The customer everyone else overlooked
Knix's customer is deliberately broad: women and teens navigating periods, postpartum recovery, perimenopause and everyday light bladder leaks - roughly half the population at some point in their lives. Instead of routing all of that toward disposable pads, liners and adult incontinence products, Knix builds the protection into apparel people were going to wear anyway.
The problems it addresses are ordinary and, until recently, rarely named out loud in a shopping context: the period that arrives early, the sneeze that betrays you after childbirth, the discharge and spotting between cycles, the sports bra that has to work during a run. Knix's answer is underwear, activewear and swimwear that absorb and hold, then wash and reuse - framed as both a comfort upgrade and a lower-waste alternative to single-use products.
Knix is underwear for real life and real women - who bleed and leak and whose bodies change with periods, pregnancy and age.
One idea, many garments
Leakproof & Period Underwear
The flagship: reusable, machine-washable underwear with built-in absorbency across multiple styles and flow levels - periods, sweat, light bladder leaks, postpartum and discharge.
Wireless & Evolution Bras
Wireless, seamless bras built for comfort and an unusually wide fit range, roughly 28A to 48H.
Leakproof Activewear
Leggings, shorts and tops with built-in protection for periods, light bladder leaks and sweat.
Leakproof Swimwear
Swimwear with discreet built-in period protection - including teen-specific styles.
Shapewear, Sleepwear & Apparel
Thigh Saver shorts, shapewear, sleepwear and everyday pieces designed around comfort and body inclusivity.
KT by Knix (Knixteen)
Period underwear, swim and activewear built specifically for teens experiencing their first cycles.
Direct, then everywhere
In 2016 Knix made the decision that shaped everything after it: pulling out of more than 800 wholesale retail locations to rebuild as a direct-to-consumer brand. Owning the customer relationship - and the data behind it - let a small Toronto company iterate on fabric, fit and messaging faster than the incumbents it was competing with.
Today the model is a hybrid. The core is DTC e-commerce running on Shopify Plus, supported by a growing fleet of branded retail stores across Canada and the US and selective wholesale partnerships with the likes of Target, Revolve and Free People. Loyalty programs, an ambassador network, bundles and heavy community engagement do the customer-acquisition work that a mission-led brand can pull off.
Channel weighting is illustrative, based on public descriptions of Knix's post-acquisition growth strategy - not disclosed revenue splits.
Knix vs the field
The leakproof category Knix helped create is now crowded - Thinx, Ruby Love, Proof, Aisle, Saalt, TomboyX and Confitex all compete for it, alongside broader intimates players like Aerie and the disposable products Knix set out to replace. Knix's edge is category breadth, inclusive sizing and a community-led brand that customers help design.
| Dimension | Knix | Typical competitor |
|---|---|---|
| Category role | Pioneered leakproof underwear | Followed into an existing category |
| Product range | Underwear, bras, activewear, swim, shapewear, teens | Often underwear-focused |
| Sizing | Bras ~28A-48H; broad body inclusivity | Frequently narrower ranges |
| Model | DTC + owned stores + wholesale | Mostly DTC or wholesale |
| Backing | Owned by Essity (global hygiene scale) | VC or independent |
Sitting between apparel and health
Knix's real expertise is fabric plus behaviour: engineering absorbent, leakproof, reusable materials, validating them through product safety testing, and then convincing customers to trust an apparel item with a job that pads and liners used to do. That combination - textile innovation and category education - is harder to copy than any single garment.
Strategically, Knix sits at the intersection of intimate apparel, women's health and sustainability. Essity's 2022 acquisition made that positioning explicit: a Fortune-scale hygiene company bought Knix specifically to lead the global market in leakproof apparel, pairing Knix's brand and product with Essity's manufacturing and distribution muscle. The bet is that reusable, wearable protection keeps taking share from disposables.
Attach yourself to a mission or cause that is bigger than you. It let me attract talent I never would have thought possible.
A decade in eight beats
Knix is founded in Toronto
Joanna Griffiths launches Knix with a crowdfunding campaign and a line of leakproof underwear.
The pivot to direct-to-consumer
Knix exits 800+ wholesale doors to rebuild as a DTC brand and own its customer relationships.
First institutional VC round
European investor Acton Capital leads Knix's first venture funding; KT by Knix launches for teens.
A $53M raise, days before twins
Griffiths closes a major growth round in March, three days before giving birth to twin daughters.
Essity buys the majority stake
Essity acquires 80% of Knix for $320M USD (valuing it near $400M); Griffiths keeps 20% and becomes President.
A decade of Knix
The brand marks ten years; Griffiths is named EY Entrepreneur of the Year Canada.
Recognition and expansion
Griffiths named Glossy Founder of the Year; Knix accelerates wholesale and retail store growth.
New product lines
Knix files for a 'SUPERPLUS LEAKPROOF' trademark and grows its store footprint toward 19 locations.
Things worth knowing
Twins & term sheets
Griffiths closed a $53M round three days before giving birth to twins - and turned away investors who doubted she could lead while pregnant.
Subtraction as strategy
Walking away from 800+ retail doors in 2016 felt like a step back. It was the move that set up everything after.
Two women to nine figures
Knix started as essentially a two-woman operation and ended in one of Canada's largest founder exits.
Designed with the crowd
Community-led design means customer feedback shapes fabrics and fits - the reviews are part of R&D.
Give-back built in
Knix has donated tens of thousands of bras to women in need through its giving initiatives.
Kept in Toronto
Even after selling the majority, Knix stayed Toronto-built with its founder still steering as President.
Quick answers
What does Knix make?
Reusable, machine-washable leakproof and period underwear, plus wireless bras, activewear, swimwear, shapewear and sleepwear - all with inclusive sizing, built for periods, postpartum, bladder leaks and everyday comfort.
Who founded Knix and when?
Knix was founded in 2013 in Toronto by Joanna Griffiths, who remains involved as President after the company's 2022 acquisition.
Did Knix get acquired?
Yes. In 2022 Swedish hygiene company Essity acquired an 80% majority stake for $320M USD, valuing Knix at roughly $400M - reported as the largest exit by a Canadian female founder. Griffiths retained 20%.
How is Knix different from Thinx and others?
Knix pioneered the leakproof category, built a strongly community-led DTC brand, offers unusually inclusive sizing, and expanded well beyond underwear into bras, activewear, swimwear and teens.
Are Knix products reusable?
Yes. Knix underwear is fully machine-washable and reusable, designed to replace disposable menstrual and incontinence products.