Adore Me is a New York-based intimates brand that set out in 2011 to sell well-made bras and lingerie at prices a student could afford, and ended up rewriting how the category is merchandised. Founded by Harvard MBA Morgan Hermand-Waiche, the company paired a wide size range (30-46 bands, A-I cups) with a monthly membership, an at-home try-on box, and an unusually large in-house engineering group in New York and Bucharest that built roughly 15 internal tools for planning, sourcing, and personalization. It reached an estimated $250 million in sales and more than 1.2 million active customers before Victoria's Secret & Co. acquired it in a deal announced November 2022 at $400 million cash upfront plus earnouts, closing January 2023. Adore Me became the only US lingerie brand certified as a B Corporation in 2022. Under its parent it has since narrowed: the founder departed in August 2025, the VIP subscription that defined the model ended in February 2026, and Victoria's Secret recorded a $120 million impairment on the business that same quarter.
Beyond Yoga is a Culver City, California activewear and athleisure brand founded in 2005 by Jodi Guber Brufsky and Michelle Wahler. Built around a body-positive, size-inclusive philosophy (XXS to 3X) and its signature buttery-soft Spacedye fabric, the female-founded label makes leggings, sports bras, loungewear, and lifestyle apparel designed to move from studio to street. Acquired by Levi Strauss & Co. in 2021 for roughly $400 million, Beyond Yoga has grown past $100 million in annual revenue and is expanding its physical retail footprint under CEO Nancy Green.
FULLBEAUTY Brands is a New York-based online retailer and holding company dedicated to plus-size and extended-size fashion for women and men. Tracing its roots to 1901, it operates a portfolio of 15+ brands - including Woman Within, Roaman's, Catherines, Jessica London, ELOQUII, CUUP, Swimsuits For All, KingSize, Avenue, Dia & Co and BrylaneHome - serving customers in sizes 12 and up with apparel, intimates, swimwear, shoes, accessories, beauty and home goods. Once a catalog mail-order pioneer, the company now positions itself as a digital-first destination and marketplace for inclusive fashion.
Knix is a Toronto-based direct-to-consumer intimate apparel company that pioneered the leakproof underwear category. Founded in 2013 by Joanna Griffiths, it designs machine-washable, reusable period and leakproof underwear, bras, activewear, swimwear and shapewear built for the realities of menstruation, bladder leaks, postpartum and body changes. Known for size-inclusive design and a mission to empower women to be 'unapologetically free,' Knix grew into the #1 leakproof brand in North America and was acquired by Swedish hygiene giant Essity in 2022 in what was reported as the largest exit by a Canadian female founder.
Lands' End is an American classics apparel and home retailer founded in 1963 as a mail-order sailing-gear business and now headquartered in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. It sells timeless clothing, swimwear, outerwear, footwear and home textiles directly to consumers through its website and catalogs, and outfits more than 70,000 businesses, organizations and schools through its Outfitters and School Uniform units. Publicly traded on Nasdaq (LE), the company generated roughly $1.3 billion in annual net revenue and is known for its unconditional 'Guaranteed. Period.' promise and its cult-favorite monogrammed canvas tote.
Torrid is a California-based direct-to-consumer retailer of plus-size women's apparel and intimates, designing trend-driven clothing in sizes 10 to 30. Launched in 2001 as a Hot Topic concept and public on the NYSE since 2021 under ticker CURV, the brand pairs a digitally led e-commerce business with a fleet of specialty stores, and builds fit authority by developing garments on live plus-size fit models rather than grading up smaller patterns.
Paragon Fitwear is a direct-to-consumer women's activewear brand from Ada, Michigan, best known for Sculptseam - a patented hidden-scrunch seam that shapes the glutes without an obvious ruched look. Started in a garage in 2013, the brand builds performance leggings, shorts, sports bras and loungewear around proprietary fabrics like RecStretch, UltraLux and the recycled Reluna, and sells almost entirely online to women who lift.
Margaux is a New York-based, female-founded footwear brand making handcrafted women's shoes in a family-owned Spanish factory. Co-founded in 2015 by Harvard friends Alexa Buckley and Sarah Pierson, the brand is built around a simple idea most of the industry ignored: women should not have to choose between a shoe that fits and a shoe they love. Margaux offers one of the widest size ranges in the business (roughly US 3-14) across narrow, medium and wide widths, plus a fit concierge - turning sizing into a service rather than a compromise. Its bestseller, The Demi ballet flat, has racked up thousands of glowing reviews and a Vogue following.