sportswear
(16)
The Brazilian Shoe Giant That Learned to Run Three Brands at Once
Vulcabras owns Brazil's homegrown running champion and operates two global names. Its real product is the machine behind them - research, factories, retail reach and a feel for the Brazilian athlete.
Bandit Running
Bandit Running is a Brooklyn-born, community-first performance running brand founded in 2020 by Tim and Nick West with designer Ardith Singh. Starting with a single pair of cushioned running socks packed by hand, Bandit grew through New York run clubs into a full head-to-toe running apparel line - shorts, tights, singlets, sports bras, socks and lifestyle wear - sold direct-to-consumer. The brand is known for co-designing product with its running community, high social engagement, and The Unsponsored Project, which backs professional runners without shoe deals. Bandit raised a $14.25M Series A in 2023.
Beyond Yoga
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.
Fabletics
Fabletics is a membership-based activewear brand founded in 2013 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. Built on a VIP subscription model that pairs monthly credits with data-driven personalization, it sells women's and men's activewear, footwear, swimwear, loungewear, and medical scrubs across e-commerce and 120+ retail stores. In 2025 the company crossed $1 billion in annual revenue with more than 3 million active customers, roughly 2.7 million of them VIP members.
Foot Locker
Foot Locker, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories, connecting sneaker culture and sports lifestyle to consumers through roughly 2,400 stores across about 20 countries plus digital channels. Founded in 1974 as a division of the Kinney Shoe Corporation, the company operates a portfolio of banners - Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS, and atmos - and built its reputation on exclusive product launches, close ties to brands like Nike, and its striped, referee-styled store associates. In September 2025, Foot Locker was acquired by DICK'S Sporting Goods in a roughly $2.4 billion deal, becoming a subsidiary while retaining its brand banners.
JD Finish Line
JD Finish Line is the North American athletic footwear and apparel arm of UK-based JD Sports Fashion plc. Founded in Indianapolis in 1976 and built into a national sneaker chain under the Finish Line name, the business was acquired by JD Sports in 2018 for about $558 million. It sells premium multi-branded athletic footwear, apparel and accessories through Finish Line stores, Finish Line shop-in-shops inside more than 450 Macy's department stores, a growing fleet of JD-branded stores, and the finishline.com e-commerce platform. As of 2025 JD Sports is retiring the standalone Finish Line mall banner in favor of the JD nameplate while keeping the Finish Line brand alive inside Macy's.
New Balance
New Balance is a privately held, family-owned athletic footwear and apparel company founded in Boston in 1906. Originally a maker of arch supports and orthopedic shoes, it grew into one of the world's largest sportswear brands, known for its running shoes, the iconic 990 and 574 sneakers, its unusual commitment to domestic manufacturing in the US and UK, and a strategy of being 'the best, not the biggest.' The company reported roughly $9.2 billion in 2025 sales and competes globally with Nike, Adidas and others across running, lifestyle, basketball, tennis, baseball and soccer.
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company, headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and his former runner Phil Knight, it was renamed Nike in 1971 after the Greek goddess of victory. Nike designs, markets and sells footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories under the Nike, Jordan and Converse brands, reaching consumers through wholesale partners and a growing direct-to-consumer business of retail stores, apps and Nike.com. With roughly $46.3 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue and about 80,000 employees, Nike sits at the center of global sport culture, backed by decades of athlete endorsements, the Swoosh logo and the 'Just Do It' slogan.
NOBULL
NOBULL is a Boston-based direct-to-consumer athletic brand that designs minimalist, durability-focused footwear and apparel for training and daily life. Founded in 2015 by two former Reebok executives, it built its reputation on no-nonsense CrossFit trainers before expanding into running, lifestyle apparel and nutrition. Now co-owned by entrepreneur Mike Repole and Tom Brady, the brand carries a reported $1 billion valuation.
On
On is a Swiss performance sportswear company founded in Zurich in 2010 that designs premium running shoes, apparel, and accessories. Built around its patented CloudTec cushioning - a sole of hollow rubber pods engineered to feel like 'running on clouds' - On grew from a specialty-running startup into a NYSE-listed brand (ticker ONON) with roughly $3.3 billion in projected 2025 revenue. Backed by tennis great Roger Federer since 2019, it competes with Nike, Adidas, and Hoka through design-led innovation, a fast-growing direct-to-consumer business, and manufacturing bets like robot-sprayed LightSpray uppers.
Peter Millar
Peter Millar is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based luxury lifestyle apparel brand founded in 2001 around a single cashmere sweater. It has grown into a full men's and women's collection spanning tailored clothing, sportswear, resort wear and technical golf apparel, sold through its own retail stores, e-commerce site, and premium wholesale channels such as golf pro shops and department stores. Owned by Swiss luxury group Richemont since 2012, Peter Millar pairs classic American style with performance fabrication and also operates the golf-lifestyle brand G/FORE, which it acquired in 2018.
Q4 Designs LLC
Q4 Designs LLC is a New York-based apparel company that designs, sources, produces and manages branded outerwear and sportswear on behalf of well-known brand partners. Founded in 2011 by Harry Tawil and built on more than five decades of combined industry experience, Q4 handles the full product life cycle - design, sourcing and production, planning and sales, and operations - across four Centers of Excellence. Its licensed portfolio spans brands including DKNY, Reebok, Jessica Simpson, Steve Madden, Free Country, Bebe, Canada Weathergear, Snozu and Spyder, covering men's, women's and children's outerwear, sportswear, swimwear and accessories.
Rhone
Rhone is a Stamford, Connecticut premium performance apparel brand founded in 2014, best known for pioneering men's activewear that bridges the gym, the office and everyday life. Built around proprietary technical fabrics and its signature Commuter collection, Rhone sells direct-to-consumer online and through a growing retail footprint while championing men's mental health through its Mind & Muscle events and partnerships with the NBA and LPGA.
Saucony
Saucony is one of America's oldest athletic footwear brands, founded in 1898 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and named after the nearby Saucony Creek. A subsidiary of Wolverine World Wide, the company designs performance running shoes and apparel for runners of every level, from race-day carbon-plated racers to everyday trainers and rugged trail shoes. Known for cushioning technologies like PWRRUN, PWRRUN PB and EVERUN and for the popular Endorphin, Triumph, Kinvara and Peregrine franchises, Saucony pairs a 125-plus-year manufacturing heritage with modern biomechanical design, while heritage models like the Jazz and Shadow have crossed over into streetwear and lifestyle fashion.
SNIPES
SNIPES is a global sneaker and streetwear retailer founded in Germany in 1998 and owned by the Deichmann Group. It sells footwear, apparel and accessories from brands like Nike, Jordan, adidas and New Balance across roughly 750 stores in the US and Europe plus its e-commerce sites, and positions itself as a culture-first brand tied to hip-hop, sport, music and youth communities.
Malbon Golf
Malbon Golf is a Los Angeles-founded golf lifestyle brand that fuses streetwear, art, and music with the sport. Started in 2017 by married co-founders Stephen and Erica Malbon on Fairfax Avenue, it built a cult following through its Buckets Club smiley-face logo, oversized apparel, and high-profile collaborations with adidas, New Balance, Jimmy Choo, and the Keith Haring estate. With ambassadors like Jason Day and a members-only Buckets Club community, Malbon reframes golf as youthful, inclusive, and culturally connected - and grew to roughly $67M in 2025 revenue.