swimwear
(17)
VENUS made room for a better fit.
A bodybuilding supplier spotted a problem hiding in the bikini: two halves rarely need the same size. That small insight became the foundation of a women’s fashion business.
Solid & Striped found its future in someone else’s suitcase
A pair of old swim trunks started the company. Women shoppers, well-chosen collaborators and a wardrobe beyond the beach gave it somewhere to go.
Fleur du Mal makes underwear worth wearing out
Jennifer Zuccarini built a fashion label around a mischievous proposition: the best thing under your clothes might deserve an audience. Keeping that proposition alive required some decidedly unromantic lessons in cash, fit and restraint.
Iris Yen
Iris Yen is the Chief Marketing Officer of Cupshe, the California-founded swimwear and beachwear brand that grew from a single-category bet into a global direct-to-consumer business with roughly $420 million in annual revenue. She joined in February 2025 after a run through some of the loudest brand-building rooms in the business: Head of Media, Content and Partnerships at Nike; VP and Head of Media, Strategy and Audiences at Red Bull; VP and Head of Communications at GUESS?, Inc.; VP of Communications at American Eagle Outfitters; and VP of Global Marketing and PR at Quiksilver. She started in music, running marketing and PR at Universal Records in the early 2000s, and has built campaigns around names including Britney Spears, Nelly, Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk and Torah Bright. A Washington University in St. Louis graduate who studied anthropology alongside marketing, Yen tends to treat brands as cultures rather than catalogs - a habit visible in Cupshe's 10th-anniversary work, its fourth Miami Swim Week runway show, and its 2026 Casa del Sol collaboration with Jessie James Decker.
Adore Me
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.
Cupshe
Cupshe is a California-inspired, direct-to-consumer beachwear brand for women that sells trendy, affordable swimwear, bikinis, cover-ups, activewear and loungewear. Founded in 2015 by former Alibaba CEO David Wei, the internet-first label pairs a Shopify-powered DTC website and app with a strong Amazon presence, reaching millions of customers across more than 100 countries. Known for vibrant prints, size-inclusive fits and $15-$30 price points, Cupshe grew into a roughly $150M-plus swimwear business and has expanded into recycled, GRS-certified sustainable collections.
Edikted
Edikted is a Los Angeles-based, Gen Z-focused online fashion brand founded in 2020 by former Adika executives Dedy Shwartzenberg and Zvika Alon. It sells trend-led, affordable women's apparel and accessories - dresses, denim, tops, swimwear and more - and rose to prominence through viral TikTok marketing. After starting online-only, Edikted has expanded into physical retail, opening flagship stores in major U.S. malls and moving into Europe, positioning itself as a curated, community-driven alternative to ultra-fast-fashion players like Shein and Temu.
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.
Free People
Free People is a Philadelphia-based bohemian lifestyle brand for women, part of Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN). Rooted in the counterculture store that Dick Hayne opened near Penn's campus in 1970 and relaunched as a wholesale label in 1984, it now sells eclectic, vintage-influenced apparel, accessories, shoes, intimates and beauty across its own boutiques, wholesale accounts and freepeople.com. Its fast-growing activewear spin-off, FP Movement, has made Free People URBN's second-largest brand, with roughly $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
FULLBEAUTY Brands
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.
Hello Molly
Hello Molly is an Australian online women's fashion retailer founded in Sydney in 2012 by university graduate Echo Liu. It sells trend-led, affordable dresses, occasionwear, swimwear, tops, bottoms, rompers, shoes and accessories directly to a global, mostly Gen-Z and millennial audience, releasing over 100 new styles a week. Built on data-driven trend-spotting, in-house design and heavy use of social media and influencer marketing, the company grew from a A$50,000 loan into a business exceeding A$100 million in annual revenue, with roughly half of sales coming from the United States.
Lands' End
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.
Outcast
Outcast is a Gold Coast-born, direct-to-consumer women's fashion label founded in 2014 by Lawrence Lees and Paris Marchant. It started selling bikinis on Instagram and grew into a global online boutique known for edgy party, festival and going-out clothing. After spotting sales spikes around US festivals like Coachella, the brand built a Los Angeles headquarters and now generates roughly 80% of its sales from the US, with more than a million social followers and an influencer-driven marketing model.
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.
Shinesty
Shinesty is a Boulder-born, Denver-based direct-to-consumer apparel brand built around one idea: make the world take itself less seriously. Best known for its cheekily named Ball Hammock pouch underwear and Boob Hammock bralettes, the company pairs proprietary soft fabrics and a supportive pouch design with an irreverent brand voice and outrageous themed party clothing. Founded in 2014 by University of Colorado Boulder friends, Shinesty has sold more than 12 million pairs of underwear, runs a monthly underwear subscription, and landed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing U.S. companies.
Title Nine
Title Nine is a women-owned outdoor and active apparel brand founded in 1989 by Missy Park and named after the Title IX law that opened school sports to women. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, it designs and sells sports bras, activewear, swimwear, and outdoor clothing built specifically for women's bodies. What began as a Bay Area mail-order catalog has grown into an estimated $100M direct-to-consumer and retail business - the largest independently owned retailer of women's fitness clothing - staffed overwhelmingly by women athletes and led by an all-women executive team. Alongside apparel, Title Nine has invested heavily in female entrepreneurs through its annual Pitchfest competitions.
Lori Coulter
Lori Coulter is the co-founder, CEO, and President of Summersalt, the St. Louis-based direct-to-consumer swimwear and apparel brand built on data from 1.5 million body measurements. She turned a pre-teen concession stand hustle into a generation-defining brand that has sold over 4 million garments, raised $30M+, and landed in Vogue, Elle, and Forbes. She now serves as an Operator Advisor at Redbud VC and adjunct faculty at Washington University's Olin Business School, championing equitable venture funding for female founders.