The surf-and-yoga apparel brand that turned soft technical fabric into a $5.5 billion business.
Vuori makes performance apparel designed to work as well on a trail run as it does at a coffee shop. Founded in 2015 by Joe Kudla, the company started with a narrow idea - versatile men's activewear built from soft, technical fabric - and expanded into a full men's and women's line sold online, in its own stores, and through retail partners.
The brand sits in the athleisure category, where athletic function meets everyday style. Its calling card is fabric: proprietary knits like DreamKnit and the Ponto line, engineered to feel soft while wicking moisture and stretching through movement. That focus on how a garment feels, rather than just how it performs, is central to how customers describe the product and why they come back.
Vuori's identity is rooted in the coastal Southern California lifestyle - surf, yoga, training and travel - and the company leans on that sensibility across its product design and marketing. The name itself, "Vuori," is Finnish for "mountain," a nod to founder Joe Kudla's affinity for the outdoors and a deliberate contrast to the beach-town brand it built.
Unlike many direct-to-consumer startups, Vuori embraced wholesale and physical retail early. REI tested the line in 2016, and placements at Nordstrom and Equinox followed. Today the company operates its own stores across the U.S. and select international markets, treating brick-and-mortar not as a cost but as a customer-acquisition channel.
Vuori's audience is the style-conscious active adult: runners, surfers, yogis, gym-goers and frequent travelers who want gear they can wear well beyond a workout. Where the athleisure category grew up around women's yoga wear, Vuori deliberately built a strong men's franchise first - opening whitespace many competitors overlooked - before expanding its women's collections.
With reported revenue north of $500 million, the brand reaches millions of customers across the U.S. and a growing set of international markets including the UK, France, Germany, Australia and Canada.
Kudla saw a gap: technical athletic wear was often stiff, over-branded, or too gym-specific, while comfortable casual clothing lacked performance. Vuori's answer is apparel that erases the line between the two - one garment that handles a workout, a flight, and a dinner without looking like activewear.
For a category crowded with logos and hype, the brand's bet is quieter: fabric quality and fit that earn repeat purchases rather than one-time impulse buys.
The brand's ultra-soft technical knit, used across joggers, pants, hoodies and tops for men and women.
Performance tees, polos, pants, shorts and joggers built from DreamKnit fabric for training and everyday wear.
Joggers, shorts, tees, quarter-zips and outerwear - the category that launched the brand in 2015.
Leggings, sports bras, matching sets and yoga wear, including the BlissBlend line.
Company-owned locations across the U.S. and select global markets, doubling as acquisition channels.
Direct-to-consumer shopping on a Shopify Plus storefront with global shipping.
Vuori is a vertically minded apparel brand that sells premium-priced activewear primarily direct-to-consumer - through its website and its own stores - and complements that with wholesale partnerships at Nordstrom, REI and Equinox. The DTC model preserves margin and customer data; wholesale and physical retail extend reach.
Crucially, the company reached profitability in its second year and stayed there, a discipline Kudla credits partly to his accounting background. When Vuori raised $825 million in 2024, much of it was a secondary tender for existing shareholders rather than cash the business needed to survive.
Against Lululemon, Alo Yoga, Nike and Athleta, Vuori competes on a softer-fabric story, a men's-first heritage, and a coastal-California identity rather than a fitness-studio one. It priced at a premium tier but leaned on repeat purchases driven by feel and fit.
Its early embrace of wholesale and stores - unusual for a digital-native brand - gave it distribution and physical touchpoints that many DTC peers never built.
$45M minority investment fuels early expansion.
$400M at roughly a $4B valuation.
$825M investment valuing Vuori at $5.5B.
Joe Kudla develops the concept for versatile men's performance apparel after leaving consulting.
Debuts as a direct-to-consumer men's activewear label in coastal Southern California.
Opens its first permanent store; REI begins testing the line.
Reaches profitability in its second year.
Raises $400M from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a ~$4B valuation.
Begins overseas expansion with a London flagship.
Raises $825M led by General Atlantic and Stripes; opens its 100th store.
Vuori's core expertise is textile development and fit. The DreamKnit and Ponto fabrics are the technical foundation the brand is best known for, and much of its repeat-purchase behavior traces back to how those materials feel and hold up. That fabric-first competence, paired with disciplined merchandising, lets the company command premium pricing.
In the broader market, Vuori occupies the premium athleisure tier alongside Lululemon, Alo Yoga and Athleta, and competes with performance-lifestyle upstarts like On, Rhone and Ten Thousand. Its differentiation - a men's-heavy heritage, a coastal identity, and an early multichannel strategy - has let it take share in a category once defined by the studio-yoga aesthetic.
The company also stands out for its financial posture. Where many venture-backed apparel brands scaled on losses, Vuori grew profitably, giving it optionality that competitors chasing growth at any cost lacked. Its 2024 raise, largely a secondary sale, underscored that its funding was a signal of confidence rather than a lifeline.
Looking ahead, the brand's expansion levers are physical retail - it aims to exceed 100 stores - and international growth across Europe, Australia and Canada, while deepening its women's business to balance a franchise that began with menswear.
Vuori designs performance apparel for men and women - joggers, leggings, tops, shorts, sports bras and outerwear - built from soft technical fabrics like DreamKnit that work for training, yoga, travel and everyday wear.
Joe Kudla founded Vuori in 2015 in coastal Southern California; the company is headquartered in Carlsbad, California.
Vuori was valued at $5.5 billion following an $825 million investment led by General Atlantic and Stripes in November 2024.
Vuori competes with Lululemon at a premium price point but differentiates through its soft-fabric focus, a strong men's franchise, and its coastal-California lifestyle positioning.
Through vuoriclothing.com, Vuori's own retail stores, and wholesale partners including Nordstrom, REI and Equinox.
Sources: Wikipedia, CNBC, Retail Dive, Business of Fashion, Forbes, General Atlantic, BusinessWire, Glossy. Figures are approximate where noted and reflect publicly reported information as of 2024-2025.