Golden Globe-winning actress Kate Hudson recently celebrated an anniversary. Fabletics, the e-commerce activewear brand she co-founded, turned three years old this month.
“It is an exciting time for our company,” Hudson said at Coins2Day’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, California. They celebrated by blowing candles out on top of a cake.
Fabletics has a large digital audience, but perhaps most importantly to Hudson, the company sees itself as selling workout gear that’s accessible to everyone—from the fitness fanatic to the most casual of athletes.
“We wanted it to be all inclusive,” Hudson said. That includes offering a wide range of sizing, which the company expanded this year so that so that more women could wear the brand’s clothes. “People don’t look to make things for women who are a bit bigger,” Hudson added. “I’m really excited for that.”
The brand, which started as a subscription-based retailer but has since expanded into brick-and-mortar, has booked an annual revenue run rate of $250 million. After a little over 15 months in business, it reported shipments of more than 1 million orders. The company also diversified by offering a men’s line in June 2015. Like most celebrity-backed startups, Fabletics has also faced some criticism. Reports have implied it can be tough to cancel the service, and even A-lister Cher isn’t a fan.
Fabletics is one of a slew of startups that have aimed to tackle the burgeoning “athleisure” trend, which has taken off the past several years as comfortable and athletic clothes are deemed increasingly on-trend from a fashion perspective. Sales of activewear jumped 12% last year in the U.S. To nearly $40 billion, while sales of non-activewear fashion apparel were roughly flat over the same period, according to research firm the NPD Group.
Hudson is one of a slew of celebrities who have jumped onto the activewear bandwagon. Beyond Fabletics, there’s Beyoncé’s Ivy Park, Carrie Underwood’s CALIA and just this week, a new line by Academy Award-winning actress Hillary Swank. At the same time, traditional athletic-gear makers are increasingly working with celebrities who aren’t professional athletes as a new way to connect with consumers. Those partnerships include Adidas-Kanye West and Puma-Rihanna.
Hudson says Fabletics made inroads because it started with the basics: leggings. “We perfected that right off the bat,” she claims. These days, the fashion line range includes “pretty much everything.” Hudson stresses that the focus is still on fitness, thus insuring the apparel has enough room to breathe for a variety of workouts.
When asked what sports she plays herself, Hudson said she prefers aerobics, ending the session saying, “I love to dance”—while wearing Fabletics gear, presumably.