Ty Haney, the woman who brought you exercise dresses, has returned to her athleisure company, Outdoor Voices, as a partner and co-owner ahead of today’s launch of the first collection of her new tenure.
“We’re back, baby,” Haney said in a reel posted to OV’s Instagram last week. The original outdoor voice said she started working with OV again late last year, soon after a private equity firm bought the struggling brand and asked Haney to come home.
It’s a full-circle moment on an overall bumpy ride for OV:
- The DTC brand peaked in 2018, five years after its founding, with legions of millennial fans and a $110 million valuation.
- Its valuation dropped to $40 million in early 2020. The board of directors then pushed Haney out as CEO amid highly publicized quarreling.
- OV reported its first profitable month soon after for June 2020, but the overhaul didn’t last—OV shuttered all of its stores last year before accepting an acquisition offer to avoid bankruptcy.
Now… Haney recently told Texas Monthly that she wants to court Gen Z with more “fashion-forward and sexy” activewear. Her return comes at a time when everybody—including high fashion—is doing athleisure, and direct competitors like Vuori and Alo are gaining ground.—ML
This report was originally published by Morning Brew.