Outdoor Voices, an active outdoor apparel company started in 2012, has raised $1.1 million in seed funding from General Catalyst Partners, Collaborative Fund, Red Sea Ventures, SWTLF Ventures, and Burch Creative Capital.
Outdoor Voices will use funding to quintuple its styles and expand its production and marketing efforts. It expects to grow its team from 12 to 20 by 2016.
“Outdoor Voices is going after a huge opportunity in the activewear market,” said Nicolas Jammet, the co-founder and co-CEO of Sweetgreen, who has joined Outdoor Voices as a board director.
Founded in 2012 by Boulder, CO native Tyler Haney, Outdoor Voices is headquartered in SoHo in New York City and opened its first store in Austin, Texas in October, 2014.
“We’re flipping performance activewear on its head,” explains Haney, a 26-year-old graduate of the Parsons School of Design who serves as Outdoor Voices CEO. “To us, Activity isn’t about fierce competition, it’s about living a healthy, happy life as part of a larger community.”
Outdoor Voices derives 95 percent of its revenue selling direct to consumers via its website and a store it opened in Austin, Texas in October, 2014. Sales grew 10 fold in 2014 and are on pace to grow 400 percent this year. Twenty percent of sales come from pre-packaged kits, which consist of three to four clothing items. The company reports 70 percent of its customers are 25 to 34 years of age.
“Our role models are artists and creators, not professional athletes,” said Outdoor Voice President Andrew Parietti, 27. “Our clothes are designed to reflect that attitude.”
