Encinitas athleisure brand, Vuori, is now worth about $5.5 billion after landing an $825 million investment to support the growing company.
The infusion of funds announced Friday was led by global growth investment firms General Atlantic and Stripes.
The local brand has built a loyal following since its founding in 2015. Vuori is known for its luscious fabric and stylish cuts for sweatsuits, shorts and other apparel that can be worn from yoga class to running errands.
“We have followed Vuori for many years, as Joe and the team have thoughtfully built an enduring, generational, and category-defining brand,” said Andrew Ferrer, managing director at General Atlantic, who is also joining the company’s board. “Vuori has significant whitespace to expand globally, supported by long-term tailwinds in athleisure and a large addressable market across women’s and men’s activewear apparel.”
The last major investment for Vuori was in 2021 when institutional investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2 committed $400 million, bringing the company’s valuation to $4 billion.
Athleisure brands as a whole enjoyed healthy sales growth during the pandemic, arguably because many people traded in their work slacks for sweatpants.
Though Vuori is still small compared to the likes of popular brands, Lululemon Athletica – which is valued at about $39 billion – and Alo Yoga, its star is rising. In an interview with CNBC on Monday, Joe Kudla, CEO and founder of Vuori discussed the growth trajectory of the business.
“We started our business 10 years ago in a garage with a little friends and family investment, and we were profitable by 2017,” said Kudla, who is a former Ernst & Young accountant and worked for a few years after college as a model, sparking his interest in the apparel business.
The company started as a digital first, direct-to-consumer brand and that remains a key part of the company’s strategy, Kudla explained to CNBC. He said online is still its biggest single point of distribution to customers, but the physical stores offer shoppers exposure to a variety of products.
Vuori’s prices are similar to other athleisure brands and reflect its upscale offerings with pants and leggings, for example, hovering around $100 and up. The sales are run directly through Vuori or via its retail partners such as Nordstrom and REI Co-op.
In 2022, Vuori began a major international expansion and opened its first brick-and-mortar stores outside of the United States. Today, the brand has 79 global retail stores and is available in 18 countries with shops in the United Kingdom, China and Korea.
The company plans to open more than 100 locations by 2026, as it focuses on expansion in Europe and Asia.
“We aren’t planting flags just for growth’s sake,” Kudla told CNBC. “We want to meet the customer where they are, we want to develop authentic connections with customers and introduce them to incredible quality products. That’s been the recipe that’s made us successful and that will continue to be the strategy as we march forward bringing the business to more markets across the globe.”