Cause capital investor The Craftory takes a stake in TomboyX
The Cause: Champion Self-Esteem, Progress Society.
TomboyX exists at the confluence of two progressive trends in fashion and apparel: Ever increasing choice of size, and increasing approval of genderqueer identity and style.
TomboyX designs for real human bodies: Kings, Queens and everyone in between. This is a brand that rejects binary beauty myths to create an aesthetic of comfort, confidence and self-expression. In place of toxic perfection, there’s a celebration of what makes us uniquely beautiful. This is high performance, fairly made, eco-sustainable baselayer, free from body-shaming and sexual objectification. It’s a lot, all of it good.
TomboyX is a great business whose proudly queer roots and human design aesthetic are strongly in-sync with mainstream cultural change:
These days the majority of Americans don’t wear “regular” sizes.
- http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.BMI25Cv
- https://www.esquire.com/style/a56297/big-and-tall-plus-size-mens-clothing/
- https://www.racked.com/2018/6/5/17380662/size-numbers-average-woman-plus-market
According to research firm The NPD Group the female apparel market beyond xs and xl was worth $21.4bn in the US alone in 2016. Its Future of Apparel report also projects growth in the non-sport bra segment outside of simple sizing, which it describes as “underserved”.
- https://www.npd.com/latest-reports/future-of-apparel/
And, the dominance of an exclusively hetero outlook is diminishing: Research by JWT Innovation Group claims that just 48% of genZers see themselves as exclusively straight.
- https://www.jwtintelligence.com/2016/03/gen-z-goes-beyond-gender-binaries-in-new-innovation-group-data/
The Deal
The Craftory is investing $18m into TomboyX as part of the Company’s Series B funding round. The Craftory will become the Company’s largest shareholder. The Company intends to use the funds to invest in product development and brand-related campaigns. The Craftory directors will join the Board, alongside fashion industry veteran Pauline Brown, who represents Series A investor TAU Investment Management.
About TomboyX
TomboyX was founded in 2012, in Seattle Washington, by Fran Dunaway and Naomi Gonzalez: Two tomboys who’d grown tired of underwear that didn’t fit or reflect their self-image.
TomboyX’s human agenda emerged quickly: Underwear that anybody could feel comfortable in, regardless of where they fell on the size or gender spectrum. Followed by an equally powerful attitude: “What’s more human than being exactly, brazenly, no apologies who you were born to be?”
When it comes to comfort across a broad range of silhouettes and sizes it’s not enough to simply scale-up regular sample sizes: TomboyX’s underwear is fit-tested on hundreds of bodies, from size XS-4X, regardless of gender.
TomboyX’s products are manufactured in an eco-friendly and human-friendly way using non-toxic, high-performance fabrics, in factories that treat employees fairly and pay a living wage.
The result is a suite of products that exude confidence and inclusivity whilst also meeting serious eco-sustainability standards.
