Outdoor Voices is an American clothing company founded in 2013 by Tyler Haney in New York City. Headquartered in Austin, it designs and sells women's and men's athletic apparel. The company's clothing, shoes, and accessories are sold online and at its stores in New York City, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Aspen, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Nashville, and Houston. On February 25, 2020 Haney tendered her resignation, and Cliff Moskowitz, the president of a fashion-oriented private equity firm, took over as interim CEO.
History
Formation
Tyler Haney grew up in Boulder, Colorado and later moved to New York. She calls herself the “ultimate tomboy”, having found enjoyment in playing basketball, soccer, and running track. Haney grew up “sports-focused” and initially was planning to run hurdles in college. Instead, she decided after graduation that she would take a year off of school and decided to move to the East Coast. Haney graduated from New York City's Parsons School of Design in 2012. Haney started Outdoor Voices in 2013. In early 2014, J. Crew selected the Outdoor Voices line for its stores’ "Brands We Love" sections after the line was featured in a London boutique, Garbstore. The company's first store opened in Austin in October 2014. Its first pop-up shop opened in Manhattan in 2015. The company was known initially for their "kits," which included a collection of tops and bottoms that could be mixed and matched for a bundled price. Over time, Outdoor Voices raised over $9.5 million from investors like General Catalyst Partners, which also has tech giants like Airbnb and Snapchat in its portfolio. In 2016, Haney decided to move to Austin, Texas to focus on building a new and a bigger headquarters for the company and hired more employees including some of Haney's friends from high school. Mickey Drexler, the former CEO of Gap Inc. and J. Crew Group, Inc., became the company's chairman of the boardin the summer of 2017.
Recent News
The company hosts a running club called “O.V. Joggers Club” where individuals can come together and meet at the Outdoor Voices headquarters and go for a run together. The O.V. Joggers Club encourages community culture outside of the workplace and into the community. On April 24, 2018, Outdoor Voices launched a running collection with Hoka One One. They also released a corresponding app called O.V. Trail Shop. The app features the nearest Trail Shops where the new running collection can be found. In 2018, Outdoor Voices launched their first swimwear collection called “H2Ov”. In February 2020, in an effort to restructure the company, Haney stepped down as CEO. Outdoor Voices indicated that there will be an additional 315 layoffs across the company.
Fashion collaborations
In 2015, the company collaborated with the fashion blog Man Repeller and ClassPass, a fitness-class booking startup, on two limited-edition lines. In 2016, Outdoor Voices and French fashion label A.P.C. debuted A.P.C.O.V, a joint collection of men's and women's active apparel. In 2018, Outdoor Voices collaborated with HOKA ONE ONE, a running shoe company. Outdoor Voices and HOKA ONE ONE collaborated on a footwear collection. The shoe featured for the collection was the Clifton 4. The collection released in Spring 2018. In 2018, Outdoor Voices collaborated with footwear brand TEVA to release a pair of limited edition waterproof sandals. In 2019, Outdoor Voices collaborated with Merrell, a footwear company, on the Merrell Moab 2 Hiking Boot, a take on the original Moab in bright hues such as "Galapagos" and "Taro".
Investment
In 2015, Outdoor Voices received $7.5 million in investments to start their active apparel line. As of March 2018, the company had raised roughly $57 million in funding. CNBC lists lead investors as GV, General Catalyst Partners, and Forerunner Ventures.
