So, What's Vuori, and Why's It Everywhere Now?
Some weeks ago, whilst white-noise-listening to an industry podcast, I heard a name I wasn't sure I had before, of a brand that's been quietly claiming territory in the casual activewear space.
Upon trying to google it days later, I could neither spell the word for the sound I thought I'd made out, nor recall where I picked up on it in the first place. Not until a most recent New York Times profile was I finally reminded. Baader-Meinhof much?
Once a modest online DTC venture, Vuori now runs more than 80 physical stores plus wholesale, has raised $825 Million in funding, and was valued at $5.5 Billion by November 2024.
But, like, why? And how was I so oblivious to this story?
Vuori, which means "mountain" in Finnish, was launched – to no success, initially – in 2015, by former model and accountant Joe Kudla, as a range of graphic T-shirts. It took several personal reckonings thereafter – including an encounter with a psychic, and a newly zealous yoga hobby – to change the trajectory of the fashion startup, and lead Kudla to pivot into athleisure.
Having since scaled to carry a full-shebang product palette, Vuori enjoyed significant hikes in demand from a post-pandemic interest in the aforementioned category – after all, with more hybridized lifestyles, office attire, too, was due an overhaul.
Surface-level, what Vuori sells is not all that distinguished: a wide variety of austere training gear, comfy joggers and gilets, his and hers. Haters will say it's basic – but so will lovers. Because it is, crucially so. That's the point.
With its low profile, high quality performance apparel, Vuori struck a chord with the same lot its founder was inspired and eventually backed by: Entrepreneurial, conceitedly unstuffy Californians in demanding jobs who prefer an inconspicuous rotation of stylishly functional garments that are laid-back but professional; read as powerful yet personable; off-sight and on. Or in short, to quote Puck: "If LinkedIn had a clothing line, it might look a lot like Vuori."
The threesome-lovechild of Silicon Valley, Finance Bro™, and a venture capitalist's "Lululemon-for-guys" pitch, Vuori's where sports and new age business cult(ure)s meet. These are pieces to work out or long hours in, and exactly as soft-edged as they'd need to be to even invite that kind of cross-applicability. Vuori is for people who make six or more figures in tech, or those who care to charade as such.
No wonder it went over my head.
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