From 'Aspect Challenge' to 8-Determine Enterprise: Left On Friday

[ad_1] When Laura Low Ah Kee and Shannon Savage met whereas working at Lululemon in 2005, the Vancouver, Canada-based athletic attire model wasn't but the worldwide phenomenon it's right this moment.

Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Left On Friday. Laura Low Ah Kee, left, and Shannon Savage, proper.

"The time period 'athleisure' did not exist but," Savage tells Entrepreneur. "This complete world of ladies's athletic attire didn't exist but. So it was a extremely cool time to be concerned within the firm, and we simply at all times had this love for this lively way of life and product and style."

Low Ah Kee and Savage each took on govt roles at Lululemon; Low Ah Kee went on "many journeys" throughout her tenure however primarily targeted on merchandising, and Savage labored on the design facet.

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After a sabbatical partially spent in Maui browsing and kiteboarding, Low Ah Kee was catching up with Savage when inspiration struck. She'd worn Lululemon sports activities bras in lieu of typical swimwear for all of her water actions as a result of they carried out the way in which different merchandise available on the market could not. What in the event that they leveraged their experience to create swimwear that merged style and performance?

The duo continued their careers at Lululemon and labored on their ardour product on the facet, developing with an exhaustive checklist of every thing they needed in a super bathing go well with. Nevertheless it wasn't till they left their jobs on the athleisure big that they bought critical about beginning a enterprise.

"We needed a reputation that had one half nostalgia and one half pure spontaneity."

In 2017, amid a "booming" swimwear trade that also wasn't designing the fashion-forward, high-performing merchandise they needed to see, the co-founders seized the chance to launch their very own premium lively swimwear model: Left On Friday, headquartered in Victoria, Canada.

" Laura and I are each the last word weekend warriors," Savage says, "and we're at all times off to have an journey someplace. We needed a reputation that had one half nostalgia and one half pure spontaneity, a reputation that folks instantly determine with, and it captures this concept of the last word weekend going away. You do not know the place you are going. Seize one swimsuit, you are good."

Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Left On Friday

The co-founders knew that "any nice product begins with nice material," so that they got down to discover one that would tackle a number of main points they noticed inside the current swimwear market.

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The material needed to be compressive when moist and dry and supply "smoothing protection." "We did actually discover that the majority swim on the market, as soon as it will get moist, you do really feel fairly bare, however not bare in an effective way," Savage explains. "It reveals each lump and bump."

Moreover, the fabric needed to be sturdy sufficient to carry as much as an lively way of life with out sacrificing the handfeel. The purpose was to design with a material that "as quickly as you contact it, you are like, I must put this on my physique, I need to expertise this product," Savage says.

Numerous trial and error went into discovering the material that would do all of it. The co-founders ordered numerous materials to experiment with; a buddy's mom sewed the primary designs in her basement, and Low Ah Kee and Savage examined them out in numerous climates, from the desert to the seashore. Lastly, they landed on their Smoothing Dream Material.

"It began as a bikini facet challenge after which turned Left On Friday."

Then it was a matter of developing with a line of kinds that every served a definite goal. The co-founders self-funded their enterprise, investing their very own cash within the material, stock and "making one of the best product attainable." " Shannon and I actually hustled, [but] extra from like workload [hustle] versus hustle, get cash," Low Ah Kee remembers. "It began as a bikini facet challenge after which turned Left On Friday."

By leveraging their intensive current ability units within the activewear area, Low Ah Kee and Savage launched their enterprise on-line — and it was "instantly worthwhile." Left On Friday continued self-funded development through its ecommerce channel for some time, however ultimately, the co-founders needed a board of advisors "with pores and skin within the recreation."

"The purpose of the advisors was to get some recommendation, to maintain us accountable, to drag us out of the day-to-day, which we had been very a lot in," Low Ah Kee explains. "So we surrounded ourselves with three unbelievable advisors who we knew from our neighborhood, and so they put in a bit of bit of cash."

Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Left On Friday

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When the pandemic hit, Left on Friday needed to navigate provide chain challenges, however the model in the end got here out stronger and with extra funds raised on the opposite facet.

"We're a really cyclical, seasonal enterprise," Savage says, "so once you get one thing just like the strain cooker of Covid, all the availability chains shift, so once we get an enormous stock drop in October, we will not promote that. That ended up occurring. All of the timelines bought shuffled, so we wanted cash once we did not have cash."

Left On Friday hasn't raised extra money since that time, and Low Ah Kee and Savage stay the model's majority house owners.

" The uniforms made such a splash. They had been going viral within the Olympic Village."

One other thrilling breakthrough got here in 2024, when Left On Friday designed the official nationwide group uniforms for Canada's ladies's seashore volleyball group for the Paris Olympics and World Tour. Savage designed a bit that lived as much as the model's dedication to style and performance: the one-shoulder go well with left the gamers' hitting arms free.

Picture Credit score: Coliena Rentmeester

"It was [a] profession spotlight, life spotlight, model spotlight, every thing that occurred on this stage within the epicenter of style on the largest sporting occasion that ever occurs," Savage says. " The uniforms made such a splash. They had been going viral within the Olympic Village, and all people was speaking about them. From a enterprise standpoint, we bought international consciousness."

Left On Friday noticed a 136% enhance in worldwide site visitors throughout the Olympics and a sustained gross sales development of 67% in its native Canada in early 2025, per the corporate. The model renewed its partnership with the group for an additional 4 years by means of 2028.

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In response to buyer demand, Left On Friday has additionally expanded into different premium activewear, from sweatshirts to tights, playsuits and extra, preserving its dedication to style and efficiency on the forefront of each design.

Now, Left On Friday is an eight-figure model, and Low Ah Kee and Savage sit up for its continued development within the premium activewear enviornment — and the prospect to offer merchandise that match into ladies's lively lives.

" I like that there is nonetheless a lot untapped potential out there, in attire and simply within the area on the whole," Savage says. " It is a very intimate place. Not everybody at all times feels comfy in that place, so I like that we're creating this product [that allows] ladies to have the power to dwell their finest life, if that is being an Olympian or if that is simply going out and enjoying some informal volleyball on the seashore."