This was published 6 years ago
Tights turned a $20k investment into a $2 million business
By Alexandra Cain
Having to wear men’s shorts as exercise gear while pregnant prompted Nadia Tucker and Stevie Angel to start their business, Active Truth. The company makes tights and other clothes that cater to women regardless of their size, shape or stage of life.
Nadia Tucker and Stevie Angel are the founders of Active Truth.
“It came about because the average-sized woman in Australia is a 16. Before we started the business, many were lucky to find tights that fit and functioned well enough to do a workout in. All the options were in boring black and were poor quality. The same can be said for maternity wear. I had to resort to wearing my husband’s shorts to exercise in while pregnant. So that's where the idea came from,” Tucker says.
Tucker and Angel started the business with 100 pairs of tights and they used their own bodies to model their styles on the website and in social media. A year in, they were able to quit their full-time jobs and move the business out of Tucker’s house and into a distribution warehouse in Brisbane. All products remain Australian-made and they have two full-time staff.
At last count, Active Truth had sold 30,000 pairs of tights and last year it generated $2 million in revenue, after the pair initially contributed $10,000 each to bootstrap it.
“We’ve funded the business through profits rather than seeking any contribution from outside. So, we're debt-free,” says Tucker, who, along with Angel, didn’t have prior experience in fashion or e-commerce.
“Stevie and I still get really excited whenever we see someone in our tights. Recently I was walking along and I saw a pregnant woman. I was looking at her funny, trying to see whether our logo was on her tights. I spotted it, went up to her and said, ‘are they Active Truth?’ She said, ‘yeah I love them’. So, I've been known to accost people,” Tucker says.
Tucker and Angel’s vision is bigger than just selling tights. “It's about empowering women to be active for the right reasons; for their energy, enjoyment, health and happiness. It’s not necessarily about aesthetics, which is what a lot of other active wear brands are about,” Tucker says.
The next project is a line of swimwear being launched this spring. “We trialled a one-piece suit last summer to test the market and it was one of our top-selling products. It sold out twice in a week. We're finalising that now,” Tucker says.
“The great thing about manufacturing in Australia is we can test new products by doing a small run and we do that quite often.”
Angel says they get feedback all the time stating the mainstream active wear brands simply don’t cater to women who are not stick insects. “Their products don’t fit most body shapes. You need to change the pattern when you're catering to different sizes to accommodate curves,” she says.
Some brands are starting to take notice, with businesses such as Nike releasing a plus-size range. But others have shunned this market. Lorna Jane famously refuses to stock a range that caters for this audience.
“Some do a PR campaign for two weeks then disappear. But we're consistently on point. One thing that sets us aside with our marketing is we consistently use a diverse range of body shapes and ages. And we never, ever photoshop our models,” Angel says.
“What we're doing is dealing with really serious issues. And we'll continue to make sure we make all humans visible.”
Like most businesses, cash flow has been a challenge as the business has grown. “Every time we've increased our inventory, it's been funded through product sales. We’re continually selling out. We have the factory churning out as many tights as it can every day. And every cent goes back into ordering more stock. We're really lucky we’ve cultivated a great relationship with our manufacturer. She really believed in and supported us from our first order,” Angel says.
An advantage is the business’ small size. “If we foresee an issue, we can kill it very quickly. And we're continuously working to improve ourselves personally, but also in the way we do business,” Angel says.
Tucker and Angel’s tip for other entrepreneurs is to trust your instinct. Says Tucker: “As new business owners, you get a lot of advice and it's important to listen to it. But ultimately, you know what is best for your business.”
It’s an attitude that will serve them well as they grow their brand.