Kudla, a former accountant, created Vuori in 2015 to fill a void he saw in the men’s activewear market for workout shorts that could take a man from the gym to lunch. He raised $300,000 from friends and family and created moisture-wicking, quick-drying shorts with a distinctly coastal California aesthetic. He named the brand after the Finnish word for mountain to represent the clarity one gets after a trip to the summit.
“And we will open our first store in the spring in London,” he said. “That’ll be our first entrance into Europe.” While that sounds aggressive, Vuori said operating 100 stores is “still a fraction of what larger brands like Lululemon have.” At the beginning of this year, Lululemon operated a little over 300 stores.Visiting brick-and-mortar stores is the best way for Vuori’s current and potential customers to experience the brand, Kudla believes. “Our customers love to feel the product and it’s important to us to make that connection.
Even so, he has no intention of letting the women’s wear dominate the assortment in the future. “Our goal is to still have it be 50-50,” he said.Top performers include performance loungewear, which saw a sharp increase in interest during the height of the pandemic and has not yet dipped substantially, along with its commuter offering.