Stance is an American

sock A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the Calf (leg), calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. ...

underwear Underwear, underclothing, or undergarments are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer clothing from being soiled ...

and T-Shirt brand founded in December 2009. Stance is headquartered in

San Clemente, California San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement" ) is a coastal city in southern Orange County, California, United States. It was named in 1925 after the Spanish colonial island (which was named after a Pope from the first century). Located in the ...

. As of March 2015, the company had sold over 36 million pairs of socks and raised over $115 million from investors. Stance was named the official sock of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

and

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

in April 2015 and May 2016, respectively. The company has 18 US retail stores in Irvine, Las Vegas, Cabazon, Livermore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Clemente, San Diego, Tulalip, New Jersey, Chicago, and Minnesota. In October 2018, Stance opened their first International store in Covent Garden, London, England.

History

Stance was founded in 2009 by Jeff Kearl, John Wilson, Aaron Hennings, Ryan Kingman and Taylor Shupe. The five original founders saw an opportunity to address a category of fashion they felt had been overlooked by many brands and the majority of the industry. The company first began shipping product in August 2010, and now ships over 15 million pairs of socks each year. Stance has raised a significant amount of venture capital and is sold in over 40 countries worldwide. In early January 2015, Stance began raising $50 million to fund their expansion into the underwear market. In April 2016, Stance raised an additional $30 million in a

funding round A securities offering (or funding round or investment round) is a discrete round of investment, by which a business or other enterprise raises money to fund operations, expansion, a capital (economics), capital project, an acquisition, or some oth ...

that valued Stance at $400 million and was led by Mercato Partners and included August Capital,

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneur ...

, Menlo Ventures,

Shasta Ventures Shasta Ventures is an early-stage venture capital investment firm located in Silicon Valley that invests in enterprise and technology consumer startups. It is located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. Funds Shasta's second fund of US$250 milli ...

, and Sherpa Capital as returning investors. In March 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported the company had raised $50 million from Silicon Valley venture capital firms and that the brand would be expanding into men’s underwear. In April 2015, the NBA announced that Stance had been named the official on-court sock of the NBA starting in the 2015-2016 season. As part of the deal, Stance would be allowed to display its logo on all socks worn on-court by players, a first in NBA history for apparel companies. Stance opened its first store in the

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

neighborhood of New York City in November 2015. The brand won Best Socks of the Year in 2017 with their tribute to rapper,

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He is credited, along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Jeezy, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music for mainstream a ...

Sponsorship

Stance’s brand ambassadors are called "Punks and Poets". They include musicians, skateboarders, athletes, designers, artists, stylists, writers and photographers. ; Athletes *

Andre Drummond Andre Jamal Drummond (born August 10, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A center, he was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 2012 NB ...

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* Chandler Parsons *

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* Lauren Fleshman * Todd Richards * Bryan Gonnella * Kassia Meador * John John Florence * Silje Norendal *

Nyjah Huston Nyjah Imani Huston ( ; born November 30, 1994) is an American professional skateboarder. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS ...

* Chris Cole * Theotis Beasley *

Jamie Thomas Jamie Thomas (born October 11, 1974) is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur. He is the owner and founder of Zero Skateboards. Thomas' nickname in the skateboard industry is "The Chief". Early life Thomas was born in Florid ...

* Andrew Reynolds * Kenny Roczen * Chad Reed * Troy Lee * Bubba Watson * Mikey Wright * Neen Williams *

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( , ; born 1 July 1989) is an Australian racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Ricciardo won eight Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Born and raised in Perth to Italian-Australi ...

; Musicians/Bands * Wen Junhui *

Soko Soko ( sh-Cyrl, Соко) was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer based in Mostar, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company was responsible for the production of ...

* Haim *

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* Nikki Lane *

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* Thurzday *

Santigold Santi White (born September 25, 1976), known professionally as Santigold (formerly Santogold), is an American singer and songwriter. Her debut studio album, '' Santogold'' (2008), was released by Atlantic Records and met with widespread critica ...

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Willow Smith Willow Smith (born October 31, 2000), also known mononymously as Willow, is an American singer, actress and dancer. The daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, she has received various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, an NAAC ...

* A$AP Ferg ; Models * Bambi Northwood-Blyth * Hanne Gaby Odiele ; Designers and Stylists * Imogene Barron * Ronnie Fieg * Alexandra Spencer/4th & Bleeker ; Artists * Brooke Reidt * Josie Ramondetta * Langley Fox Hemmingway * Mark Oblow * Russ Pope * Kid Creature * Todd Francis * Bijou Karman

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2009 establishments in California Clothing brands of the United States Companies based in San Clemente, California Clothing companies established in 2009 Underwear brands Hosiery brands Socks

History

Sponsorship

See also

References

External links