Ty Haney Is Back at the Helm of Outdoor Voices

Ty Haney is officially back at Outdoor Voices, which announced its relaunch on Monday morning alongside a refresh to its branding, logo and product offering.

Haney, who exited the activewear brand amid clashes with other executives and allegations of mismanagement, will hold the title of “founder, partner and co-owner,” according to the company, which was acquired by private equity firm Consortium Brand Partners in 2024.

“It’s very full circle,” Haney told The Business of Fashion in a Zoom interview, appearing from a Spartan office in Boulder, Colorado. Haney wore a black zip-up hoodie bedazzled with Outdoor Voices’ original tagline of “Doing Things” written in glittering cursive, a limited-edition item and part of the first post-rebrand drop.

“We’ve pushed the product forward, to feel more bold, evolved and sexy in a way,” Haney said. “Really, the intent is to reactivate the kind of OG OV lovers, but also introduce this philosophy of doing things and freeing fitness from performance to a younger audience.”

The first collection, shoppable from August 5 on Outdoor Voices’ website, also includes aprés-sweat pieces like the striped Sun Shirt button-down, a short set in the “OG OV fan-favourite” geometric Helios print, as well as performance separates such as wrap skirts and tube tops in what Haney calls “iPod colours.” The new Outdoor Voices will also be available to shop on Haney’s web3 community platform, Try Your Best.

The relaunch strategy, conceived by Haney over the past year, relies on a very careful calibration of new and old; a new logo, designed with the agency Little Plain, that favours script fonts over the former OV’s sans-serif, and new styles that broaden the brand’s identity beyond activewear to include a lifestyle and lounge offering. To better access the DNA of what made OV successful in the first place, Haney also reassembled key members of her original team including longtime creative director Tiffany Wilkinson, designer Jessica Guzman and general manager Mariel O’Brien. The team will be primarily based in New York; Haney splits her time between Boulder and San Francisco, where TYB is based.

Haney will oversee “product, brand and creative,” according to the company announcement. She will also be the face and voice of the brand to its community of shoppers as well as in the press. Other new members of the company’s C-suite have not yet been named; the brand does not currently have a CEO.

Once touted as the future of activewear, Outdoor Voices soared in the DTC era before falling hard amid leadership turmoil and financial missteps. Haney established Outdoor Voices in 2013, scaling the business to a peak valuation of $110 million by 2018. Then came a downswing as the company struggled to narrow losses. In 2020, OV received a lifeline funding round at a remarkably diminished $40 million valuation. At that time, Haney stepped down as CEO but retained some creative duties and a minority stake in the business.

The new board appointed Urban Outfitters alumnus Gabrielle Conforti as CEO in 2021, but the company’s nadir was yet to come. It filed for bankruptcy in 2023, abruptly closing its web of 16 stores and marooning most of its employees without severance.

“Bringing a company like that into the world, and then obsessing every second around how it came to life for eight years ... it took some time to detach,” Haney said. “I’m grateful to it all.”

She said she hopes the brand’s new look and feel will reflect her own growth: Haney gave birth to her first child in 2019, months before stepping down as OV’s CEO, and has since launched two additional ventures including Joggy energy drinks and TYB, which Haney says will remain her main focus. (In June, she announced she’d raised an $11 million round of Series A funding for TYB.)

A few months before Consortium Brand Partners announced its acquisition of Outdoor Voices in June 2024, its founder Cory Baker reached out to Haney. “I found that quite kind,” she said. “He had put no pressure on to even consider re-engaging, but teased the thought.” After months of meetings, she officially returned to her brand in August 2024.

Her comeback was all but officially announced earlier this month, when Outdoor Voices’ Instagram page was wiped of its posts and all of its following, save Haney’s personal account.

“When I started OV, the vision was to build the number one recreation brand,” Haney said. “That lane still feels wide open.”

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