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How One Woman Is Making Sweatpants Fun and Fashionable
Los Angeles-based womenswear label, By Samii Ryan, is redefining what it means to rock some sweatpants. The company is a female-owned brand launched in 2017 by designer Samii Ryan, specializing in streetwear staples, inspired by unrequited love and youth culture growing up in the 1990s–2000s.
Since the nationwide lockdown began in March 2020, Samii Ryan went from a two-person operation to a multi-person team due to their tie-dye sweatpants’ viral popularity. As a young female entrepreneur, Ryan knew the importance of having a group of young, diverse, intelligent individuals. He hand-selected a team who would understand their customers and embody the brand ethos.
By focusing their attention on the Gen Z demographic, their iconic apparel pieces also become highly popular with celebrities such as Hailey Bieber, Sydney Sweeney, Noah Cyrus, Saweetie, and Halsey influencers such as Lil Miquela, Loren, and Avani.
According to the company, within the first few months of quarantine, they were selling between 300–500 pairs of sweatpants in under ten minutes every Friday. They report that they finished at just over 4M to date, which is 8x more business than they did in 2019.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Ryan and learning more. Below is our conversation.
