Gender-neutral Innerwear Brand TomboyX Names New CEO Leslie Garrard
TomboyX has a new head honcho.
The gender-neutral innerwear brand said Friday that former chief operating officer Leslie Garrard will assume the role of chief executive officer, effective immediately, as cofounders Fran Dunaway and Naomi Gonzalez step away from the top job, but remain with the company on a part-time basis.
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“Naomi and I are beyond excited to make this announcement,” said Dunaway, who will remain on TomboyX’s board. “Leslie has proven herself to be a forward-thinking visionary who is uniquely qualified to lead TomboyX as we scale and expand. Her savvy business acumen gives Naomi and I confidence in her ability to lead the team to ongoing success. She shares our values and is a strong culture add. The future is bright for TomboyX.”
Garrard joined TomboyX as chief operating officer in October 2020, helping launch new product collections and collaborations, grow the wholesale business and diversify the company’s supply chain. Her résumé includes stints at Starbucks and T-Mobile, as well as leadership roles at REI. In her new role as CEO, Garrard has been tasked with further scaling the business.
“TomboyX is a profoundly authentic company,” Garrard said. “It’s a female-founded challenger brand that’s 100 percent about promoting joy and wonder through radical comfort and inclusivity. I am so excited to help lead the team through the next wave of TomboyX’s dramatic growth and community impact, with the continued partnership of its cofounders Fran and Naomi.”
TomboyX’s C-suite shuffle also includes Ryan Letson, Katrine Fritz and Amy Sellers.
Letson, currently chief financial officer, will add chief operating officer to his title, leading the company’s finance, technology, business operations, logistics, customer service, legal and human resources divisions. Fritz, formerly vice president of merchandising, design and planning, has been elevated to the role of chief merchant, directing the design, merchandise strategy, planning, wholesale, collaborations, product development and sourcing teams.
In addition, Amy Sellers, an alum of real estate firm Flyhomes, Zulily and Amazon, among other companies, has joined the TomboyX team as chief marketing officer, in charge of marketing, digital and creative initiatives. Dunaway and Gonzalez will continue to work with the company on special projects, as well as acting as spokespeople for the brand.
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TomboyX was founded by business partners and spouses Dunaway and Gonzalez in 2013. Since then, the Seattle-based company has grown rapidly. In May 2019, the business secured $18 million in series B funding. In July 2020, TomboyX created “Model Check-in Forms” intended to help mitigate tensions around gender, race, special needs and any other triggers for models before production begins.
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