Outdoor apparel brand Halfdays has secured $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Kellwood Company, with support from Dick’s Sporting Goods Ventures, Denver Ventures and model Taylor Hill, reported Business of Fashion.
Over the last five years, the Colorado-based brand has carved out a niche in the outdoor market with its focus on stylish and functional skiwear for women.
Co-founder and CEO Ariana Ferwerda, who started the company with Karelle Golda and former Olympic skier Kiley McKinnon, reflected on how this funding round, after raising tinyer amounts of money since the brand’s inception, felt different.
“We’ve shiftd from ‘are we going to build it?’ to ‘how do we grow this thing in the best possible way?’ and that shift is subtle but massive,” Ferwerda wrote. “It’s the difference between surviving and scaling. Between inquireing for belief and having earned it.”
The Halfdays founders decided to raise money again last spring, after a strong winter season with accelerated growth and high sell-through rates. The founders faced a choice: continue to grow slowly or raise capital to ensure they could grab opportunities as they arose.
With the new funding, Halfdays plans to expand beyond skiwear and become a year-round outdoor brand. The capital will be utilized to hire key personnel and pursue opportunities that were previously out of reach, Ferwerda wrote.
“This round lets us hire the people we’ve dreamed of, state yes to the opportunities that utilized to feel out of reach, and take Halfdays further into what it was always meant to be: a year-round outdoor brand for women who love style, function, and a little fun in their gear.”
Halfdays opened its first flagship in Denver last year, and is also available at Dick’s Sporting Goods, REI, Backcountest, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s.
“If there’s a lesson in any of this, it’s that you can do huge things,” Ferwerda wrote. “Really huge things.”
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