FRAN: I wanted a cool button-
up shirt, like a Ben Sherman
or Robert Graham, and I
couldn’t find it.
NAOMI: I encouraged her to
start the business because,
well, she was complaining
so much.
FRAN: Neither of us was
looking for a new job—I was
an executive producer for
a political media strategy
firm, and Naomi was a
massage therapist. We
picked the name TomboyX
because Naomi and I both
identified as tomboys as
kids, and we launched a
Kickstarter to raise $75,000
in 30 days.
In that first month, we
almost quit. We started
with this bang, and then the
response energy dipped. By
week four, we had basically
decided to walk away, when
our friend said: “You’re not
quitting.” So we threw
ourselves into that week—
being funny, trying to get
people’s attention—and we
pushed it over the line.
Honestly, that was a
terrifying moment. I was 53,
and suddenly I had to not
run out of money and to not
screw it up. You’re looking
at a bank account that’s
dwindling, and it’s so easy
to doubt yourself. My parents are from Mississippi
and I have a small rental
home there, and we’d joke
about that being our backup
retirement plan.
NAOMI: We had some friends
early on who thought
TomboyX wasn’t a great
name. They worried we’d
turn people o;.
FRAN: But we noticed almost
immediately that the name
was attracting a lot of atten-
tion. So we tried putting it
on di;erent things: shoes,
belts, hats. Naomi handled
customer service calls, and
she said someone had called
asking us to make boxer
briefs for women. I typed
“boxer briefs for women”
into a department-store site,
and the only thing that came
up was Spanx. I’m pretty
sure that’s not what most
tomboys want. So we
decided to order 600 pairs of
underwear, adapted specifi-
cally for women, and we had
450 pairs sell before the
inventory even arrived at our
o;ce. The shirts were selling fine, but when we started
selling underwear, our revenue tripled in six months.
NAOMI: We met with the
founder of Tommy Bahama,
who told us: “Find your hero
product and go deep with it.
Build a strong following.”
With underwear, we thought
we’d hit a vein, but we’d hit
an artery. It just took o;.
FRAN: In 2015, we joined
MergeLane, an accelerator
in Boulder, Colorado, and,
through a cash-equity split,
got branding help from ad
agency Crispin Porter +
Bogusky. That was our
rainbow-unicorn opportu-
nity. Naomi and I really
wrapped our minds around
the idea that this was a true
business, and we recentered
the entire brand on under-
wear. We’re not telling
anyone—tomboys or women
or men or gender-neutral
people—how to be cool. We
think you’re cool the way
you are, and underwear is
this perfect “next to your
skin” layer to a;rm that.
That extends beyond gen-
der, to size and complexion.
We’re not for everybody—
but we are for anybody.
Because our hero product
started with a customer
suggestion, we’re a bit
obsessed with customer
input. To have people tell
you this is the first time
they’ve felt comfortable in
their own skin? That stirs
this deep sense of responsibility. Our latest category,
swimwear, came from customers saying they were
hungry for something they
could wear to the beach. You
don’t know what you’re
going to hear until you listen.
We were in our o;ce
one day when this 11-year-
old, Zoey, came in with
her parents. She was from
Cheyenne, Wyoming, and
taking an RV trip with her
family, and she begged them
to stop in Seattle so she
could visit our headquarters. She had us all in tears,
the brand meant so much to
this young tomboy in Wyoming. Zoey was the first girl
to make the local football
team. She was wearing
TomboyX temporary tattoos
under her football helmet
when she hit the field.
FINDING COMFORT IN THEIR OWN SKIN
Fran Dunaway and Naomi Gonzalez ; TOMBOYX
Three-year growth 2,049% · 2017 revenue $5.4 million
SEATTLE · FOUNDED 2012 ;231
Sartorial frustration—and some encouragement from her wife, Naomi
Gonzalez—drove Fran Dunaway to launch a clothing line for women
with a masculine streak. But when the couple noticed that it was boxer
briefs—not button-up shirts—that were flying off the shelves, they
realized they had found their hero. —AS TOLD TO KATE ROCKWOOD
