How Vuori CEO Joe Kudla Is Taking the Brand’s California Cool Global
At the end of 2024, Vuori reached a $5.5 billion valuation after a $825 million investment round led by General Atlantic and Stripes, which remains the most recent valuation. Kudla is confident in growth amid an increasingly wellness-focused world. Alo and Lululemon are the brand’s biggest competitors, he says. Both also blend activewear and lifestyle product, though Kudla contends that Vuori leans deeper into outdoor-friendly styles than the others, a testament to its Southern Californian roots. The other big differentiator? Men.
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As athleisure brands built on selling to women scramble to capture male spend — and incumbents make women’s plays — Vuori’s strength lies in its ability to extend across genders, Kudla says. The brand was founded with its menswear offering, which the CEO describes as a “rocket ship”, driven by men keen for a more lifestyle-oriented, everyday offering that wasn’t from an ultra-sporty incumbent. Still, womenswear was always in the longer term plan, he says. (Women’s launched in 2018, three years into founding.) Now, Vuori’s customer split hovers around 50-50.
Ten years in, Kudla is planning for further growth, this time outside the US (the initial roadmap includes openings in select cities across Europe, the UK and China). To do so, he’s heading into 2026 with two priorities: product innovation and global brand ambassador partnerships, both of which Kudla hopes will drive recognition and loyalty abroad, as well as back home in the States.
“My wish for the brand is that we stand for the next wave of wellness, which isn’t about more gadgets and things that we put in our bodies, but more about our relationships with ourselves and learning how to adapt to this changing world,” he says.
Style and substance
Vuori may compete in the athleisure market, but this didn’t stop newly minted brand ambassador and tennis player Jack Draper from wearing the brand at the 2025 US Open. It’s a testament to the technicality of Vuori’s product. Though Alo has NBA player Jimmy Butler and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, you don’t see the athletes sporting the labels on the court or field. Instead, it’s for training and tunnel walks. (Vuori plays in this arena, too; Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is an ambassador, and features in the brand’s lifestyle marketing content.)
