Lack of stock appears to be a minor problem. But billions of pairs of stockings and tights find yourself in landfills, an enormous waste that’s terrible for the planet.
From Amy FeldmanForbes contributor
back in 2017, Katherine Homuth, a young Canadian technology entrepreneur, was on the lookout for a fabric for durable, sheer tights that might withstand the rips, tears and rips they’re typically subjected to. She ordered dozens of various fibers, every time wrapping them round her fingers and attempting to pull them apart – and every time the fabric broke. Eventually, she discovered a fabric that was virtually indestructible in all tests: ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, which is utilized in bulletproof vests on account of its dense structure.
She called dealers dozens of times and asked them to send it to her. “I finally got a spool of fiberglass that cost $2,000,” she said. “I sent it to a factory in China and got an angry message back saying we ended up breaking their machine. It choked on the fiber.”
From that inauspicious starting, Homuth, 34, has built a formidable business in tear-resistant, sheer tights that she says can last as long as 10 times so long as a conventional pair, billions of which usually find yourself in landfills. Homuth, an alumnus of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, expects to make $30 million in sales by 2024. Last yr, Sheertex’s classic sheer tights were the best-selling tights within the U.S. in dollar terms, she said. But it’s difficult to construct a consumer business, and revenue has fallen from $45 million in 2023 because it shifted the business from mostly direct-to-consumer sales through its website to working with retailers like H&M, Costco and QVC. She expects it to rise again to over $70 million in 2025.
Now SRTX, the corporate behind the Sheertex brand, is working to make use of other materials beyond tights, including a water-repellent material that is freed from toxic “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, which have been used for years in every thing from rain jackets to mountain climbing boots. She hopes the move would transform SRTX from a consumer goods company to a sustainable materials company. “We want to be the DuPont of the sustainability industry,” Homuth said. “It’s about creating these new materials that have never been made before.”
To achieve this goal, the corporate has raised a complete of $143 million in equity funding from investors including retailer H&M, sustainability-focused enterprise firm ArcTern Ventures and Lululemon’s billionaire founder Chip Wilson, at a valuation of $350 million US dollars within the last two years. Additionally, a brand new 300,000 square meter factory was recently in-built Montreal to satisfy demand earlier this yr.
“It’s about creating these new materials that have never been made before.”
Because the corporate manufactures in Canada and makes much of its sales within the United States, Homuth is closely monitoring conversations about Trump’s tariffs. “It definitely concerns us,” she said, adding that it’s difficult to know the best way to behave given the present uncertainty.
Homuth, who previously founded and sold an organization called ShopLocket that helped hardware entrepreneurs bring products to market, first got here up with the thought of making durable hosiery seven years ago. “I was a little jaded. A lot of products felt like technology for technology’s sake,” she said. “When I put on tights, I thought I’d do a little Googling, find out that someone had done it, and then move on.” Instead, she realized how little material innovation there was for the reason that invention of nylon within the Nineteen Thirties and the Spandex was introduced within the Nineteen Fifties.
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After attempting to relocate to China and breaking a manufacturer’s machine, she arrange a small research lab north of Toronto and ran three knitting machines extremely slowly to determine the best way to work with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Although the tights should not biodegradable, this also applies to regular tights, that are typically constituted of petroleum-based nylon and elastane. So the large selling point is their durability. “It starts with durability,” she said. “If the product doesn’t last long, it will never be a sustainable product.”
In the winter of 2018, she led the corporate, then referred to as Sheerly Genius, through the Y Combinator accelerator and built her own factory in Montreal. Initially, the tights cost $50 per pair to provide, making them a distinct segment product at best. Homuth was in a position to cut costs by having Sheertex produce its own fibers, turn them into yarns and knit them in-house. It has an in-house laboratory for developing and testing materials. By producing larger quantities, the corporate was in a position to spread its overhead costs over more production and buy its raw materials at a lower cost. “Last year it cost us $12 to produce a pair,” she said. “In two years we expect to be at $2.50.” The tights cost $19.99 for a basic pair of black sheer tights at H&M and $99 for newly developed micro fishnet stockings directly from Sheertex .
H&M, which first invested in SRTX in 2020, began stocking small quantities of Sheertex tights in a few of its COS stores in 2022 and expanded distribution in its H&M flagship stores in 2023. H&M retail is a transition they are saying obligatory for the corporate to create a foundation for scalable growth. Most direct-to-consumer brands might want to partner with retailers sooner or later in the event that they need to proceed to grow, but this step can be difficult because wholesale prices (normally about half the retail price) are a lot lower. That means Homuth’s ability to each reduce Sheertex’s production costs and encourage retailers to sell large quantities of tights can be critical. “We viewed this as an initial test to assess the potential,” Peter Ekeberg, head of finance and investments, latest growth and ventures at H&M, said by email. “In 2024 we have increased volumes significantly,” he added, but declined to supply figures.
Selling is one thing, large-scale production is one other – and SRTX’s goal is to extend volume to 30 million pairs by 2027, a 15-fold increase in volume from 2024. “Expand production to [that level] is absurdly difficult,” said Alexandre Aubrey, managing partner of Export Development Canada, which invested in the corporate and provided debt financing for the brand new production facility. “It’s so difficult and she’s so focused on getting this done.”
Homuth recently introduced fishnet stockings, which require a more complex production process, and a brand new direct-to-consumer label called Sheertex Studio, which makes styles like those with mini dots or back seams that are not available in shops. The company also launched a personal label business. Footwear brand Steve Madden launched a Steve Madden X Sheertex black tights collaboration in its Canadian stores this yr. “The selling point is that you can wear them for an entire season and not have to replace them,” said Jennifer Walewski, president of Steve Madden Canada. “It’s really crazy how much they save in landfills,” she added.
Next up: SRTX’s efforts to make use of other sustainable materials beyond just tights, starting with a non-toxic water-repellent material called Watertex. The first version targets swimsuits that, based on third-party testing, dried in half the time of three competitors’ swimsuits. A second technology in development involves a non-toxic water-repellent membrane that might replace PFAS-based coatings.
That’s a potentially huge market, especially at a time when Europe has cracked down on a bunch of PFAS and regulators in states like California are also taking a tougher line against them. Grand View Research estimates that the marketplace for waterproof, breathable textiles is currently large $2 billion and growing at a rate of 5.9% per yr. The company can be exploring other potential latest materials, including a recyclable substitute for spandex it calls Elasta.
“We’re changing the business pretty dramatically,” Homuth said. “It’s more about the technology.”
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