After nearly a decade of category-leading success paving the way for gender-neutral brands, progressive underwear brand TomboyX announces a changing of the guard. Co-founders Fran Dunaway and Naomi Gonzalez will hand the reigns to COO Leslie Garrard who assumes the role of Chief Executive Officer, starting immediately. Senior team members Ryan Letson, Katrine Fritz and Amy Sellers will step into key management roles. Dunaway and Gonzalez will remain with the company, continuing to partner on strategic brand projects in a part-time capacity. Dunaway will remain on the Board of Directors.
Garrard is well positioned to take the company through its next phase of growth. Since she joined as TomboyX COO in October 2020, she has led the team in developing its strategic plan, launching new product collections and brand collaborations, growing the company’s wholesale business, diversifying the supply chain, and executing a warehouse move. She spent five years at outdoor retailer REI in multiple leadership roles, and in management roles at Starbucks and T-Mobile. As CEO, Garrard will focus on driving scaled growth and continued community impact for the TomboyX brand, building off the incredible progress and significant expansion TomboyX has experienced since its founding in 2012.
“Naomi and I are beyond excited to make this announcement,” said Dunaway. “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.”
Dunaway and Gonzalez will continue in their longtime roles as brand spokespersons, with Dunaway developing new vehicles to engage TomboyX’s core LGBTQ+ community, while Gonzalez will continue to drive strategic projects including sustainability and certification initiatives.
“TomboyX is a profoundly authentic company,” said Garrard. “It’s a female founded challenger brand that’s 100% 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 co-founders Fran and Naomi.”
In addition to Garrard’s ascension, the company has promoted two key employees to its leadership team and added a new member. TomboyX CFO Ryan Letson adds COO to his title. As CFO/COO, he will lead finance, technology, business operations, logistics, customer service, legal and human resources. Katrine Fritz becomes Chief Merchant, promoted from VP of Merchandising/Design/Planning. She will lead design, merchandise strategy, planning, wholesale, collaborations, and product development and sourcing.
TomboyX welcomes new Chief Marketing Officer Amy Sellers, who assumes leadership of all marketing, digital and creative initiatives. She recently served as VP Marketing at Flyhomes and held titles of Client Partner with Facebook, and VP, Marketing and UX at American Well. She also held various marketing positions at Amazon and Zulily.
TomboyX is a pioneer in gender-neutral clothing, and its passionate advocacy for acceptance and equality, along with exacting standards of quality, inclusive design, fit, and sustainable manufacturing have been key to its success. It has been named to the Inc. 5000 list for the past four years running.
“We will continue to shine a spotlight on TomboyX as an industry-leading progressive underwear brand,” said Garrard. “As we execute our growth plan, we will stay true to our core as a purpose-driven brand and continue to fuel the passion of Fran and Naomi to create the most comfortable, best-fitting, inclusively-designed apparel for people of all shapes, sizes, and orientations.”
