Our Story The Story of SPANX: Company Timeline 2002: Score! Sara hires Laurie Ann Goldman to be the CEO of Spanx, 2003: Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’… and the Spanx team grows • Spanx moves its offices to Buckhead in Atlanta GA. to 11 by the end of 2002. • Spanx takes its same great body-shaping down to 1998: Bright Idea the toes with the addition • Sara cut the feet out of her pantyhose to of All The Way look smashing in her cream-colored pants. Full-Length Pantyhose. • Sara is awarded the patent for Footless Body-Shaping Pantyhose and begins to develop her first product. 2002: More Everything! • With a staff of six, Sara and her design 2000: In Production team invent Power Panties®, the first Sara convinces a mill to manufacture legband-free, tummy-minimizing her “crazy idea,” and SPANX Footless mid-thigh hosiery shaper. Body-Shaping Pantyhose are born! 2003: And Growin’, Growin’, Growin’… • Mama SPANX Maternity Pantyhose are born. • Spanx grows into a team of 18. 2004: Famous Friends • Cheerio! Spanx launches in the UK. • Spanx launches Bod-a-Bing!, a collection of slimming apparel. • Women everywhere are singing, 2000: Sara Makes a Sale “Bra-llelujah!®” in celebration of the • After giving her own personal before first all-hosiery comfort bra! & after demonstration, Neiman Marcus and she places her first major order! • E xpanding! Spanx expands distribution • Gwyneth Paltrow told USA Today that 2002: Honors agrees to test SPANX in several stores 2001: Movin’ On Up… • Spanx moves from to Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, the back of Sara’s Bloomingdale’s, and other major apartment to an office high-end department stores. in Decatur, GA. she wore two pairs of SPANX to slim • Sara is named “Entrepreneur down after giving birth to her daughter of the Year for the Southeast Apple. This kicked off a string of Region” by Ernst & Young. celebrity endorsements, including • Spanx launches Reversible Oprah, Jessica Alba, Tyra Banks, Julia Tight-End Tights®. Roberts, and more! • Sara invents Control-Top Fishnets and coins the phrase “No more grid butt!” 2004: Nothing Too Trivial! • Spanx appeared as the answer to the Trivial Pursuit question, “What company 2000: Hello Fame! Oprah Winfrey discovers SPANX Footless invented control top fishnets and coined the phrase ‘No more grid butt’?” Body-Shaping Pantyhose and places • Tummies thank SPANX for Higher Power®, them on the coveted “Oprah’s Favorite a high-waisted version of the coveted Things” list for 2000. Power Panties. ™ Our Story 2007: Survey Says • SPANX grows to 50 employees. 2011: Get In On The Action! • In the May 2007 issue of InStyle, • Spanx launches 21 percent of women polled said 2008: Final Answer that SPANX is the best • Spanx grows to 75 employees in July an active collection with innovative features like a and launches in Australia. body-enhancing invention ever built-in bagel-buster!TM • Spanx starred in Who Wants to be a Millionaire. (tied with stretchy jeans and “Beloved by millions of women, Spanx is second to the push-up bra!). 110 employees. a popular brand of… undergarments.” 2006: New to the Family red carpet look for less. Available at: Target, by FOX TV for Virgin founder Sir Richard JCPenney, LOFT, and spanx.com/assets! Branson’s reality series “Rebel Billionaire: • When Oprah said that she had “given up launches at NYC’s by knowing her Spanx and even admitted 59th Street Bloomingdale’s! Slim Cognito Mid-Tigh Bodysuit was shapewear, swimwear, and legwear designed Sara Blakely is whisked around the world The contestant got to the $4,000 mark • According to NPD research, the SPANX ASSETS® by Sara Blakely®, a collection of to help more women achieve their own • The first ever SPANX shop to having them on at the very moment! • Spanx, Inc. creates a new brand, 2004: Reaching Higher • Spanx has more than e r o M to come! the No. 1 selling garment in intimate apparel in 2008. 2007: Pay it Forward! 2011: The Rear View • Sara credits Oprah as one of The Spanx Rear View blog show on May 20, 2006, we sold more than her biggest inspirations. Sara to launch her own foundation designed to is launched giving SPANX 20,000 pairs of SPANX Power Panties surprises Oprah with a check for help women globally through education that day alone! $1,000,000 for The Oprah Winfrey Branson’s Quest for the Best.” Sara walked panties and only wears SPANX” on her away as first runner up, winning $750,000 and entrepreneurial training. 2006: Give a Damn Sara Blakely and Sir Richard Branson throw the “Give a Damn” party on October 14 to launch the Sara Blakely Foundation, raising funds for 278 women Leadership Academy Foundation in South Africa. • Sara appears weekly on ABC’s American Inventor as a judge and donates 100% of her earnings to fans a glimpse behind the 2008 : Bra-llelujah! Spanx reaches into the new category of foundations and launches Bra-llelujah! seams at Spanx! ® Underwire Contour. This revolutionary concept quickly becomes the number one 2010: Making a Splash selling bra at all retailers. • In October of 2010, Spanx, Inc. celebrates its 10th birthday with the Sara Blakely Foundation. a $100,000 donation to the Atlanta Women’s Foundation! to attend CIDA City Campus • After many years of demand, in South Africa and more than $600,000 to go to the Spanx brings their industry Sara Blakely foundation. expertise to the pool and the beach with swimwear. 2005: Spanx Gets “Intimate” ® with the launch of SPANX for • Spanx adds intimates to the Men Cotton Compression and ® SPANX line with Hide & Sleek ® and Slim Cognito . • Spanx, Inc. earns the Advertising Age “Marketing 50” honor. • Men are able to join the party 2009: Shapewear Gets Chic With an astounding 85 employees, 200 products and 3,000 retail locations, company growth is on the rise. Spanx takes on new initiatives by launching a high-end, fashion-driven shapewear line, Haute Contour®, the Dessert of Shapewear®. Zoned Performance undershirts and Cotton Comfort underwear. Founder Bio Sara Blakely, Founder Throughout history, inventors have found inspiration from the strangest places. For Spanx Founder and Owner Sara Blakely, the inspiration came from VPL (visible panty lines) and uncomfortable thongs. A frustrated consumer turned entrepreneur, Sara invented footless pantyhose, created an international brand and led a shapewear revolution. Obsessed with creating comfortable, slimming garments that minimize figure flaws, Sara has created more than 200 problemsolving products and recently entered the on-the-go apparel business with the ground-breaking Spanx Active Collection. In 2006 Sara brought her shapewear know-how to more women with the national launch of ASSETS®, a collection of shapewear, swimwear, and legwear designed to help women achieve their own red carpet look for less. Continuing to raise the bar with innovative products women want, in 2009 Sara launched Haute Contour® by SPANX®, the Dessert of Shapewear®. Today, after many years of demand, Spanx also brings their industry expertise to the pool and the beach with swimwear and to men with reinvented undershirts and underwear. Chances are you’ve seen Sara flashing her SPANX on QVC, judging inventions on ABC’s American Inventor, or sharing tea with Richard Branson atop a hot air balloon at 10,000 feet on Fox’s The Rebel Billionaire. As the runner up on Rebel Billionaire, Sara received a $750,000 check from Branson to pursue her dream to start a foundation to empower women. Since launching the Sara Blakely Foundation in late 2006, Sara has contributed over $10 million through Spanx, Inc. and the Foundation to causes that support women. As an entertaining and sought-after speaker, Sara shares her story to inspire people to follow their dreams. Remaining self-funded and profitable ever since Sara used her own savings to start the company, Spanx continues to show incredible growth. SPANX are sold in America’s finest retailers and boutiques including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Dillards and Lord and Taylor, as well as high-end retailers in more than 35 countries around the world. ASSETS are sold at Target, JCPenney and www.spanx.com/assets. Sara’s story has been featured everywhere from The Oprah Winfrey Show, TODAY, The View, 20/20, USA Today, CNN, and CNBC. She has been named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and Georgia’s “Woman of the Year.” Sara and her husband Jesse reside in Atlanta and New York with their son Lazer. Sara is a native of Clearwater, Florida, and a graduate of Florida State University. ALL CONTENT IS AVAILABLE 24/7 AT: twitter @spanxinc: twitter.com/spanxinc HTTP://PRESS.SPANX.COM facebook: www.facebook.com/spanxinc Fun Facts Spanx was not going to venture into the sheers business—thankfully that fate was changed after a positive consultation from none other than Sara’s Lucky 8 Ball. Founded in 2000, Spanx is headquartered in Atlanta Sara Blakely carried an old-fashioned Eastpack from the early 1990s to her first SPANX sales meeting at Neiman Marcus. While her friends begged her SPANX has Sara is known to wear secured a place in wigs when she’s bored pop-culture, with or tired of being blonde. When she told her mom to swap the lucky red daily mentions backpack for a Prada everywhere from hair black, her mom bag, she had no shame. CNN to SNL. suggested she buy a It’s still her lucky bag, In 2010, Saturday although the buyer at Neiman’s seeing Sara in SPANX may have worked more than the backpack – She showed off the SPANX under her white pants, and the buyer immediately said, “I’ll buy Night Live featured she wanted to dye her wig instead, and that’s how her collection started. She has about a Baby SPANX 10 — all different colors, skit touting shapes, bobs, long hair, products that will short, feathered. “smooth out all of your babies unsightly bumps and 24/bulges.” 7 AT: HTTP://PRESS.SPANX.COM 3,000 pairs.”ALL CONTENT IS AVAILABLE twitter @spanxinc: twitter.com/spanxinc facebook: www.facebook.com/spanxinc Fun Facts The Spanx office is like no other! Since we wear test our products, it’s not uncommon for people to pull down their pants, pull up their skirts or strip down into a swimsuit—all on the job. Spanx tests every product on women (and men too) of all shapes and sizes to ensure the perfect fit. You’d never guess that the fit and fabulous Madonna, Fergie and Rihanna all have had stage costumes made out of SPANX®! Spanx mascot (our CEO’s poodle) Lou Lou is named after Loulou de la Falaise, fashion muse, friend, and creative partner to Yves Saint-Laurent. While she may be goofy, she was too short to actually be Goofy. Sara did get the part of a Chipmunk at Disney World but passed and helped people get on the rides instead! She had to walk on a moving sidewalk for eight hours a day in a brown polyester space suit and say: “Hi, welcome to Disney. Watch your step please.” After 5 years on the job, Spanx employees get to pick out a Cartier watch as appreciation for their talent and dedication! It took more than three years and 100 prototypes to create SPANX Bra-llelujah!® Underwire Contour, now many top retailers’ best-selling bra. SPANX By The Numbers Spanx has sold more than Spanx is privately held and reported an estimated nine million pairs of $350 million in retail sales in 2008. Footless Body-Shaping Of the 110 employees, 15 are men. Pantyhose since Sara launched in October 2000. Women around the world can get their Spanx on! We’re currently selling in more than 35 countries worldwide! In just 10 years, Spanx has donated $10 million dollars to charities and philanthropies on behalf of the Spanx and the Sara Blakely Foundation. Sara Blakely funded Spanx, Inc. To date, more than 6 million Spanx Power Panties have been sold worldwide. On her show, Oprah announced she’d “given up panties” and only wore Spanx, more than 20,000 pairs were sold that day with $5,000 of her own savings in 2000. She’s a fully self-funded entrepreneur. alone. Spanx is sold at more than 10,000 retail locations in the US.