Gen Z underwear start-up Parade snapped up by Fruit of the Loom license-holder

Gen Z-run underwear brand Parade Inc. has been bought by intimates-maker Ariela & Associates International LLC for an undisclosed sum, becoming the latest direct-to-consumer lingerie retailer to be snapped up by a larger competitor.

Ariela & Associates, which holds the master license to sell Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s Fruit of the Loom underwear, announced the sale in a statement Tuesday. Parade was valued at $200 million last August, according to founder Cami Téllez.

The intimates industry is undergoing rapid consolidation as establishment companies buy brands aimed at younger consumers. Victoria’s Secret & Co. bought Adore Me.com Inc. for at least $400 million in November and FullBeauty Brands Inc. acquired CUUP Inc. in July. 

Téllez, who dropped out of Columbia University in 2019 to start Parade, implied she may be leaving the company in a Slack message seen by Business Insider, adding that she was “not making even a single dollar in the sale.”

Ariela & Associates said in an emailed statement that conversations with Téllez “remain ongoing, as the parties continue to explore go forward responsibilities.” The “vast majority” of Parade employees have been offered jobs, the company said. 

Téllez took aim at Victoria’s Secret directly when she started Parade, telling Bloomberg it “made me feel like I wasn’t enough” and “wasn’t a brand for me or for people who looked like me.”