How Left on Friday sees sales jump during peak seasons

Finding a white space in an already packed market can be a difficult task, but founders of performance-meets-fashion swimwear brand Left on Friday did just that. Laura Low Ah Kee and Shannon Savage leveraged their design and merchandising expertise from previous roles at Lululemon and blended them with their active lifestyle affinity to launch the brand in 2018.

“Our goal is to make one bathing suit that solves for both fashion and function in one, in a really premium way,” Low Ah Kee said. “[By] premium we mean fabric, fit, and hand feel. Ultimately, we’re solving for the active lifestyle.”

The founders self-funded the business, which has been profitable since the start, with under $150,000 combined. They credit Left on Friday’s success to its strong peak seasons, and the brand’s strong presence in the sports world.

Peak sales

Given the seasonal nature of Left on Friday’s offerings, the business sees sales jumps and declines depending on the time of year. According to Low Ah Kee, the business experiences “$2 million weeks in peak summer.”

Left on Friday follows a consistent merchandising strategy each year. The majority of styles drop in January to build up to spring break. April’s sales plateau, and then peak in June. July is still strong, but drops off in August. This merchandising strategy fuels the brand’s marketing strategy, which is more bullish during peak season.

“We’ve learned it’s better to grow swim when she’s looking for it, and if she’s not looking for it, it becomes very expensive for us to push along with them,” Low Ah Kee said. “[April is] just a flat month, so people are building to spring break.”

During offseason, the brand focuses on creating brand moments and initiatives, like its October Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign, in its fifth year.

Leveraging their product and merchandising experience from Lululemon has fueled the brand’s growth and helped sustain the business during offseasons.

“Everything that we did within product [at Lululemon] was always about the understanding of product margin and then gross margin and how that ends up impacting the overall margin of the company,” Savage said.

She stated Left on Friday earned $100,000 during its first summer in business. That number then grew to $1 million the next summer.

Sports-minded

Much of Left on Friday’s growth can be attributed to its presence in the sports world. Since its launch, its biggest partnership came during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when it became the official outfitter for Canada’s women’s beach volleyball team.

“We had some of our biggest growth even around our presence at the Paris Olympics because that really, from a global perspective, put us on the map,” Savage said.

Since then, the brand is going even deeper in the sports world. Left on Friday recently announced it is the official apparel sponsor for Volleyball World.

“For a small company to increase engagement with a sport that will have all eyes on it shortly and get in early is really smart,” said Anjali Bal, associate professor of marketing at Babson College, in an email statement to Revenue Brew. “The athletes will showcase the brand’s qualities and attributes and the brand will gain access to devoted fans. More importantly, Left on Friday is a brand that has always been committed to women and this athletic agreement is both authentic and an extension of that commitment.”

Left on Friday’s goal was to “win beach volleyball,” according to Low Ah Kee. The founders also want to make a meaningful entry into surfing.