Threads was born from Xenia Chen’s personal frustrations with the tights and hosiery shopping experience.
The Toronto-based hosiery company launched 2018 with $10K of her own savings and no prior textiles background.
Today:
- ~7 years in business; 50,000+ customers
- 250+ independent boutique stockists (entered wholesale in 2022 by design—prioritizing small, local partners)
- 3,000+ five-star reviews and a 40–45% repurchase rate; returns <1%
- Named “Best Tights” by The Kit; featured on Dragons’ Den; voted Best in Legwear by retailers every year since entering wholesale.
“Threads is a Canadian direct-to-consumer brand that makes hosiery, tights, and intimates for both women and men. I started it in 2018 because I was frustrated with my own tights shopping experience while working in finance. I was either spending $10 on flimsy pairs that fell apart quickly, or $70 on luxury options that still didn’t last,” said Chen.
“What makes Threads different is that every product is designed based on the feedback and input from hundreds of real wearers. Our bestselling pair of tights, The Sheer Contour, for example, have a contoured waistband, longer leg lengths, and reinforced toes…these are all the little details that people told me they wished existed, and that actually make a big difference for the comfort of the wearer. We have people every week writing in, telling us that these are the comfiest tights they’ve ever worn. Beyond the product, inclusivity is a big part of our brand: we were the first hosiery company to market directly to men, which is a large part of our customer demographic today.”
Chen started Threads due to a personal need. Tights were a daily part of her work wardrobe when she was working on Bay Street, but it felt like such a pain point.
“I had tried so many different brands out there but most of them were expensive, uncomfortable and just overall unimpressive. This was very surprising to me given the fact that tights are such a wardrobe staple for women,” she said.
“When I started talking to my female coworkers, I realized they all felt the same frustration. That was the motivation for me to want to create something better: tights that lasted longer, fit better, and were priced fairly.”
Chen never thought she would be an entrepreneur.
“I studied commerce at Queen’s and started my career in finance in investment banking right out of school. But tights were part of my daily
uniform, and I couldn’t shake how much I hated buying and wearing them,” she explained.
“At first, it was just a side project: I invested $10,000 of my own savings for the initial production run to see if people would be interested in a more modern take on tights. The data showed me there was a real opportunity, so I started building Threads in the evenings and weekends. Eventually, in 2019, I left my job in private equity to go all in on it.
What have been keys to the success of this company?
“First, listening to customers from the very beginning: our designs came directly from hundreds of women (and later men) telling us what they loved and hated about traditional tights,” noted Chen.
“Second, I think remaining true to our values and what’s important to the end customer. Another thing that I think doesn’t get talked about as much is the simple act of not giving up and putting one foot in front of the other, even when it gets hard. Entrepreneurship is full of ups and downs, but sticking it out has been so important.
“My biggest piece of advice (to would-be entrepreneurs) would be to make sure you’re solving an actual problem or frustration. Your idea is most likely to work as long as you are helping improve people’s lives in some way or another.”
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