Top 6 Women Founded and Owned Brands Making a Name For Themselves
We’re all about empowering entrepreneurs over here, and what better way to inspire than by sharing some of the success stories of incredibly successful women-founded and owned brands. Follow along as we highlight 6 unique businesses created by women, all in different sectors and requiring various trademarks.
Away Travel
The luxury and functional luggage line known as Away Travel made its name in 2015, thanks to Jen Rubio and Steph Korey. Jen–a former Warby Parker employee–came up with the concept after her luggage broke in Switzerland. She was embarrassed, frustrated, and eager to take the initiative to make a functional suitcase for anyone to get to their destination securely and in style. She then went on to craft the perfect luggage pieces for all genders, and her New York City-based business raised over $31 million in funding before it blasted off.
Away Travel is an incredible success story of a women-founded and owned American luggage and travel accessories retailer that has filed several trademarks, with their main trademark class being Class 18. Class 18 covers leather and imitations of leather and goods made of these materials and not included in other classes; animal skins, hides, trunks, and traveling bags, umbrellas, parasols and walking sticks, whips, harnesses, saddlery.
Kendra Scott
Kendra Scott’s jewelry line was created by none other than Kendra Scott–a mom, entrepreneur, and designer who began her business endeavors in 2002, just a few months after her first son was born. It is now a billion-dollar jewelry brand based out of Austin, Texas, that sells high-quality statement pieces for every occasion. Kendra Scott also sells household decor made primarily of stone, including non-precious metals, decorative boxes, display cases, and trays for domestic purposes, which all apply to different trademark classes.
For example, Kendra Scott has trademarked Class 6, which covers common metals and their alloys, metal building materials, transportable buildings of metal, materials of metal for railway tracks, non-electrical cables, and wires of common metal, pipes, and tubes of metal, and more. Another trademark category for Kendra Scott is Class 14, which protects all items associated with jewelry, such as precious metals, charms, fine clocks and watches, and the jewelry itself. Many jewelry brands in the space seek to mimic her sophisticated yet simple designs, but without a well-established name and business like Kendra’s to back their supply, they see very little success.
Milk Bar
Chef Christina Tosi–the founder of Milk Bar–is a renowned pastry chef who grew her business in the heart of NYC village. Milk Bar is an award-winning bakery and sweets shop, which was brought to life in 2008 and ever since it has become a massive hit for sweet tooth lovers everywhere. Just one bite of the good stuff, and you’ll understand why it’s so addictive.
Milk Bar features famous desserts–such as their signature Milk Bar Pie or Crack Pie–most of which transform familiar treats like classic cereals into impeccably delicious melt-in-your-mouth ice creams, milkshakes, pies, and cakes. To protect and provide goods and services, Chef Christina had to apply for trademarks in several classes, though her primary trademark category is Class 30–which covers coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, rice, tapioca, flour, and preparations made from cereals, bread, pastry, confectionery, etc. If you haven’t had a chance to try Milk Bar, you’re missing out.
Parachute Home
CEO and Founder Ariel Kaye found a niche in the bedding industry. Based in Venice Beach and founded in 2014, Ariel created the concept of Parachute Home–a retailer of high-quality bedding that crossbreeds design, comfort, and wellness. The look and feel of her bedding is unparalleled–it’s as though you’re sleeping on a cloud! Aside from having an amazing and easily marketable product, Ariel quickly made a name for herself by avoiding the brick and mortar route and opting for an online-only, direct to consumer business model.
Because Parachute Home’s branded bedding became such a hit, many other home decor and bedding companies began to sprout up with similar offerings in hopes of outperforming the business. Luckily, Ariel trademarked early on to prevent others from snatching her ideas. Her primary trademarking class is Class 20, which covers furniture, mirrors, picture frames, goods of wood, cork, reed, cane wicker, bone, ivory, shell, amber, etc.
Rent the Runway
Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss–the founders and CEOs of Rent the Runway–formed their business back in 2009 to help people from different backgrounds and incomes access expensive designer brands without having to break the bank. You can rent thousands of designer clothing brands’ most loved pieces, including jewelry, accessories like belts and hats and purses, dresses, and shoes.
Their online retail store service–featuring apparel, fashion, accessories, beauty, and cosmetics–are excellent for weddings and special occasions. You can explore different styles, discover designers, try new things, and find the most significant designer rental closet; there is even a rent-to-buy option if you absolutely cannot separate from the pieces you rented. The primary class for Rent the Runway is Class 035, which covers advertising, business management, business admin, office functions, and more. That said, of course they have other trademarks associated with renting and purchasing clothing from a third party. Due to their wild popularity, we are witnessing more and more clothing and accessory rental services attempt to work their way up the ladder in what was once a very niche space.
Spanx
Founded by Sarah Blakely in 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia, Spanx has become a supremely successful endeavor made by women, designed for women. This billion-dollar business manufactures and sells famous body shaping garments focused on comfort and delivering excellent results to their loyal customers. The idea formed when trying to come up with a solution for sucking in problem areas underneath clothing in order to help women feel more confident, and it stuck. Spanx lines the shelves of many clothing department stores such as Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Target. It has become so popular that it is often associated with any undergarment meant for body shaping.
The primary class for Spanx is Class 25, which covers clothing, footwear, and headgear. Of course, there are other classes Spanx trademarked, including the name itself, but this is the most important one as it relates to their lingerie, undergarments, activewear, clothing, and intimates.
Learning Lesson
If you have an invention or idea that you think could be beneficial to a specific target audience–or anyone for that matter–don’t waste any more time pouring your heart and soul into your business without first applying for proper trademarks. If your gut is telling you the idea is worthy of protection, you’ll surely regret holding off on protecting it if you decide to wait and another similar business model pops up out of the woodwork. But really, if you want your business to thrive like these women, it starts with trademarking–no one can mimic your concept AND sell it using your name.
Thank you for reading! We hope this article inspires you to find your passion, never stop creating, and dive deeper into your ideas until they are brought to life! Remember that you’ll want to do further research on trademark categories as they pertain to your business endeavors. If you’d like to discuss further with one of our established trademark consultants, we are happy to help you secure your ideas.