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Sara Blakely Uses Spanx To Make Women Look Good
AW caught up with the founder of the $150 million Atlanta-based company, Sara Blakely. Read about what reality show Blakley recently appeared on and what she did with the $750,000 prize money.
by Jessica Thomas
December 15, 2008
I
f you’r e a woman and you haven’t had your head stuck down a rabbit hole for a few years,
more than likely you know what Spanx are. In case you don’t, Spanx are the fabulous footless
shapewear sold at all the major retailers across town that will make you look like you have been
doing squats your whole life, even if you haven’t. Bottom line: They make your body look tight,
toned and simply great.
The founder of the reportedly $150 million Atlanta-based company, Sara Blakely, followed her
female instincts in her quest to look good while wearing white pants and came out on top. Blakely
maintains that she always hated wearing pantyhose, but they were a necessary evil in her previous
line of work – sales. But when she tried to wear white pants with open-toed shoes, visible panty
lines, figure flaws and other imperfections got in the way of looking her best, so she looked
toward the despised pantyhose to help her. Blakely took $5,000 in savings, invented and patented
footless pantyhose by herself and began her quest to create comfortable and functional shapewear
for every woman. Ultimately, Blakely came out a role model and a hero for women, inspiring
entrepreneurs everywhere.
“Working as a sales trainer by day and performing stand-up comedy at night, I didn't know
the first thing about the pantyhose industry, except I dreaded wearing most pantyhose. Also, I had
never taken a business class, which made the process [of starting my own company] even more
challenging. As a result, I had only one source to operate from: my gut,” Blakely says, explaining
that one should trust his or her instincts.
After cutting off the feet of a pair of pantyhose to wear underneath her white pants,
Blakely knew she was onto something big. So she read several books on trademarks and patents and
researched pantyhose patents at the Georgia Tech Library at night after she finished her sales job
for the day. She then approached several lawyers who thought her idea was so crazy that they later
admitted thinking she had been sent as a joke. Eventually she wrote the patent herself and later
found a lawyer who helped her with the document. The patent was approved, and Blakely successfully
trademarked her idea.
Now that the product was trademarked, Blakely needed to not only find a manufacturer but
also needed to find stores willing to sell her product and catch the eye of consumers. She drove
around North Carolina trying to get mill owners to manufacture her product. They always asked the
same three questions: "And you are?" "And you are representing?" "And you are financially backed
by?" When Blakely replied to all three questions with her name, most of them sent her away, not to
mention they thought the idea "made no sense and would never sell." But at last she received a call
from a mill owner who said he "decided to help make my crazy idea." Asked why he had the change of
heart, he said, "I have two daughters." Turns out they didn't think the idea was silly at all.
And maybe it just took a woman’s thought process to wrap her head around the mere idea of
Spanx, but in the end one of the most powerful women in the world threw her support behind Blakely
and her idea – Oprah Winfrey. Blakely’s hard work and gumption are proof that no matter what you
do, if you have a dream and are willing to work hard, you can succeed. Blakely also appeared on the
reality TV show The Rebel Billionaire and won $750,000, which she used to start the Sara Blakely
Foundation to help women worldwide through education and entrepreneurship.
