Parade grew on free underwear, then sold and closed.
Thousands of small Instagram accounts got free pairs and posted them. Sales passed $125M in three and a half years. A lingerie manufacturer, Ariela & Associates International, bought the brand in August 2023 and closed it on October 28, 2025.
BLOOM10X did not work with Parade. This breakdown uses public sources only, linked below.
- 2019Manifesto goes viral, 70,000 sign up before launch
- 2020$10M in revenue during the pandemic
- Sep 2021$20M Series B at a $140M valuation
- Mar 2023In about 400 Target stores
- Aug 2023Sold to Ariela & Associates, founder out
- Jun 2024Walmart launch in 750+ stores
- Oct 2025Closes after six years
Fast sales, thin returns on capital.
Four plays a smaller brand can copy.
-
Build the list before the product
As a Columbia student, Cami Téllez wrote a manifesto in a Google Doc calling for “the end of the Victoria’s Secret Angels” and shared it with an underwear survey in college groups. 70,000 people signed up before there was a product (The Cut, Mar 2023).
Copy this: before your next launch, publish the opinion behind it and collect emails with a two-question survey.
-
Gift to small accounts at volume
An early contractor compiled lists of hundreds of Instagram accounts; a couple thousand followers was enough. Ambassadors earned $15 a TikTok, $10 a post and $3 a Story (The Cut). By October 2021 Parade had 5,000 brand ambassadors, and staff hand-packed 500+ boxes before each launch (CNBC).
Copy this: pay small creators a flat fee per post on top of the free product, and track which ones bring repeat buyers.
-
Low price, many colors, limited drops
In April 2021 every Universal thong was $8, sizes XS–3XL, with “Limited Edition” colorways like Cherry Pie and Burnt Sugar (yourparade.com, archived). A January 2021 lander gave 25% off six or more pairs.
The Cut counted 37 styles in 190 colors by March 2023.
Copy this: keep one core price and release new colors on a schedule, so fans have a reason to buy again without a discount.
-
Send the community into stores
For the June 2024 Walmart launch in 750+ stores, Parade paid its “Parade Friends” a $40 credit up front to buy the line and post reels of the trip, with a content guide and a receipt deadline (yourparade.com, archived). Target came first, in about 400 stores in March 2023 (Business Insider).
Copy this: when you land a retailer, pay creators to film the in-store purchase in the launch week, when the shelf needs sell-through.
Money in, price down, brand gone.
Raised, sold, valued, paid out
The price signal, 2021 to 2025
- Growth and profit pulled apart. Business of Fashion reported that investors, executives and the founder could not agree on growth versus profitability and “ended up with the worst of both worlds.”
- The buyer did not keep the founder. Téllez told 48 staff that the buyer had decided she was “no longer a part of the deal.” The brand closed 26 months after the sale.
- Discounts became the message. The site’s own description moved from “Starting at $8 a pair” (2022) to “Starting at $5 a pair” (2025).
- The name did not survive. On Nov 10, 2026, yourparade.com redirected to Parade Organics, an unrelated baby-clothing brand.
Three snapshots of the same store.
Saved copies of yourparade.com from the Wayback Machine. Pick a year.
- 1Proof at the top“7,500+ Reviews” above the headline, 15 months after launch.
- 2A reason to buy now“It’s a new year, it’s time for new underwear!” on a page built for one offer: 25% off six or more pairs with code SIX25.
- 3Two promisesUnderwear that won’t “roll down or dig in,” made from recycled materials, then a size picker before any product grid.
“You’re invited!”
Parade Friends got a $40 credit in advance to buy at Walmart, a content guide asking for reels of the shopping trip, and deadlines to confirm and upload a receipt.
“Grab something to remember us by”
The last archived banner announced the October 28 closing. Business of Fashion counted 42 underwear styles left, all at 50% off.
Screenshots of archived pages, captured Nov 10, 2026. Product photos did not load in the archive. Click an image to enlarge.
“We know that celebrity is ephemeral and community is forever.”
Keep the gifting, fix the math.
- Cost every gift. Téllez told The Cut she didn’t know how much underwear Parade had given away beyond “thousands.” We’d log the cost of each pair sent and the repeat orders it brought in.
- Hold the price. At $8 a pair there is little room for codes. We’d use new colors, not discounts, to bring buyers back.
- Raise only what profit can repay. $50M+ raised against $125M of lifetime sales left the brand chasing growth it could not fund.
Six moves for a $1M–$10M brand.
- Send product to 100 small creators and track repeat buyers per creator. Creator seeding
- Work out your margin per pair after gifts, fees and returns. Margin calculator
- Know what a customer is worth before you buy one. CAC calculator
- Check how long a buyer takes to pay back. LTV calculator
- Bring buyers back with new colors by email, not codes. Retention
- Rerun your best creator posts as ads from their handles. Partnership ads guide
Where every number comes from.
- Morgan Smith, “This 24-year-old dropped out of Columbia to build a $140 million underwear brand,” CNBC Make It, Oct 8, 2021. cnbc.com
- Kristin Stoller, “This College Dropout’s $200 Million Company Is Changing How Gen Z Buys Underwear,” Forbes, Nov 1, 2022. forbes.com
- Brock Colyar, “Do Those Free Panties Make You Feel Good About Yourself?,” The Cut, Mar 9, 2023. thecut.com
- Melkorka Licea, “Underwear brand Parade sold; CEO Cami Téllez tells staff she’s being pushed out,” Business Insider, Aug 15, 2023. businessinsider.com
- Malique Morris, “What Happened at Parade,” Business of Fashion, Nov 9, 2023 (summary). businessoffashion.com
- Jessica Kwon, “Intimates Brand Parade to Shutter After 6 Years,” Business of Fashion, Oct 27, 2025. businessoffashion.com
- yourparade.com, archived by the Wayback Machine: /pages/6for25 (Jan 24, 2021), /collections/underwear (Apr 19, 2021), /pages/parade-edu (May 17, 2022), /collections/all (Feb 23, 2024 and Oct 25, 2025), /pages/parade-x-walmart-community (Jun 17, 2024). web.archive.org
- yourparade.com, live check on Nov 10, 2026 (redirects to paradeorganics.com).
