Investing

This Woman Turned Her $5,000 of Savings into a Fashion Empire

Aaron Webber

Published: August 29, 2024 8:30 am

Similar to how the word Band-Aid transformed from a brand name to the word we use to refer to any bandage, Sara Treleaven Blakely created the company, Spanx, which replaced “shapewear” in the cultural zeitgeist.

#1 Early Life

Sara Treleaven Blakely was born in 1971 in Clearwater, Florida. She attended Clearwater High School and earned a graduate degree in communications and was a Delta Delta Delta Sorority member. After scoring low on the Law School Admission Test, she went to work at Walk Disney World for three months and tried her hand at stand-up comedy.

#2 Working for Danka

She then worked as a door-to-door salesperson for Danka, selling fax machines. After great success, she was promoted to National Sales Trainer by the time she was 25. Pantyhose were part of her Danka uniform, so she brainstormed how she could achieve the control-top effect of pantyhose without the ugliness of the seamed foot.

#3 Cutting Pantyhose

She experimented by wearing a pair of cut pantyhose under slacks. It gave her the look she wanted, but the pantyhose continually rolled up her legs. By the age of 27, she had relocated to Atlanta, Georgia. She researched and developed her idea for the next two years, spending $5,000 of her savings.

#4 Selling Her Idea

She traveled to North Carolina to present her idea to hosiery mills. She was turned away by every representative in the Hosiery Capital of America. When she returned home, she received a phone call from an owner in Asheboro who reconsidered her concept after telling his three daughters and offered to support her.

#5 The Spanx Trademark

In 2000, she took a year to produce the initial prototype. She realized that the hosiery industry was led solely by men, who didn’t even use hosiery products, and she saw an opportunity to change the industry. She acquired the “Spanx” trademark for $150. She arranged a meeting with Neiman Marcus where she proved how amazing her product was by changing into Spanx in the ladies’ room in front of the buyer.

#6 Getting off the Ground

Spanx then started being sold in department stores. The same year, she sent a gift basket to Oprah Winfrey that included a gift card and a detailed explanation of her innovation. She asked friends and acquaintances to buy her products from the participating department stores in exchange for a check.

#7 Oprah’s Favorite Things

Spanx achieved national representation in 2000 when Oprah Winfrey added Blakely’s products to her “Favorite Things,“ list which catapulted sales and popularity. She was making enough money to leave Danka.

#8 Growing Success

In its first year, Spanx generated $4 million in sales. In its second year, it generated $10 million. By 2001, she signed a contract with QVC. In 2005, she won second place in the contest reality television series, The Rebel Billionaire, where she met Richard Branson who supported her endeavors and became her mentor.

#9 Sara Blakely Foundation

In 2006, she started the Sara Blakely Foundation which aims to help empower women through entrepreneurial training and education. Richard Branson donated $750,000 to start her foundation. She appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006 and donated $1 million to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.

#10 Forbes List

In 2008, she married the co-founder of Marquis Jet, Jesse Itzler, who had been helping her run Spanx since 2000. The two had 4 children together, and Blakely converted to Judaism. By 2012, she was on the cover of Forbesand was recognized as the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world, and the following year the publication named her the 93rd Most Powerful Woman in The World.

#11 Buying Atlanta Hawks

She was part of a group that purchased the Atlanta Hawks in 2015, and in 2021, she sold a majority stake in Spanx to The Blackstone Group. She stayed with the company as the Executive Chairwoman and had an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion. She gifted $10,000 and two first-class tickets to any destination to each of her 750 employees.