FIGS: Trina Spear and Heather Hasson. The $2.5 Billion Scrubs Brand That Investors Said Would Never Work

概览

FIGS co-founders Heather Hasson and Trina Spear explain how they transformed medical scrubs from an overlooked uniform into a design-led, direct-to-consumer product. Heather discovered the problem through her fashion background, charitable work in Kenya, and conversations with healthcare professionals; Trina validated the commercial opportunity through market research and financial analysis.

Their complementary partnership combined product development with operations, fundraising, and disciplined business modeling. After selling scrubs outside emergency rooms and learning directly from clinicians, they built a brand around “technical comfort,” better fit, and respect for healthcare workers.

The conversation follows FIGS through hundreds of investor rejections, rapid growth, a major legal battle, the COVID-19 pandemic, and its 2021 IPO. The founders conclude that market valuations and personal wealth are temporary, while purpose, resilience, community, and readiness for opportunity have more lasting value.

分段落总结

[02:13] An Overlooked Market for Better Scrubs

[事实] Host Guy Raz introduces FIGS as a company founded by Heather Hasson and Trina Spear to redesign hospital scrubs.

[事实] The founders identified a market of approximately 24 million healthcare workers in the United States, many of whom had long relied on unattractive, baggy uniforms.

[事实] FIGS formally launched in 2013 and later became a publicly traded company valued at more than $2.5 billion at the time described in the episode.

[05:06] Heather’s Unconventional Path into Design

[事实] Heather initially wanted to become a reconstructive surgeon because the profession combined art and science, but academic difficulties prevented her from pursuing medicine.

[事实] After college, she worked in fashion and started a handbag company with an Italian business partner named Steven.

[事实] The handbag venture ended after Steven died from lung cancer at approximately 36 years old.

[08:42] Kenya, Uniforms, and a New Sense of Purpose

[事实] Following the loss of her business partner, Heather traveled to northern Kenya without a defined professional plan.

[事实] She learned that some children could not attend school because they lacked uniforms, inspiring her to sell ties and scarves to fund school clothing.

[事实] Heather says the initiative ultimately helped put approximately 10,000 children in school.

[事实] At a Kenyan clinic, she also saw experienced medical workers operating without proper scrubs and began making small batches for them.

[14:22] Discovering the Scrubs Problem at Home

[事实] Back in Los Angeles, Heather observed hospitals, visited scrub stores, and noticed that healthcare professionals were expected to accept boxy, uncomfortable clothing and a poor retail experience.

[事实] After she tailored a nurse practitioner friend’s scrubs, other clinicians began asking for the same service.

[事实] Concluding that no compelling alternative existed, Heather found a manufacturer willing to support an initial production run and began selling scrubs from her car outside emergency rooms.

[19:09] Trina Recognizes the Business Opportunity

[事实] Trina met Heather in 2012 while working at Blackstone after graduating from Harvard Business School.

[事实] Heather’s vision—that elite athletic brands created technical gear for athletes while few companies designed comparable products for people saving lives—resonated with Trina.

[事实] Trina spent roughly six months researching the industry before leaving her job.

[事实] Her analysis found that healthcare apparel was mandatory, replenishment-driven, non-seasonal, and relatively resistant to recessions.

[事实] She also found that 85% of healthcare professionals bought their own uniforms, even though incumbent manufacturers primarily sold through distributors.

[24:39] Validating the Product on Hospital Sidewalks

[事实] Before formally joining FIGS, Trina traveled to Los Angeles and helped Heather sell tops and pants outside emergency rooms during shift changes.

[事实] The founders used these interactions to ask clinicians about fit, pockets, tool storage, comfort, and shortcomings in their existing uniforms.

[事实] Heather developed the idea of “technical comfort,” combining stretch, softness, functional design, and more sophisticated colors.

[事实] In January 2013, Trina left Blackstone, moved to Los Angeles, and joined FIGS full-time.

[27:32] A Complementary Founding Partnership

[事实] Heather initially resisted taking on a partner because a manufacturer was already financing production and she believed she could proceed independently.

[事实] She changed her mind after recognizing that she and Trina were highly competitive but possessed complementary skills and interests.

[事实] Trina liquidated a $140,000 retirement account, lost roughly half to taxes, and invested the remaining $70,000 while still carrying business-school debt.

[事实] They agreed that Heather would retain the larger equity share because she had created the product and built the company before Trina joined.

[事实] Trina says they avoided becoming preoccupied with comparing their respective stakes because success or failure would affect both of them.

[34:45] Building the Product and Early Operations

[事实] The founders lived together in a two-bedroom apartment, stored inventory in the living room, and fulfilled Shopify orders themselves.

[事实] They tested manufacturing in Los Angeles, China, and Vietnam, returning temporarily to Los Angeles to perfect quality and fit before moving production overseas again.

[事实] Heather worked directly with factories, dye houses, and yarn mills to develop proprietary fabrics, while Trina managed operations and fundraising.

[事实] Early products included gender-specific fits, slim pants, a sleeveless Rafaela top, and layering garments the founders called underscrubs.

[事实] Styles initially dismissed as unconventional became some of the company’s strongest sellers.

[40:01] Choosing Direct-to-Consumer Distribution

[事实] Attempts to sell large quantities directly to hospitals and clinics produced little traction because administrators were not the primary users or purchasers of the product.

[事实] FIGS instead built direct relationships with healthcare professionals, initially one customer at a time and later at scale.

[事实] By avoiding distributors and licensing fees, FIGS could spend approximately twice as much on production while charging only 15% to 20% more than conventional competitors.

[事实] Digital advertising helped reach customers, but word of mouth inside densely populated healthcare institutions became the company’s largest acquisition driver.

[推测] The direct model succeeded because each clinician wearing FIGS could visibly demonstrate the product to colleagues in the same workplace.

[43:07] Hundreds of Investor Rejections

[事实] The founders estimate that they received between 300 and 400 rejections while raising institutional capital.

[事实] Investors repeatedly argued that healthcare workers did not care about their appearance or that the addressable market was too small.

[事实] The founders treated prolonged uncertainty as rejection and pursued “fast noes” so they could move quickly to the next prospect.

[事实] FIGS initially raised $2 million, followed by a $1 million bridge round, another $2 million round, and then $5 million, bringing total funding to $10 million.

[事实] Thomas Tull invested in the seed and Series A rounds and, in 2017, bought out the other investors while providing additional capital.

[49:17] Growth, Control, and a Concentrated Investor Base

[事实] Thomas Tull’s investment structure left Heather and Trina with two of the company’s three board seats, preserving founder control.

[事实] The founders contrasted his support with another investor group that had attempted to remove them as operators.

[事实] FIGS recorded approximately $1 million in sales in 2015, $4 million in 2016, $55 million in 2018, $110 million in 2019, and $263 million in 2020.

[事实] By 2017, the business was profitable and no longer depended on continuous fundraising.

[52:09] A Costly Legal Battle

[事实] Strategic Partners, an incumbent medical-apparel company, sued FIGS over claims including false product statements and alleged misuse of trade secrets.

[事实] The legal dispute began in 2019 and concluded in early 2022 with a jury ruling in FIGS’s favor.

[事实] FIGS spent approximately $40 million in direct legal costs, excluding the founders’ time and the broader organizational burden.

[事实] The founders chose to go to trial because the plaintiff was seeking approximately $800 million and because they believed the allegations were unfounded.

[事实] Trina says their candid anger and authenticity during the trial helped jurors understand the impact of the case.

[57:48] Responding to COVID-19

[事实] During the pandemic, FIGS shifted parts of its supply chain to produce masks and other protective equipment.

[事实] The company sold some masks but donated isolation gowns, protective suits, and other PPE.

[事实] Demand exceeded supply, leaving products sold out across the website.

[事实] The founders credit long-standing manufacturing relationships with helping the company respond despite severe supply-chain disruption.

[59:55] The IPO and the Volatility of Paper Wealth

[事实] FIGS went public in May 2021 after establishing substantial scale, revenue, and profitability.

[事实] The founders brought 150 healthcare professionals to the New York Stock Exchange and had them participate in the bell-ringing ceremony.

[事实] After the IPO, FIGS shares rose to around $50 and the founders appeared on lists of wealthy women; the following year, the stock fell to approximately $5 and they disappeared from those lists.

[事实] Trina describes company valuations ranging from roughly $8 billion to $400–600 million and later back to around $2 billion.

[事实] She argues that fluctuating valuations should not determine either personal self-worth or one’s emotional sense of financial worth.

[63:58] Purpose Beyond Valuation

[事实] The founders say they continue operating FIGS with the same passion they had at the beginning.

[事实] They established a foundation, built a hospital in Kenya, and created an advocacy platform for healthcare professionals.

[事实] They stress that philanthropy and advocacy depend on first maintaining a profitable, sustainable business.

[事实] Heather stepped down as co-CEO in 2022 and became board chair, while Trina continued as sole CEO.

[事实] Trina acknowledges that intense focus on the company required substantial personal sacrifices and that she has only recently begun devoting more attention to relationships, tennis, and therapy.

[66:32] Future Growth and the Role of Luck

[事实] FIGS has approximately three million active customers compared with an estimated 140 million healthcare professionals worldwide.

[事实] Trina believes the company has barely begun to reach its potential within healthcare and expects that market to provide a long growth runway.

[事实] Both founders attribute their success to a combination of luck, persistence, preparation, team quality, and resilience when circumstances became unfavorable.

[事实] Heather emphasizes maintaining optimism, while Trina says that positivity also shaped FIGS’s communications with healthcare workers during COVID-19.

播客点评/总结

[推测] The episode’s greatest value lies in showing how a large business can emerge from a neglected professional category. FIGS did not invent the need for scrubs; it recognized that an essential product and its users had received little design attention, then treated those users as a distinct community rather than a narrow niche.

[推测] The founders’ complementary skills are another notable lesson. Heather supplied emotional conviction, design instincts, and close attention to the product, while Trina contributed market analysis, operational discipline, and fundraising experience. Their direct contact with clinicians connected both sides of the partnership to real customer behavior.

[推测] The discussion is strongest when it examines rejection, founder control, legal pressure, and volatile public-market valuations. It is less detailed about later operational challenges, competitive threats, and the financial tradeoffs of rapid growth, so listeners receive more of the founders’ perspective than a comprehensive independent assessment.

[推测] This episode is especially useful for consumer-brand founders, product designers, investors studying overlooked markets, and entrepreneurs considering a partnership. Its central lesson is that durable differentiation can come from respecting an underserved customer, improving an ordinary product, and remaining focused after the initial insight becomes obvious to competitors.