Back in July, Ty Haney officially announced her plan to return to Outdoor Voices, the brand she created in 2013 and led until 2020. With her return comes the new OV Hike Collection, including The Boulder Dress, named for her hometown and the place she once again calls home base.
Haney grew up just a few blocks from Chautauqua Park. She attended Flatirons Elementary, Southern Hills, and Boulder High School, where she ran track and cross-country. She says her mom’s identical twin, Auntie Em, taught her how to hurdle over a broomstick in the backyard, and she eventually went on to hold school records for a time.
“Growing up in Boulder is a dream,” says Haney. “The nature, activities, neighbors, animals, recreation, etc.—we are just so lucky.”
She moved to New York for college and lived in the city for 11 years, but she was always so proud to say she grew up in Boulder. She loves being able to once again head to Enchanted Mesa trail for a hike, Eben G Fine Park for a quick dip, and Mustard’s Last Stand for a quick bite. She thinks it’s the best place in the world to raise a family and is a mom to a five-year-old daughter, Sunny, and a three-year-old son, Champie.
Growing up, her parents were entrepreneurs, and she says she’s also been blessed (or cursed) with the bug. Her mom and aunt had a sportswear brand, Fresh Produce, and she’d create designs for her dad’s screen-printing and embroidery company. This gave her an acute awareness of how challenging the apparel business can be with inventory, sizing, etc., and she was initially averse to creating an apparel company.
“The opportunity to... inspire people to move their bodies for the fun of it, with friends, every day through a motto we call ‘Doing Things’ felt too good to pass up,” says Haney. “And I happened to be quite good at making technical products people love.”
Haney is someone who has always required daily activity to show up as her best self. When she moved to NYC and began studying at Parsons, she noticed just how important it was when she no longer had mountains, teammates, games, and coaches to keep her active. She thinks of running as kinetic meditation and always thinks the most clearly during and after aerobic exercise.
She’s recently also gotten into show jumping horses and says it’s the most exhilarating minute or so, flying over fences as fast as you can. Horses have become a very important aspect of her life and routine, as the presence required to not fall off is the exact medicine she needs as she tackles life and not one but three businesses.
Reflecting back on her first time at OV, she says that 90% of that first chapter—building from zero to $100M—was amazing. The remaining 10% was brutal but a masterclass. It was very difficult to leave the company she founded, but it was the right choice at the time and has since led to TYB and now Joggy.
Returning to OV, she’s excited to continue to have fun with seasonality and dresses. The Exercise Dress was a style made famous in her first chapter—and The Boulder Dress is the perfect example of where they’re headed.