For someone who manufactures athletic wear, Tyler Haney has a refreshing viewpoint on exercise.
Instead of “going for the burn,” Haney wants people to simply move — and do it in comfort and style.
Her mantra — doing things is better than not doing things — is taking Haney’s business, Outdoor Voices, to levels beyond her wildest dreams.
Haney, 27, was recently listed in Forbes magazine’s “30 under 30,” where young entrepreneurs are noted for their accomplishments.
The exposure, she said, “has definitely helped make things come together a lot quicker than I expected. It’s also helped validate our vision to become a competitive outdoor clothing brand.”
Haney visited with this Register reporter from OV’s headquarters in New York City. She also has a store in Austin, Texas, which Haney refers to as “my spiritual home.”
“People’s perspective on life is just so healthy there,” she said.
Haney is the granddaughter of Iola’s Mary Anna Haney. Her dad is Bob Haney, a 1975 graduate of Iola High School.
Tyler’s success comes as no suprise to her grandmother.
“Anything she sets her mind to, she finishes,” Mary Anna said.
Mary Anna recalled how as a teenager, Tyler would sew her own clothes.
“She’d go to the mall and scope out the fashions, then go home and design her own patterns,” she said.
Tyler comes by her sewing talent naturally. Mary Anna also was an avid seamstress as well as upholsterer.
When it comes to Tyler’s athletic wear, her grandmother turns wistful.
“I would have liked to been able to wear them as a young woman,” she said. “Today, I’ve got too many lumps and bumps,” for the material that while form-fitting, “is so soft.”
Mary Anna, 87, is equally amazed at the seemingly limitless opportunities for today’s young women.
“When I was young, we’d never even consider starting our own business,” she said. “Tyler never seems to think about boundaries.”
Mary Anna Cornell grew up in Iola. She and Robert Haney were married for 57 years before he passed away in 2004.
Today, Mary Anna’s dog, Nick, a 7-year-old Bichon Frise, keeps her company, as well as a strong network of friends.
TYLER GREW up in Boulder, Colo., home of svelte silhouettes toned by a lifestyle that weaves physical activity into its everyday fabric.
As a youth, Haney fit right in, riding her bike to school, participating in track and basketball, and skiing and hiking in the nearby mountains for recreation.
She’s also a noted equestrian, her grandmother said, competing in dressage. “But she’s had to put that on the back-burner.”
When Tyler graduated from high school in 2007, she took a year off before attending college.
First we went to Austin, and then back east.
“For some reason, I found myself moving to New York City,” she said. “I was attracted to the energy there.”
She was accepted into the elite Parsons School of Art and Design where she majored in business.
In addition to her business studies she took a natural detour, coupling her love of outdoor sports with that of fashion. She became intrigued with the search for a material conducive to exercise that was not as confining as a tight-weave Spandex.
“I worked for a balance between feminine and athletic,” she said of her clothing line that began with leggings, sweats, sports bras, tank tops and hoodies. She has since expanded with a men’s line of workout wear.
Still an avid athlete, Haney said said she toured fabric mills looking for a material’s ability to wick away sweat but not be confining.
“There wasn’t anything on the market that had all the qualities I was looking for,” she said.
Haney said family and friends, “including my grandma” were initial investors in developing her line of clothing. “Then I started meeting with big-time ‘angel’ investors. That was the not-too beautiful phase.” That said, today she has an enviable base of investors “who believe in our potential.”
Outdoor Voices officially launched in 2012. The name refers to the natural rebellion every child feels when their parent admonishes them to “Speak with your indoor voice.”
That said, Haney’s clothes trend to a muted palette. There’s no bright neon. Her models do not glisten with sweat or flex bulging muscles.
“This is about living an active lifestyle; not about being an athlete, per se,” she said.
Today, Haney has a crew of 47, the majority based in NYC.
“This location started as a pop-up shop,” she said, referring to a store whose lifespan is expected to be only a few months. Instead, the store took off, and now Haney is about to open a permanent location in NYC.
About 70 percent of Haney’s sales are online, she said.
To help launch the line, Outdoor Voices signed on with retailer J. Crew for a limited period of time.
“That gave us good exposure, but we eventually opted out. We wanted to own our relationship with the customer,” she said.
