Armoire swapped party wear for loungewear and turned a profit in the pandemic (interview)
When lockdowns killed demand for work and event wear in 2020, Armoire pivoted to loungewear, briefly turned a profit and rehired every furloughed worker.
What was changed
On the GeekWire podcast in February 2022, founder and CEO Ambika Singh recounted how Armoire — the Seattle women's clothing-rental subscription she started in 2016 for work and event dressing — was on a roll when the pandemic hit: the business had grown nearly 400% in 2019 and February 2020 set a company record. Then members stopped needing to dress for offices and events, and she braced for the customer base to evaporate. It never did.
Members wanted the habit without the sequins. Armoire pivoted its inventory into athleisure and cashmere loungewear — a category it had never carried. 'I didn't know that sweatpants can cost $500,' Singh said. 'We dressed people for what they were looking for.' The move worked: the long-term membership base grew and the company briefly turned a profit during the pandemic, which she called an extraordinary milestone for a growth-stage startup in an existential crisis.
Armoire raised a new round from high-profile investors to extend its runway, rehired everyone it had furloughed to reach 50 employees, and expanded its footprint in Seattle's Pioneer Square. It was also opening a facility that uses RFID to create a contactless boutique shopping experience for members, blending digital and in-person commerce.
Why it worked
Members kept their subscriptions even when offices and events vanished — proof the rental habit itself, not the wardrobe, was the product.
The inventory could be swapped without changing the operating model, so pivoting cost less than shutting down.
Loungewear met members' pandemic lives, converting a work-wear service into an everyday one.
What can be applied
A habit business can survive its use case dying: if members love the service, swap the inventory to fit their new lives instead of writing the company off.
Aftermath
By February 2022 Armoire had reopened its office on a voluntary basis, with remote work fully optional for roles that allowed it, and was about to open the RFID-based contactless boutique facility. Singh said the retention showed the company had 'created a sticky habit that brought people joy' — and that its persistence through the pandemic was the strongest proof of that yet.