Every time Lynn Le stepped into a gym, one thing always bugged her. None of them had boxing or mixed martial arts gloves that were made for women.
“There was a legit problem where women were wearing gloves that didn’t fit them,” says Le, a member at Portland’s WeWork Custom House. “They were wearing men’s gloves or a youth large. A youth large isn’t a women’s glove. There was a lack of fit, and that leads to injuries.”
And the women’s boxing gloves on the market had one big problem, at least as far as Le was concerned.
“They were usually bubble gum pink,” she says.
That gave the 27-year-old entrepreneur the idea to launch Society Nine, a sports apparel company for “badass women.” Its boxing gloves come in white, black, and gold and have designs resembling shattered glass. There’s not a pink pair in the bunch.
Women can fill out their athletic wardrobes with Society Nine’s whole line, which includes hoodies and sweatpants (perfect for warming up before you step into the ring) and a faux crocodile skin cap (for celebrating afterward).
And the name Society Nine? It’s a riff on Title IX, a much-praised federal civil rights law that guarantees equality in college sports.
Not a bad business model, since women make up about a quarter of the $50 billion combat sports market.
Learning how to fight
On a trip to Israel her junior year of college, Le discovered Krav Maga, a self-defense system developed for the Israel Defense Forces. She loved it so much that when she returned to the U.S., she found a gym and started training six days a week. Two years ago, she earned her brown belt in Krav Maga.
But Krav Maga isn’t her only passion. Along the way, she’s been teaching kickboxing and picking up another combat sport called Muay Thai.
Society Nine’s team includes Rafael Montes, an elite boxing trainer, who designs the gloves. He’s designed equipment for the Navy SEALs, so he knows his stuff. And Meghan Sekone-Fraser, a Muay Thai competitor and championship rower, serves as director of sales.
Le says her goal is to put out a product that none of her customers will want to return. To accomplish this, she does all the quality testing herself.
“If I strike a bag, and I feel like my hands felt numb and awful, we’re not going to sell it,” Le says. “That’s an example of a sobering, [bad] situation where a lot of work went into making them, but we’re not going to go into production.”
Le also mentors other influential female fighters who have become brand ambassadors for Society Nine.
“We’re not just a boxing glove company,” Le says. “We’ve galvanized the community of fierce women that say we deserve better for our athleticism. They’re galvanized under the idea that there’s a lot more to power than physique.”
Le says that she enjoys seeing other female founders grow their businesses.
“I’m mentoring a startup founder in Portland, and she’s telling me, ‘It’s been a year and I’m not where I want to be,’” Le says. “I tell her, ‘Do not be jaded by Silicon Valley, where people raise $3 million like it’s nothing. Think about how fast $3 million runs out. You buy 20 Ping-Pong tables, provide free lunch every week, and send the rest to rent.’”
Le is all about attitude, being realistic about how much work she can do, and admitting when she hits her limits. Even if she doesn’t meet all of her goals, she knows that at the end of the day, she feels a deep sense of accomplishment.
“A lot of startup entrepreneurs glorify not sleeping, not eating right, and talking about hustle, but that’s not what it’s about,” Le says. “If I can accomplish 60 percent of my to-do list, I made it. Nobody in this world as a startup founder can say they get 100 percent of their to-do list done. If things are tough, I’m going to say it’s tough because that’s real life.”
Photos: Tom Bender