Now Public, Reformation Is Worth $886 Million. What’s Next?

Reformation rang the bell on Thursday in true Ref fashion. Debuting on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “REF”, the Vernon, California-based brand took over Wall Street on July 30, with videos displaying Reformation’s stores, close-ups of silk dresses and model shots played on-loop. Ahead of the IPO day, the team brought a few “Ref babes” down to the Financial District for a photoshoot to promote the occasion.

Now public, Reformation is valued at $886 million. Shares opened at $15, the same as the listing price announced on Wednesday (the low end of the $15-17 range previously projected), and remained flat in trading on Thursday afternoon. The brand raised $210.9 million, selling 14.06 million common shares. Private equity firm Permira retains a controlling stake in the business.

“We’ve been hard at work building a great business for a long time now, a business that’s redefined retail and modernized the role of a brand in fashion,” says Reformation CEO Hali Borenstein. “So we’ve been out there telling our story with really high-quality investors, many of whom today we can call our shareholders. And the feedback was consistent. It was really strong. And for all of that, it’s just a testament to what we’ve built, and it makes me incredibly proud.”

The listing was closely watched by the industry, which has had a dry spell of IPOs in recent years as the industry has favored tech and service companies with clearer paths to scale. When they’ve happened, like Birkenstock’s in 2023, they’ve gotten off to rocky starts, or have delisted altogether, like Allbirds. Already, Reformation has eclipsed many of its direct-to-consumer retail era peers, many of which have shuttered or sold for less than previous valuations.

To woo investors, Reformation put forward its top figures — annual sales in 2025 were $507.1 million, with a net income of $12.6 million and a compounded annual growth rate of 34% since 2015. Ninety percent of sales are direct-to-consumer, while 80% are full-price. It has roughly 854,000 active customers, but importantly, the brand says its penetration in the US is less than 1%, meaning there’s still room to grow. All of this was laid out in an unconventional prospectus video, seen by Vogue Business, where the brand touted its “sexy math” and tapped a model to sell Reformation from a bubble bath.

“It only made sense for one of these big hallmark moments of the company to make sure our brand, which is so resonant, so unique, was truly highlighted,” says Borenstein. “And the video, the imagery, is all a representation of that. So I love how this is a brand that can translate so broadly, be it to Wall Street or to international markets.”

Now that the roadshow is over and the ticker is live, though, Reformation’s viability on the stock market will be put to the test. As will its sustainability commitments: Ref has long positioned itself as a sustainable option, but Wall Street demands quarterly increases. The company highlighted its responsive merchandising model, which it says can eliminate overstock and waste, as an answer to this. Borenstein says that the company’s ability to have the right product at the right time — 50% of the brand’s clothes can be produced in 60 days or less — are a key point of differentiation.

Reformation’s Flatiron store in New York.

“We don’t lead with sustainability. We never ask our customer to trade off on quality, on style, or on fit for sustainability. Instead, we figured out a way to offer unprecedented value for our consumer by doing both. And that’s why we win,” says Borenstein. “That’s why we have incredible retention for those consumers who truly care and identify with sustainable business practices. In terms of our ability to scale it and what changes, we see no constraints here. This is a model that’s been proven.”

From here, Borenstein says that Reformation’s focus is going to return to the strategy the team laid out for investors. “Today really is just that first day, right? We’re in the first phase of being a public company. I’m so pleased with the feedback we got. We are an ambitious company, to say the least. We have really big goals to be a once-in-a-generation type brand. And so our focus will continue to be on doing exactly that.”