Paula Scanlan (L), Jennifer Sey (C), Riley Gaines (R)
Courtesy of XX-XY Athletics
It is ironic that this Women's History Month the government is poised to undo a historic milestone in women's history: Title IX, which banned sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs and activities.
The Department of Education is proposing a rule change to extend Title IX protections to transgender athletes and allow biological males who identify as women to participate in girls' and women's sports.
Protecting women in sports is a cause that is passionate about Jennifer Sey, the outspoken ex-Levi's global brand president and two-time Forbes Most Influential CMOs list.
So it's no surprise that she's making her voice heard by launching sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics to protect women and girls from being forced to compete and share locker rooms with transgender athletes, a position which a large majority of 69% of Americans support, according to a Gallup poll.
“Throughout my life, I have risked my reputation, my job and my social standing to stand up for children, women and free speech. XX-XY athletics is the culmination of everything I have ever done in my life,” Sey said in a statement.
“World-class brands shape culture. There are currently no brands giving consumers the opportunity to have their say on this issue. We are fully committed to our mission of telling the truth and advocating for women’s sports,” she continued.
Support the cause
Sey has recruited a world-class team of women's and free speech advocates to help XX-XY Athletics get out of the backlog and capture the $158 billion sportswear market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7% through 2027, according to McKinsey .
Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Riley Gaines and her teammate Paula Scanlan have joined the cause. Both athletes have spoken out strongly about keeping women's sports pure in their testimony before Congress, and Gaines has taken the lead in a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA and the University of Georgia challenging their transgender policies.
Also in the XX-XY team:
- Chloe Cole, speaking on Capital Hill about the harm that “gender-affirming” care does to children, including herself.
- Dr. Tabia Lee, who claimed in a lawsuit against her former employer that she was fired from her tenured faculty position because she did not adhere to the college's critical theory-based “race and gender ideologies.” Rather, she taught the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King said people should be judged by their character and not the color of their skin.
- Adam Coleman, author of Black Victim to Black Victor, founder of Wrong Speak Publishing, Substack blogger, and writer for New York Post, Newsweek, The Federalist, and others, where he advocates for free speech and “people who feel voiceless, helps to be heard.” ”
Dr. Tabia Lee (L), Chloe Cole (C), Adam Coleman (R)
Courtesy of XX-XY Athletics
Sey shared with me, “They are all people who believe in free speech and express themselves boldly. Unlike some brands in the so-called “parallel” or “freedom” economy, we want XX-XY to be part of the regular economy. We are not explicitly against wokeness, but for the truth.
“Unlike one of our Supreme Court justices, I don’t have to be a biologist to know that girls and women have different physical abilities than boys and men. We just have to keep women's sports female. It’s that simple,” she continued.
Accidental entrepreneur
Sey joined Levi's in 1999 as a senior marketing manager after spending several years in advertising at Banana Republic and Foote Cone and Belding after college. She rose through the ranks at Levi's, reaching the position of CMO Global Brands in 2016. She was then promoted to Global Brand President in 2020.
During her tenure on the executive team, Levi's revenue grew from $4.6 billion in 2016 to $5.8 billion, and there was even talk of her replacing CEO Chip Bergh upon his retirement.
She spent around 23 years at Levi's and loved the company and the brand. It was her happy place, then Covid came.
After months of seeing the negative impact of school closures on children and mounting scientific evidence that Covid poses little threat to children, she, a mother of four, spoke out against local California guidelines and spread her message nationwide on Fox New's “Ingraham Angle.” what Sey described as a “kiss of death.”
Her position at Levi's was never mentioned in that interview, but regardless, it immediately sparked backlash. “The feedback was, ‘We don’t have a problem with anything you said; “We have a problem with you telling her,” Sey explained.
Levi's was no longer her happy place and she resigned in March 2022. She documented her rise and fall at Levi's in her book, Levi's Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job But Gave Me My Voice.
Sey's open advocacy for children during the Corona crisis was nothing new for her. A 1986 U.S. gymnastics champion, she spoke about the cruelties inflicted on young girls in the sport in her first book, Chalked Up, and produced the 2020 Emmy-winning documentary Athlete A, which chronicles the crimes of Larry Nassar and beyond exposed abuses in the Olympic movement.
With everything she had behind her and her stellar track record at Levi's, Sey assumed she would have no problem finding a new job, but that didn't happen.
“I expected that I would eventually work for an established organization,” she said. “I have never wanted to do anything other than work for a great brand and company and leave that brand and company better than I found it. I never really wanted to be a founder.”
But that's where she ended up. “This idea has been floating around in my head for some time and it seems to be the culmination of everything I have done in my life. The idea is to combine my sporting background and extensive business experience in building and strengthening brands to create something that is truly my own.”
At the age of 55, Sey becomes a corporateur, a person who applies the skills and talents he acquired in American companies to an entrepreneurial venture. Now she's really being put to the test.
Having one thing is not enough
As passionate as Sey and her supporting team are about the XX-XY Athletics mission, that won't be enough for the company to compete against the sportswear champions. But Sey isn't naive and knows what it takes to get a brand off the ground, starting with a great product.
“Our product is both distinctive and relevant. If we can create really sophisticated, impactful marketing content, we can engage people,” she said.
Today, the company is launching its first cotton collection of shirts and graphic tees, as well as sweatpants and fleece hoodies, described as casualwear. From the start, XX-XY will offer clothing for both men and women.
A second collection of performance activewear will launch in June, with another release planned for the holidays in late October, which she says will have “a bit of sparkle and more luxe fabrics.”
The prices correspond to those of other premium brands. For example, t-shirts sell in the $40 range and leggings around $100. Direct-to-consumer e-commerce is the company's route to market, but it doesn't completely rule out wholesale.
But she knows the wholesale game and the hurdles it can bring, so it's not part of the plan. However, if the XX-XY message catches on, I could imagine many independent specialty stores knocking on the door to help girls and women fight to save their sport.
“I looked at all the sports brands on the market and they make a lot of noise about celebrating women, but not a single one has said, 'We need to protect women's sports,'” Sey noted.
“No single brand is doing this. We will produce premium sportswear for men and women. And we are committed to protecting women's sports. We believe it will also resonate with men who care about protecting their daughters,” she continued.
Dad, girl
Courtesy of XX-XY Athletics; Photo credit Brett Sienna
The cultural connection of brands
Sey believes that brands play a role in culture, even have responsibility for it. “Brands are a tool of culture and they influence and shape ideas in the same way as film, art and music. Just look at how NikeNKE has influenced running culture,” she said.
“Brands have an opportunity to not only follow culture, but also lead and inform it. And I feel like almost everyone already agrees with us, but they're afraid to say it. So if we can make it acceptable and cool to stand up and say something true that's so obvious, then that's what I want to do,” she continued.
Sey and her team believe they are fighting to protect women in sports and the progress they have made since the passage of Title IX in 1972.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, before the law was enacted, the ratio of girls to boys participation in high school sports increased from less than 10% in 1971 to over 40% in 2023. Title XI gave women similar opportunities in high school sports and increased from 15% to 44% today.
“When girls compete in sports, they are less depressed, have better body and self-image, are less likely to become pregnant in high school, are more likely to attend college, and have longer life expectancies,” she observed.
“I hate to put us in the conservative category because it has nothing to do with right or left; It’s just biology,” she concluded.
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