LDMA, which stands for Life Deserves More Action, on Friday revealed its expansion into the activewear space with the launch of Contour.
While the brand was initially launched with intimates, Leland Drummond and Michele Thomas, the company’s cofounders, said LDMA always had its eyes set on creating activewear. Thomas said the brand started creating apparel closest to the body and built outward — with Contour being the “natural next chapter.”
“We started LDMA with intimates because we felt like women had been given a million options for what to wear to work out. But nobody was really thinking about the layer underneath or about what women actually wear across an entire day,” Drummond exclusively told WWD.
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Rather than designing from the standpoint of sportswear, the two drew on their expertise in the intimate apparel space — taking what they learned about fit and support and then applying it to activewear.
“Frankly, we live in activewear,” said Thomas. “We work, travel, work out and run around with our families. We’re designing for the way we actually live. We don’t want to change three times a day, and we don’t think women should have to.”
In a crowded marketplace, Thomas continued that the brand knew it needed to stand out by selecting “incredible fabric, exceptional fit and creating pieces that genuinely look great on different bodies.”
Part of the challenge Drummond and Thomas often ran into was finding the same sports bra and leggings that felt confident on the two women’s different body types. Thomas said they both “obsessed over every detail — from fabric to construction,” even where the waistband sits on the hips and how the sports bras were both supportive and shaped.
“Our advantage is that we came to activewear through intimates,” explained Drummond. “We’re obsessed with the female body; where something hits, where it digs, where you want support, where you absolutely don’t and the tiny fit details that can completely change how you feel in something.”
Contour features four foundational styles in black and blue fog hues: bike shorts, double-strap sports bra, high-rise leggings and sports bralette — with more being rolled out in September.
While LDMA said it was tempting to launch with an array of styles and colors, the founders wanted to exercise restraint and focus on what styles they themselves would wear. The two bras were especially important to the category’s initial product assortment, with Drummond and Thomas’ intimates background, with long-term build-out of the category the goal.
LDMA shared with WWD that the brand has seen notable growth over the past year, with 139 percent net revenue growth from 2026 to 2027, four times sell-out of its hero bralette products this last year and a repeat purchase rate of 25 percent between 2025 and 2026 across its entire range of products.
“For us, the sellouts are particularly exciting because this whole business was built around the idea of creating hero products women don’t just buy once; they integrate them into their wardrobes. What’s exciting now is taking that customer trust and expanding the LDMA universe. We started with intimates, then moved into bodywear and lounge, and now Contour gives her another part of her wardrobe through the same LDMA lens,” concluded Thomas.
Drummond and Thomas launched LDMA in November 2021 after spending more than a decade within the retail and fashion spaces — the duo also own public relations agency Azione. The brand expanded into the bodywear category earlier this year and into active loungewear last year.
