Drive, passion, and perseverance are all common words used to describe those who strive to make a change in the world.

One amongst those that are important but not celebrated enough is the medical personnel - the everyday heroes, especially in these pandemic times.

While you may know all the famous brands that athletes are wearing, I bet you have never heard of the everyday struggle of the most important link in every society - the doctors, the nurses, and every staff member working day and night to keep the community going.

In the industry that forgot about them, a new breed of fashion emerged, dedicating itself to finding a functional solution for the medical professional’s struggles. Such individuals are the co-founders of FIGS, Heather Hasson and Trina Spear; two women, devoted to making a change within the fashion industry for scrubs.

Join in the story of FIGS, and read some more about the fashionable side of scrubs.

Behind the Scenes: Meet Heather Hasson and Trina Spear

A woman's career choice seems to always be a subject of debate, which is why lots of girls try to appease others and go for something safe, rather than following their dreams, despite being aware of how hard it might get along the road. However, this was not the case with these two women.

Heather Hasson was born and raised in L.A. She holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a master's from Said Business School at the University of Oxford. Before she founded FIGS, she ran a bag line in Italy for 7 years after starting FIGS in 2013.

Trina Spear, a US-born, has a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University, graduating with high honors, and later on, she completed a master's degree in business and administration at Harvard Business School. Before starting FIGS, she worked as an associate with the Blackstone Group. Trina became a member of the 2018 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute. Some of Trina's acknowledgments include Entrepreneur of the year, also being listed among Goldman Sachs's 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs.

An Idea and One Phone Call

The idea behind the creation of FIGS came when Co-CEO and Co-founder Heather Hasson was having a coffee with a friend who was working as a nurse practitioner. She was in disbelief when she saw and heard that her friend and most of the health workers, wore V-neck, boxy and uncomfortable scrubs, made from cheap material, even for the long-hour shifts.

Heather also noticed that besides health professionals not having a choice in choosing medical apparel, the stores were closing at 5 pm, while healthcare workers’ shifts last from 7 am - 7 pm, making it impossible for them to visit some of the shops and find a suitable professional outfit.

Having experience in fashion, Heather figured that while many apparel companies focus on athletes, no one focuses on the people who save lives. Soon after, she decided to create FIGS (named after her favorite fruit) and revolutionized the industry by creating comfortable, well-fitted, and highly-functional scrubs built around the needs of healthcare professionals.

She spoke over the phone with Trina Spears, who at that time worked in New York, on Wall Street. Trina decided to book a flight, move to L.A., and make this happen. Trina liquidated all of her savings and partnered up with Heather to pursue this business idea.

At first, they started selling scrubs to medical workers right from Heather’s car in the periods of medical professionals changing shifts. The reaction to the procured was a motivation for these women to continue to work and create the company they now have.

FIGS: A Company Customized for the Health Professionals

FIGS is a company that focuses on the possibility for medical professionals to wear comfortable, functional, and well-designed uniforms while making a statement, at the same time. Heather and Trina designed scrubs in different silhouette fits; limited edition styles made with proprietary fabric, scrub jackets, vests, hats, compression socks, and more. All these specific styles combined with different colors, the functionality (multiple pockets, zippers for their tools), and the combination of endurance and comfort, when it comes to the fabric, made FIGS stand out and become the first choice among healthcare professionals.

However, through trials, errors, and self-reflection, one can only achieve great success.

An error in the production, in the beginning, didn't discourage Heather and Trina, but made FIGS have meticulous customer care support and quality control.

Having in mind that women still have it harder in the entrepreneurial world, and are facing a huge gender gap, Trina and Heather’s will only fortified, not thinking about giving it all up, not for one second, despite the many nos they got from investors. The backing down from potential investors was partly due to one of the respected investors previously being in this business and not recognizing the potential.

Although things haven’t been easy for FIGS, the US was pleasantly surprised by the company’s use of high-quality fabric and pleasant designs, which made the company stand out from competitors like Cherokee, Dickies, Roth Wear, and others.

This pioneer female-owned company became the first one to partner up with Robinhood, the financial service company. FIGS decided to jump on that wagon to enable health care workers, as well as the company’s customers, to invest in pre-IPO. Heather and Trina’s company ended up with 12 healthcare professionals ringing the bell, and an extra 60 at the IPO, confirming once again that this company is all about the people they serve and make their products for.

FIGS' stock surged 36% in its debut when the company went public. It was able to balance its growth and sustainable profitability. The direct-to-consumer company had 98% of its sales online, and grew by 140% in one year, doubling its revenue in 2020 to a whopping $263 million and having profits of almost $50 million. The girls sure came to play.

The company enriched its portfolio with this success by caring about the community, not taking on the usual marketing strategy of flooding Google and Facebook with ads and craving algorithms. Instead, FIGS was the company that built the brand by drawing in people that recognized, loved, and used its product.

Nowadays, FIGS has garnered 16 investors spearheading the change within this industry. However, with great success comes great responsibility.

Threads to Threads

Giving back has been something characteristic of FIGS since its very beginnings. Heather and Trina created the Threads for Threads initiative after realizing that healthcare workers never had the opportunity to even have a uniform or scrub in some parts of the world. Thus a mutual decision was to donate clean scrubs to these resource-poor countries to do their jobs safely.

FIGS partnered with 60 different organizations that helped them donate and deliver scrubs. The company is proud to have a network of volunteers, including doctors and nurses, that helps it achieve that. FIGS team has donated over 500 sets of scrubs to Manipur, India, being able to treat over 4,000 patients while there.

FIGS also teamed up with the Foundation for International Medical Relief and went to Peru, where they donated over 1500 scrubs and helped take care of over 300 patients in their clinics, hospitals, schools, and orphanages.

FIGS, Today

Based in Santa Monica, California, so far, FIGS has garnered the mind power of over 200 employees, reeling in many happy customers. Both the CEO and founder, Heather, alongside the co-CEO and co-founder, Trina, are still very much present in the company, ensuring the company’s flow and continuous success.

The company sells its apparel online rather than in stores, making its products available non-stop. In 2018, FIGS opened a pop-up store in Soho.

By managing to cost only 15% more than regular scrubs, FIGS’ scrubs, offered in a variety of colors and fits, alongside offering the highest quality, gained customers from medical students to doctors.

At the moment, the company only operates on U.S. territory, but it started preparing for Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia orders, hoping to introduce the brand to more medical professionals worldwide, soon!

As usual, Heather and Trina’s company continues to focus on the medical community, continuing to develop more of these products while selflessly giving back to the community.

In an industry predominated by men, the innovative solution made possible by Trina and Heather showed that women don't back down, paving the road for other reluctant women entrepreneurs, setting an example to be followed.