Danny Harris and Marco DeGeorge have spent three decades running two businesses under the same corporate umbrella. One made blank T shirts for wholesale. The other became a celebrity worn, multibillion dollar athleisure phenomenon. Last month, they chose to sell the first.
Three years ago, Harris and DeGeorge went looking for their first institutional partner. They held conversations with several private equity firms and other investors. Reuters reported at the time that a deal could have valued Color Image Apparel, the founders’ holding company, at roughly $10 billion. Nothing closed. The reason, according to sources cited by Reuters: the parent company housed two businesses that investors struggled to value together.
Bella+Canvas supplied blank T-shirts and activewear basics at volume through wholesale channels to decorators and distributors across the United States. Alo Yoga sold identity: premium leggings, wellness experiences and, more recently, leather handbags, with prices up to $3,600 for a duffel bag. Each business carried its own margin profile, growth trajectory and customer base. Pricing them together required outside investors to justify why they belonged in the same portfolio. Most could not.
Color Image Apparel confirmed on May 18 that it had agreed to sell Bella+Canvas to wholesale distributor SanMar, in a transaction whose terms were not disclosed.
According to Reuters, a broad group of retail analysts, M&A advisers and investors believe the sale removes a key obstacle to a future initial public offering (IPO) or another transaction, whose form it could take remains open.
From garage to global, over thirty years in the making
Harris and DeGeorge founded Bella+Canvas in 1992 from a garage screen printing operation, building it into one of the dominant wholesale blank apparel suppliers in the US market. Alo followed in 2007. The name stands for air, land and ocean.
Forbes estimated in April 2025 that Color Image Apparel’s revenue was approaching $2 billion, a private company figure and therefore an estimate. It also said Alo’s sales grew roughly tenfold since 2020 and about doubled over the two years preceding that estimate.
The growth rested on a positioning Lululemon never fully occupied: the space between the gym and the street.
Alo’s “studio to street” concept converted yoga apparel into a cultural object, worn for errands in Beverly Hills or for arrivals in Cannes. The brand built its visibility largely outside conventional advertising channels. Taylor Swift, Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber were among those frequently photographed in Alo gear. A recent campaign was staged aboard a superyacht in the French Riviera.
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From leggings to leather: the luxury expansion underway
The range has grown well beyond yoga apparel. Alo now sells skincare, footwear and beauty products alongside its activewear, and the leather handbag launch positioned the brand in territory adjacent to luxury goods.
Stores are called “sanctuaries”, large format spaces that incorporate yoga studios, juice bars and wellness programming. The Beverly Hills headquarters includes an invite-only gym. The company also operates Alo Moves, a digital fitness subscription platform.
The retail footprint has expanded from fewer than a dozen locations in early 2023 to more than 150 globally. The expansion is continuing. A 2,120 square meter flagship is planned for the Champs-Élysées in Paris. In the United Kingdom, Alo operates nine stores. A tenth is set to open in Edinburgh in November 2026, per company announcement, its first in Scotland. In Asia, a six-story flagship is open in Seoul. The brand has announced plans for flagship locations at Shanghai’s Jing’an Kerry Centre and at Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun North, per trade reports. In January 2026, the company appointed Benedetta Petruzzo, previously at Dior and Miu Miu, as its International Chief Executive.
| Alo Yoga — Timeline of key milestones | ||
| Year | Milestone | Why it matters |
| 1992 | Danny Harris and Marco DeGeorge found Color Image Apparel, initially a screen-printing and blank-apparel business that becomes Bella+Canvas. | Provides the manufacturing, capital and operational base that later funds Alo Yoga. |
| 2007 | Harris and DeGeorge launch Alo Yoga in Los Angeles. The name stands for Air, Land and Ocean. | Marks the company’s entry into premium yoga apparel and wellness-focused activewear. |
| 2016 | Alo opens its first retail store in Beverly Hills. | Signals a shift from direct-to-consumer online toward physical retail. |
| 2017–2018 | Alo acquires digital fitness platform Cody and relaunches it as Alo Moves, a subscription wellness and fitness content platform. | Expands the brand beyond physical apparel into digital wellness and recurring subscription revenue. |
| 2020 | Alo launches its first beauty and skincare line — The Alo Glow System — alongside strong pandemic-driven demand for athleisure and wellness. | Establishes the brand’s ambition to become a 360-degree lifestyle brand. The pandemic accelerates digital and product growth. |
| 2021 | Alo becomes the Official Wellness Partner of New York Fashion Week, hosting yoga and wellness activations. | Raises brand visibility beyond fitness and into fashion and culture. |
| 2022 | Alo introduces its Aspen Collection ski line during New York Fashion Week, signaling a move toward premium lifestyle positioning. | Demonstrates the company’s shift toward luxury-adjacent categories beyond core yoga apparel. |
| 2023 | Alo launches its first sneaker category and opens its first European flagship on London’s King’s Road. Founders explore outside investment at a reported valuation of approximately $10 billion; no deal is announced. | Shows category ambitions beyond apparel and signals growing capital markets interest — complicated at the time by the dual-business corporate structure. |
| 2024–2025 | Alo deepens its footwear strategy with new sneaker launches and expands internationally across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Forbes estimates parent company revenue approaching $2 billion. | Confirms the brand’s emergence as one of the fastest-growing players in premium athleisure. |
| 2025 | Alo launches its first luxury handbag collection, with prices Reuters reported up to $3,600 for a leather duffel bag. A 2,120-square-meter Paris flagship on the Champs-Élysées — occupying a former Zara location — is announced. | The handbag launch moves Alo into luxury goods territory. The Paris flagship is one of the most significant retail statements in the brand’s history. |
| Jan. 2026 | Former Dior and Miu Miu executive Benedetta Petruzzo joins as International Chief Executive. | Brings luxury-fashion leadership expertise as Alo pursues global expansion and positions for a possible capital event. |
| May 2026 | Color Image Apparel agrees to sell Bella+Canvas to wholesale distributor SanMar. Terms are not disclosed; the transaction has not closed. | Separates the wholesale basics business from Alo’s premium brand story, removing a structural barrier to outside investment. |
| June 2026 | Reuters reports that analysts and M&A advisers believe the Bella+Canvas sale could prime Alo for an IPO or strategic sale. Alo operates more than 150 stores worldwide. | Widely read as a corporate inflection point; the founders have not confirmed any plans. |
| Key phases of Alo’s evolution | ||
| Phase | Years | Focus |
| Foundation | 2007–2015 | Premium yoga apparel |
| Retail buildout | 2016–2019 | Physical stores and brand awareness |
| Wellness expansion | 2017–2022 | Alo Moves, beauty, wellness experiences |
| Hypergrowth | 2020–2024 | Celebrity-driven expansion and global scale |
| Luxury transition | 2025–2026 | Handbags, luxury hires, Paris flagship, potential IPO preparation |
Sources: Reuters, Forbes, FashionUnited, company announcements, retail trade press. Compiled June 2026.
The category Alo would enter as a public company
The market context has shifted materially since the last process. Lululemon, the reference brand for any Alo valuation conversation, is under sustained pressure. The broader category has also cooled. Athleisure demand peaked during the pandemic, when remote work steered consumers toward leisure clothing. Growth has since normalized.
The challengers competing alongside Alo are also heading toward capital markets. Among its peers, activewear brand Fabletics, Vuori and Gymshark have all been reported as weighing public offerings in recent years; Gymshark recorded a revenue record in its most recent full fiscal year. The field is more crowded than it was in 2023.
None of that changes the Bella+Canvas sale’s core logic: it makes room for the next phase of Alo’s growth.
