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.”
