OMORPHO Lands $3M for Weighted Apparel, Explores Retail

Resistance is in style.

What’s happening: OMORPHO, maker of “microweighted” apparel and training vests, landed $3M in a seed round, bringing total funding to $16M.

Moving forward, the two-year-old company will invest in boosting brand awareness and evaluate its first pop-up retail shop in Portland for potential physical expansion.

Against the grain. Most performance wear cuts weight at all costs. Meanwhile, OMORPHO’s leggings, long-sleeves, and vests evenly distribute two to five pounds across the body.

A former digital innovation lead at Nike, OMORPHO co-founder Stefan Olander says his brand bucks the trend to better serve athletes, challenging the notion that lighter is better.

“The ounce you take out of a piece of clothing is an ounce you don’t have to carry when you’re competing. But 95% of the time, you’re training. And the only way to get better is to add resistance.”

Reimagining bulky weighted vests for both function and style, training with OMORPHO’s range is said to burn 8% more calories compared to the same bodyweight workout.

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As more exercisers discover the strength and longevity benefits of weighted walking—aka rucking—vest outfitters like GORUCK, Rogue, 5.11 Tactical are in demand.

But with strength becoming a pillar of holistic wellness, fitness brands are adding resistance in unexpected ways, too.

• Bala, maker of design-forward ankle/wrist weights called Bangles, landed a national distribution deal with Target this fall.
• Pvolve integrates proprietary wearable resistance band gear into its functional workouts.
• Pushing into weights-based sculpt classes, both CorePower Yoga and Pure Barre debuted crossover classes with heavier dumbbells.

Takeaway: For sports training, fitness, or a weekend ruck, resistance is the new cool — and with a sleek aesthetic and growing list of athlete endorsements, OMORPHO hopes to be the trendsetter.