The Billion-Dollar Brand For Saving Lives And Looking Good
Executive Summary
FIGS co-founder Trina Spear describes selling scrubs at hospital shift changes, learning from healthcare workers and building a direct relationship with customers. She also discusses storytelling, an ambassador program and keeping a company's identity during an IPO. Notes cover selected business passages from roughly 49,800 characters of public auto-captions, most of the interview, alongside official Shopify show notes. Date matches the official May 26, 2026 release. Revenue, forecasts and channel shares are Spear's spoken figures for that period, not current results or an independent financial check.
Key Takeaways
A bad product and a bad experience
Scrubs were ill-fitting and looked like a garbage bag. Hasson, who got the idea from a nurse practitioner friend, found stores in strip malls with a rack of black, navy and white and a box of sizes on the floor.
Sold from a car at shift change
They sold scrubs out of a car at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. when doctors and nurses changed shifts, asked what they loved and did not like, and added a pocket after a request. Spear kept her Blackstone job for about six months while exploring the idea.
Keep the relationship direct
Spear says more than 90% of revenue comes through the company's website. She also describes stores and institutional teams as direct channels because the company sells without a middleman. This share is her interview-period account; it is not a current verified channel breakdown.
Serve those who serve others
The mission is to serve healthcare workers. She says the only way to serve at a high standard is to understand them, which comes from a real, authentic relationship.
Celebration and ambassadors
Healthcare workers' biggest celebration is pizza in the break room, so FIGS puts inspiring quotes in garments, makes storytelling films and runs a 600-person ambassador program. She says you cannot buy or replicate 14 years of getting to know people.
Setbacks and staying independent
Two companies tried to buy FIGS, before the IPO and about a year ago, and neither deal happened. She says it was for the best to build for the long run as a standalone. After COVID they had excess inventory in 2023 to 2025 and leaned on conversion marketing before returning to storytelling.
Keep the company's own story during an IPO
Spear says bankers and lawyers used other companies' filings and models as reference points. She pushed back when those did not fit FIGS. Her lesson is to explain what is distinctive about the business rather than allowing a familiar template to replace its actual model.
The Conversation Breakdown
A bad product and a bad experience
⏱ Untimed topicScrubs were ill-fitting and looked like a garbage bag. Hasson, who got the idea from a nurse practitioner friend, found stores in strip malls with a rack of black, navy and white and a box of sizes on the floor.
Sold from a car at shift change
⏱ Untimed topicThey sold scrubs out of a car at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. when doctors and nurses changed shifts, asked what they loved and did not like, and added a pocket after a request. Spear kept her Blackstone job for about six months while exploring the idea.
Keep the relationship direct
⏱ Untimed topicSpear says more than 90% of revenue comes through the company's website. She also describes stores and institutional teams as direct channels because the company sells without a middleman. This share is her interview-period account; it is not a current verified channel breakdown.
Serve those who serve others
⏱ Untimed topicThe mission is to serve healthcare workers. She says the only way to serve at a high standard is to understand them, which comes from a real, authentic relationship.
Celebration and ambassadors
⏱ Untimed topicHealthcare workers' biggest celebration is pizza in the break room, so FIGS puts inspiring quotes in garments, makes storytelling films and runs a 600-person ambassador program. She says you cannot buy or replicate 14 years of getting to know people.
Setbacks and staying independent
⏱ Untimed topicTwo companies tried to buy FIGS, before the IPO and about a year ago, and neither deal happened. She says it was for the best to build for the long run as a standalone. After COVID they had excess inventory in 2023 to 2025 and leaned on conversion marketing before returning to storytelling.
Keep the company's own story during an IPO
⏱ Untimed topicSpear says bankers and lawyers used other companies' filings and models as reference points. She pushed back when those did not fit FIGS. Her lesson is to explain what is distinctive about the business rather than allowing a familiar template to replace its actual model.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
On-the-ground product feedback
The founders sold directly at shift changes and listened to how healthcare workers used their scrubs. Spear links product changes to specific customer requests.
Celebrate the customer
Storytelling and ambassadors put healthcare workers, rather than only garments, at the centre of the brand. Spear argues that a long relationship with the community is hard to copy.
Identity through new stages
Going public and managing inventory changed the operating context. Spear describes returning to the mission and company story when outsiders or short-term tactics pulled attention elsewhere.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Interview customers directly about what they like and do not like, and put the answer into the next version.
- ✓Define the one thing your customer wants you to celebrate about them.
- ✓Decide what you will say no to when outsiders try to define your business.
- ✓Review whether conversion campaigns are crowding out the customer stories that made the brand distinctive.
Notable Quotes
“our mission is to serve those who serve others”
“You got to be on the ground.”
“this is who we are”
The One Thing to Remember
our mission is to serve those who serve others