Set Active Founder Skips Black Friday to Fix Late Orders
Set Active chief executive Lindsey Carter has put a projected $10 million-plus in holiday sales on hold. On Oct. 19, she wrote on Instagram that the athleisure brand would cancel its Black Friday and Cyber Monday product launches until further notice.
The company will not "drop" any clothes until the products arrive at its Los Angeles warehouse. In 2026, Carter says, Set Active has struggled to deliver orders to customers on time. She declined to give detail on the reasons, saying only that they are varied.
"I'm walking away from a hefty revenue number," Carter says. "But at the end of the day, I built this brand on transparency and community, and the customer comes first to me always. And I'd rather make it right with the customer than hit a revenue goal."
From a dining room table
Carter, 35, started the company in May 2018. She took on $20,000 in personal credit card debt and filled her Los Angeles home with inventory. Before that she ran her own social media company.
The idea came from shopping around Los Angeles. She could not find matching workout sets to wear for errands, coffee with a friend or working from home. "Everything was like yoga poses and upside-down headstands, and I was just like, 'That's not me,'" she says.
An associate then connected her with a production professional. She ordered samples, collected feedback from friends and drew on the products with a permanent marker at her dining room table before sending them back to the manufacturer's designers.
Eight figures in a slowing market
Set Active brought in eight figures in net sales in 2025 and is profitable, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. The wider category has cooled. Circana data shows women's activewear spending in the U.S. rose 2% between October 2025 and September 2026, down from 7% over the previous 12 months.
Activewear still makes up 30% of U.S. apparel spending, says Circana analyst Kristen Classi-Zummo. She says shoppers lean toward casual outfits and loungewear over leggings and sports bras. Set Active sells colorful, patterned sets that are not meant only for workouts, and its Instagram posts show women on pickleball courts and on the banks of the Seine in Paris.
The personal cost
Carter had two children after starting the company and has never taken maternity leave. She now calls that "probably one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made." In 2023 she experienced what she describes as symptoms of postpartum depression, and says she felt like "a horrible version of myself" while running the startup.
She used to lose sleep and cry to friends after a rough day at work. A hard day can still keep her up at night, she says, but she has learned to head home to her family feeling grateful. She adds that she gets satisfaction from solving problems and from a job she believes in.
"I just take things day by day with the mindset that challenges are opportunities, and I don't really see them as the enemy," Carter says.
Source: CNBC