Wildfang Is the Gender-Neutral Clothing Brand Shaking Up the Fashion Industry

Founder and CEO Emma McIlroy shares how the company continues to challenge beauty standards.

Emma McIlroy / Courtesy of Maddie Cordoba

Emma McIlroy was working in brand marketing at Nike when she went into an Urban Outfitters looking for what she describes as an edgy rock n’ roll graphic tee. The women’s department was stocked with bohemian T-shirts, a far cry from her personal style. When McIlroy wandered into the men’s section, she found exactly what she was looking for.

“ There were tons of graphic options. There were photo tees, there were verbiage tees, there were bold tees, there were funny tees, there were sassy tees, and it was like, O.K., wait a minute, so women can’t handle a graphic tee for whatever reason,” McIlroy tells SI Swimsuit.

Her friend was shopping for a blazer and ran into the same issue. The options in the women’s department lacked tailoring and had fake pockets, while the men’s department offered jackets with elbow pads, great lining and real pockets.

“ I understand why sizing might be different or fit might be different in different parts of the store, but why would gender control what silhouette you have access to? Like, that doesn't make any sense,” she says.

Following that shopping trip, McIlroy quit her job at Nike, cashed in her 401K and started Wildfang, a gender-neutral clothing brand that offers women more choices where self-expression is concerned. Today, the brand is known for its chic suiting options and collaborations with celebrities like Debbie Harry and Vivian Wilson.

Wildfang

 “When we started this brand, we were like, Well, what if I wanna go out and create hell in the morning? What if I want to go out and shake the world up and then I wanna come home and just cuddle my dog? We wanted a brand that could be both,” she says. “We weren’t saying you have to be one thing or another. We were saying you can be all of the fabulous components and complexities that make you you.”

When she launched the brand in 2013, McIlroy—who identifies as queer—was faced with plenty of challenges, from investors who simply didn’t understand the concept to those who wanted to categorize her into simply being a “gay brand.”

“ We proudly serve the queer community, and it is a part of who we serve, but we like to say that Wildfang gives you the confidence to walk into any room and I don’t know anybody, any woman, straight or otherwise, that doesn’t need that,” McIlroy says. “So for us it was about giving women more options. It was about giving them more confidence. It was about shaking up the norms, allowing them to be more than what society had pigeonholed them to be.”

When she started Wildfang, McIlroy experienced the challenge of walking into an investor pitch meeting and not seeing anyone who looked like her. And while the conversation around identity and diversity and inclusion has changed much over the last decade or so, the lack of funding for women- and queer-owned brands has not.

While roughly 13.2% of startup founders are women, a mere 3% of venture funding goes to women. In addition to the gender gap, the statistics for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs are even more staggering. A 2023 study by StartOut found that only 0.5% of startup funding was raised by queer founders, despite upwards of 7% of the U.S. population identifying as LGBTQ+ and 10% of entrepreneurs identifying as queer.

At a time when many brands are scrapping DEI initiatives, McIlroy is proud to be part of the change surrounding gender fluidity and inclusivity within the fashion industry. Wildfang continues to challenge the norms around beauty standards where size and fit are concerned. The brand has tripled its buy in extended sizes and Wildfang clothing is fit on models (some of whom are septuagenarians) up to a size 30 three times before ever reaching a consumer.

Wildfang

“For so long, the beauty industry has told you that if you’re not a size six or or below, you’re not attractive, you’re not accepted, you’re not valuable,” McIlroy notes. “For so long, the beauty standards and the fashion industry has told you that once your uterus stops working, you have no value in society.   We are here as the antithesis to [that] ... We see power and confidence and beauty in all of those versions of a woman.”

Shop Wildfang here.