Able Made scores $2M seed to grow soccer-inspired fashion
What's the deal? Able MadeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a soccer-inspired sustainable fashion brand founded by Suzanne McKenzie, has closed a $2 million seed round.
Backers include Jeff MostynDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, former chairman of the Premier League's AFC BournemouthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →; former NikeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and AdidasDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → executive Mark Hochgesang; Sara Toussaint, co-owner of the NWSL's NC Courage; and Oregon Sports AngelsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
McKenzie launched the brand in 2012 to support the Ucal McKenzie Breakaway Foundation, a youth soccer charity she created after losing her husband to sudden cardiac arrest during a game.
Why now? McKenzie plans to use the funds to expand into the UK.
The raise lands as women's soccer draws record investment. Toussaint said the ecosystem's growth "will continue to accelerate through 2031."
What could go wrong? Hochgesang noted that fundraising is hard for all startups today — and harder still for female founders.
The brand also faces a fashion industry not known for sustainability or quality, as Mostyn himself pointed out.
The signal: Able Made sits at the early stage, and its cap table of angels drawn from Premier League and NWSL ownership circles shows how sports insiders are increasingly betting on lifestyle brands that ride the women's game's momentum. With backers like Toussaint eyeing growth through 2031, the round is as much a wager on soccer's cultural rise as on fashion itself.
Read more: WWD
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
