• by Les Luchter , April 3, 2024

Unlike competitors’ “scratchy, boxy, never-fit-right” pants and tops, FIGS, Inc. provides healthcare professionals with “Scrubs That Don’t Suck,” declares a new campaign with a sustainability angle timed to Earth Month.

FIGS, an 11-year-old D2C medical apparel retailer whose 2023 sales topped $550 million, invites healthcare professionals (HCPs) to mail in their old scrubs for recycling. In return, they’ll get a $50 gift card toward $100+ orders on FIGS scrubs, whose pricing starts at $38.

“FIGS don't suck,” reads one campaign graphic. “Recycle scrubs that do.”

HCPs are asked to go to a web landing page, where they can request a UPS free shipping label. The returns are processed by Loop Returns, with Roadrunner recycling the old scrubs into a variety of different materials and applications such as sports equipment filler, carpet/hardwood underlayment, and automotive insulation.

FIGS, Loop Returns and Roadrunner will help kick off the trade-in/recycling campaign with an activation in Philadelphia’s fashion district April 4-6 that will include a swapping station, on-site giveaways, treats, and “other fun surprises.”

FIGS told Marketing Daily that it will give out up to 40,000 gift cards digitally and 3,000 at the live event in Philly.

Philadelphia also happens to be where FIGS plans to open its second brick-and-mortar location this summer, following November’s launch of its first in Century City, Los Angeles. The new store will be over 4,000 square feet, or about four times larger than the L.A. location.

“We’re an apparel company,” FIGS chief financial officer Daniells Turenshine, said at the 36^th Annual Roth Conference last month. “People want to try on and touch and feel the product before making a purchase.”

FIGS is using its first stores as a testing/learning experience before expansion into other markets, Turenshine said. One positive response, so far: “40% of customers are new customers, (which) is great to see since Los Angeles is our most-penetrated repeat-customer market.”

Turenshine wouldn’t talk about future locations, but during FIGS’ Q4 earnings call in February, CEO/co-founder Trina Spear did acknowledge that New York City is an eventual target.

Another fairly new area for FIGS is B2B sales, currently accounting for under 10% of the brand’s sales. But all the business has been in-bound till now, Turenshine told the Roth conference. That will soon change, she said, with new outbound capability and digital marketing aimed mostly at “smaller, private practices.”

Marketing as a whole has long been a FIGS priority, with spending on it pegged to about 15% of net revenue on a regular basis

“For a D2C company, our marketing spend is definitely something that sets us apart,” said Turenshine. That spend, in Q4 2023 alone, was $20.1 million.

In 2024, she added, FIGS is “looking to shift more of our marketing spend into top-of-funnel initiatives, into brand marketing, out-of-home… to really drive awareness.”

Leading the effort will be Bene Eaton, formerly Nike’s head of brand marketing for New York City, who has just come on board as chief marketing officer.

FIGS says it has 2.6 million customers, representing about 10% of U.S. healthcare workers. The user base is “multiples larger than the closest D2C competitor,” Turenshine said.