Cami Téllez, founder of Parade, sitting in the brand’s first store, which is set to open in New York next month.
Photographer: Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Bloomberg
The 24-Year-Old Aiming to Dethrone Victoria’s Secret
Parade has a grand plan to be the ‘next big underwear brand.’ Up next: its first store.
Cami Téllez never liked buying underwear, but maybe that’s why the 24-year-old is suited to take on Victoria’s Secret.
As a teen in Princeton, New Jersey, her visits to the Quaker Bridge Mall and the biggest retailer in women’s undergarments left her feeling inadequate, or worse. There were the images of supermodels in that faux boudoir setting cribbed from some male fantasy (not surprising since the idea behind Victoria’s Secret was a place for men to lingerie shop). And then came the products, like a push-up bra called the Bombshell that promised to add two cup sizes.