Joanna Griffiths, left, and Nicole Tapscott/Images via LinkedIn
Joanna Griffiths announced Wednesday that she’s departing the company she founded and passing the leadership torch to Nicole Tapscott, who will become Knix’s new brand president.
Griffiths announced in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday that she was stepping away from her president’s role and operating duties to spend more time with her family. The move will take effect Aug. 1 and Griffiths confirmed with strategy she is in negotiations to sell her remaining 20% stake in the brand to Swedish parent company Essity.
“I’m taking my family to Kenya, and from there, we will spend a year travelling around the world,” Griffiths said in her online post. “I’m grateful that after spending 14 years building something I love, I now get to choose this next chapter with the people I love most.”
Tapscott moves into the position after a year and a half as Knix’s chief commercial officer, having joined the company in April 2024 under the CMO title following senior roles for direct-to-consumer brands such as Casper and Mejuri.
The move marks the end of an era at Knix for Griffith, who added president to her CEO title shortly after Essity purchased an 80% stake in the leakproof underwear brand for more than $400-million in the summer of 2022.
She launched Knix in 2013 as an e-commerce brand after completing her MBA at the prestigious Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires business school.
The company’s growth since has been both measured and marked, with Griffiths guiding the way through an unwavering dedication to inclusivity, displaying a willingness to break partnerships with retailers that wouldn’t carry plus sizes and pushing for marketing materials that featured a plethora of skin tones, ages, body shapes and sizes.
“We put the customer at the epicentre of everything we do,” Griffiths told strategy in 2020 after Knix was selected a Brand of the Year.
The customers responded in kind.
Essity’s majority acquisition meant further expansion into global markets, while leakproof underwear has emerged as the fastest-growing menstrual hygiene category in the U.S. Knix’s portfolio has also grown to include the KT by Knix teen and tween activewear line and the men’s brand, MNTD. In retail, Knix opened it first brick-and-mortar store in New York last summer and has expanded its presence at Holt Renfrew across Canada and at Bloomington’s in the U.S.
Marketing accolades have followed as well. Knix’s collaboration with Rethink, “Sport Your Period,” won an AToMiC Awards Grand Prix, along with two Golds and a Bronze at the Marketing Awards in 2025, a Merit Honor at the One Club’s ADC Awards and shortlist nods at the Clios and Cannes Lions. For the campaign, Rethink designed a red, sweatproof sticker symbolizing periods to be worn by athletes at major sporting events, which unbranded to bypass sponsorship rules. When the Olympics banned the symbol, Knix sponsored athletes to mention their periods during interviews instead.
Looking toward the years ahead, Tapscott told strategy after being named a 2026 Marketer of the Year that Knix’s growth will continue to be shaped by restraint and intention.
“Women are demanding better products, better representation, better conversations. If we stay curious, bold and mission-first, Knix can redefine what intimate apparel and women’s wellness brands look like for the next decade,” says Tapscott.
