Joanna Griffiths
Founder (former President); stepped down as President in 2025/2026 transition · Knix (Knix Wear Inc.)
Joanna Griffiths founded Knix in 2013 and sold 80% of it to Sweden's Essity in 2022, in a deal valuing the Toronto brand at roughly $500-million.
Story
Joanna started out in media relations and marketing at CBC Television, Universal Music and TIFF, then worked in business development at Bre.ad, later acquired by Yahoo. She left that career for an MBA, and came out of it with the idea that became Knix. She built the company from Toronto over 14 years, adding KT by Knix and, in November 2025, the men's brand MNTD. Along the way she raised a $53-million round led by TZP Group while visibly pregnant with twins, closing it two days before they were born, and refused to take money from anyone who raised her pregnancy as a concern. She handed the president's role to Nicole Tapscott in the 2025/2026 transition and remains the company's founder.
Highlights
- Founder, Knix; 80% acquired by Essity in 2022, stake valued at about $410-million
- Canada's EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022; EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Class of 2023
- Board member, Toronto International Film Festival and Futurpreneur Canada
- Author, "Life After Birth" (2021) and children's book "Some Period" (2023)
- MBA with Distinction, INSEAD; guest Dragon, CBC's Dragons' Den
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