Laura Low Ah Kee, PhysEd’04, Artsci’04, was on a three-month sabbatical from her job as a rising star at Lululemon and was being a “beach bum” in Maui when she discovered a need she could turn into a business.
“I was surfing, kiteboarding, and then hanging out on the beach,” she recalls. “But I was wearing sports bras for activity and bringing a bikini to hang out in.”
A few weeks later, she was back in her native Vancouver, catching up with Shannon Savage, fellow Lululemon alumna and now her business partner. She mentioned no one was making multi-purpose bathing suits or using their Lululemon-learned knowledge of “fabric and fit” in the swimsuit industry.
In 2017, six years after Ms. Low Ah Kee planted that seed, the friends started their business. By 2024, their company – Left on Friday (LOF), a name that signifies a spontaneous, weekend-warrior approach to life – had designed and produced the uniforms for Canada’s women’s beach volleyball team at the Paris Olympics. Two players, Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humaña-Paredes (who also happens to be a student in the Certificate in Business program at Smith School of Business), were wearing the suits when they claimed silver in the finals – the first time Canadian women made it to the Olympic podium in the sport.
“What Left On Friday does an incredible job of is balancing pushing boundaries while also creating support and allowing for execution and performance,” says Ms. Humaña-Paredes. “You can be completely stylish and have freedom of expression while playing at the highest level.”
As she looks back on her career so far, Ms. Low Ah Kee can trace some things back to her time at Queen’s. An interest in sports led to her double major in physical education and life sciences. Her interest in athletic fashion came about while she was competing for Queen’s in several sports.
After graduation, she applied for a retail job at Lululemon. “I thought I’d be there for three months; I stayed for 12 years.” She worked her way up from the sales floor and remembers founder Chip Wilson giving her pointers, until one day he had no advice. At that point, she asked for a corporate job and became head visual merchant and assistant to the head of product.
“Lululemon was my MBA in retail,” she says. Her last job there, as head of speed-to-market, meant watching trends and getting Lululemon’s take on them to market fast.
Soon, she was ready to become her own boss. She and Ms. Savage determined that LOF’s suits had to be nice to the touch, compressive when wet and dry, cover well, and be durable. From 100 fabric swatches, they asked a friend’s mother to make bathing suits with five. Then they product-tested them with athletes.
The company was busy from the beginning; the Olympic deal pushed that into high gear.
“I’m still coming down from the high,” Ms. Low Ah Kee says of sitting among fans at the foot of the Eiffel Tower watching Canadian beach volleyball players wear their designs. “It was a result of six years of blood, sweat, and tears – and sleeping with my computer – coming to life.”
The relationship with Volleyball Canada began in 2022 with the 2024 Olympic uniform announcement featuring a campaign with silver medallists Melissa Humaña-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. Trade journal Women’s Wear Daily picked up the news immediately, as did BOF (The Business of Fashion), the BBC, and Vogue, which used LOF’s own images.
“That uniform is the pinnacle of why LOF exists,” Ms. Low Ah Kee says. “It’s put us on the global stage for fashion and function. I underestimated the fashion component of the Games – and then I thought: ‘We’ll ride this wave.’”
Ms. Low Ah Kee credits Queen’s for her time management skills; she’s a busy entrepreneur who also insists on exercising daily and seeing friends often.
“With a double major, we had seven courses plus labs and you always had more to do than you had time.”
