The SENIQ route: Alums are redefining women’s outdoor apparel

By Margaret Farnham
Fisher College of Business

In business and the outdoors, Valentina Thompson and Madison Hilson know one thing for sure: success isn’t just reaching the summit; it’s also what you gain on the climb.

“Whether it’s starting a business or skiing a steep mountain, you’re constantly changing and growing and learning on the journey,” said Thompson (BSBA ’16).

From New Albany High School and Ohio State to some of the leading brands in retail apparel, the pair have forged a dynamic path into fashion and business. In 2023, they took a leap of faith and launched their own unique brand of women’s outdoor apparel called SENIQ.

Last year, they exceeded $1 million in sales and earned a place among the Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2025.

The brand (pronounced like scenic) and its founders have been featured in Women’s Wear Daily, Travel + Leisure, Outside and Condé Nast Traveler, and their product is now available at major outdoor retailers including Backcountry, Title Nine, Evo and REI.

“REI was the bucket list dream,” said Thompson. “They’re not early adopters. They love to vet products before offering to customers, but they bet early on SENIQ and now we’re the fastest growing women’s hike brand for women under 30 at REI.”

The duo’s journey has been fast and furious — yet thoughtfully navigated.

While they attended the same high school and both became Buckeyes, their friendship formed while working as merchants for Columbus-based Victoria’s Secret.

“One of my favorite parts about going to Ohio State is that it’s so closely positioned to all these retail headquarters,” said Thompson. “I actually interned during the school year and during summer for Victoria’s Secret Pink and Victoria’s Secret before landing a full-time role after graduation.”

The trailhead

Both knew early on that they wanted careers in merchandising and fashion retail.

Thompson’s mother worked at Columbus-based Express for 30 years, and the family’s dinner-table conversations often veered toward product production and sourcing, her mother’s areas of expertise.

During high school, Thompson nurtured her entrepreneurial spirit by selling her paintings and hand-crafted bracelets to friends and family.

“I was pretty crystal clear going into college and after that I wanted to build a career in merchandising and retail specifically,” said Thompson. 

Hilson, who graduated from Ohio State in 2019 with a degree in fashion retail studies and a minor in business, also traces her interest in merchandising to her mother’s career as a chief financial officer for several major retailers.

“When I was 13 and living in Pittsburgh, my mom was at American Eagle,” she said. “She would have meetings, and I would hang out with the merchants. They would display products and say, ‘What do you think will be a best seller?’ I thought merchandising was the coolest job ever.”

Hilson and Thompson ultimately honed their skills and gained valuable insight into the activewear industry as part of the Victoria’s Secret sports team. 

“It wasn’t until I got to the activewear and sport category that I fell in love with learning how to develop apparel,” said Thompson. “Not just apparel, but apparel that performs and has an end use; apparel that needs to fit and look good, but wick away sweat and allow you to do incredible things.”  

As part of her job, Thompson visited vendors in China and experienced the technology and innovation that goes into making activewear garments.

“I was so fascinated by it, I decided to take a leap and work for a smaller brand called Outdoor Voices,” she said. “I wanted to take the merchandising skills I built at Victoria’s Secret and try those out at a smaller brand. Outdoor Voices is really the place where I fell in love with outdoor activities and outdoor-specific activewear. I spent a year there and learned a lot about the challenges smaller brands face.”

Hilson also wanted to broaden her retail knowledge, so she left Victoria’s Secret to become a buyer for Signet Jewelers. 

The pair ultimately reunited at outdoor retailer Backcountry in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Thompson was a merchant and product developer and recruited Hilson to join the company as a women’s apparel buyer. 

“That was an amazing experience; I got exposed to so many different outdoor brands,” said Hilson. “Being able to learn in a large corporation that has all the processes and systems in place, and to see how the different departments work, is crucial to going out on your own.”

She credits their experience at Backcountry for their ability to concept and launch SENIQ within a year. Without it, Hilson said it would have taken five.

The move to Utah also allowed the friends to immerse themselves in outdoor activities like never before. They hiked national park trails, climbed mountains and skied the slopes in and around Salt Lake City and Park City — activities that required specialized gear and apparel.

“When we got to Utah, we were excited to live in this world-class nature and build out our outdoor and gear closets,” Thompson said. “We had a great employee discount and access to all the brands, but there were no products we were excited to spend our money on.”

That experience and seeing data that revealed more women than men were engaging in outdoor activities got them thinking about creating an outdoor brand just for women. 

“The data showed that women were showing up to the outdoor brands and not finding products they were eager to buy,” said Thompson. “Most hike pants on the retail floor are midrise, straight-leg silhouette. Women want a higher rise, a different leg shape and variation in color and print pattern. Legacy outdoor brands were not evolving quick enough.”

The SENIQ route

The pair can pinpoint the moment their business was born. It was a Saturday afternoon, during lunch at a popular deli in Salt Lake City. They continued a conversation that began during their tenure at Victoria’s Secret and picked up steam while working at Backcountry. 

“In the past, we talked about designing a swim line or base layers,” said Thompson. “Now, we had all this qualitative data, and we saw this white space opportunity to create an outdoor brand that speaks specifically to women.”  

They began to envision a product that was functional and fashion-forward, pieces women not only could wear outdoors but to work, dinner and travel.

“I went home after that lunch and wrote a product plan of the items I wanted to develop and sent them to Madi,” said Thompson. “She came back and said, ‘Let’s clear our Sunday plans and write a business plan.’ From that moment, everything just took off.” 

While they were still concepting the brand, Thompson was recovering from surgery for an ACL injury and was laid up during one of the snowiest winters in Utah.

“Everyone was out on the mountain every day, and I was indoors by myself,” she said. “I was like, you can have a pity party, or you can try to take the scenic route through this.”

“The minute I envisioned the words scenic route, I texted Madi and said, ‘What if we name the brand Scenic Route?’ She said, ‘What about Scenic?’ The traditional spelling was already trademarked, so we came up with our own spelling.”

The two ultimately bet on their vision, quit their jobs at Backcountry and returned to Ohio to work out of their parents’ basements and secure funding for a lead designer and a manufacturer. 

They also reached out to fellow Buckeye and Columbus entrepreneur Jeni Britton of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

“We have been fans of her product, her brand and her as a person for years,” said Thompson.

“We actually saw that she was hiking a lot, so we asked, ‘Can we send you some products?’” said Hilson.

The three met for coffee, and now they continue to talk about business, entrepreneurship and product development.

“I think the biggest takeaway she provided was to trust your vision and don’t let other people try and weigh in too much,” said Hilson. “We have taken that to heart, and it has served us well.”

The vast network of Columbus’ retail professionals and mentors who make themselves available to students and emerging entrepreneurs has inspired Hilson. She offers advice and support to those who now reach out to her from across the country — including Ohio State — via Tik Tok and Instagram.

“Talking to customers and mentoring young people is fun and inspiring and gives me the most joy,” she said.

The path forward

A year into their launch, the founders outgrew their basements and partnered with a third-party logistics warehouse in Grove City. 

“We outgrew that warehouse and just moved into a new one in San Diego,” said Thompson, who now lives in Los Angeles.

Hilson continues to live and work in Columbus, and their team has expanded to include two New York-based designers, a sales lead in Colorado, marketing support in California and a manager in Columbus.

The partners see their brand as more than a fashion statement for athletes and weekend adventurers. From the very beginning, they have connected the outdoor experience to improved mental health, and they currently donate 1 percent of sales to organizations that provide vulnerable communities with mental wellness resources and access to the outdoors.

“Getting outdoors rejuvenates and regenerates your mind,” said Thompson. “We were excited to build a brand that hopefully inspired women to prioritize their own mental health and get outdoors to do that.”

They credit their early success to shared corporate experiences and a pressure-tested partnership.

“Thankfully, we worked together through two different billion-dollar brands and learned each other’s working style and emotional patterning and when the other person needs a break or help,” she said.

Both refer to their partnership as Yin and Yang.

Thompson’s expertise is brand visioning, marketing and product development, while Hilson flexes her skills in the business’ strategy, sales, operation and finance.

“It’s really important to have complementary skillsets,” said Hilson. “I think, too, we have such a genuine friendship that it allows us to have both great conversations and hard conversations and know that they come from a healthy place.”

Their Ohio upbringing and shared education at Ohio State also benefits the partnership and the SENIQ brand in understated ways.

“There is this Midwest mentality, where everything is about people first for us, whether it’s each other, our staff or our customers,” said Thompson. “Having a shared sense of where we come from and our experiences is helpful.”

Today, they’re thinking about new designs, speaking with fashion writers and podcasters and directing photoshoots featuring their latest products.

“We’re just at the beginning of the journey,” said Hilson. “We want to make SENIQ a true lifestyle brand. One of our crazy dreams is to not only have apparel, but hard goods or a SENIQ hotel and create a whole lifestyle experience.”

For now, they’re careful to focus on the journey and not the finish line. 

“We like to keep a beginners’ mindset,” said Thompson. “I think it’s best to stay open to what crosses your path, what life throws at you, and to allow yourself to evolve through some of the pursuits that you take on — whether it’s hiking, skiing or starting a business.”