Angela Newnam, Tryon native and creator and owner of Knock out!®, has won the prestigious 2012 Harvard Business School competition for alumni entrepreneurs, with a theme of leveraging innovative, natural textile technologies. Newman’s firm is the first woman owned company to win this award, which is a global competition open to all Harvard graduates with businesses less than three years old.
Emerging from 130 global entries, Washington, D.C.-based Knock out!® founder Angela Newnam (MBA 1996) received the $50,000 grand prize for her line of high–performance undergarments (for both men and women) that provide odor control  and wicking using all-natural cotton.
“Outerwear and athletic wear have long been associated with higher tech fabrics, but NoTrace® technology is raising the performance bar for intimates,” Newman said.
With strong response to her first collection of women’s panties (available in a variety of styles and colors), the company quickly expanded into premium men’s undergarments.
The company’s innovative fabrics are available in women’s and men’s T-shirts, underwear and other garments in more than 250 retailers and e-tailers in the United States and Canada, including Tryon House in Tryon.
Newnam graduated from Tryon High School and now resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children.
For more information, visit www.knockoutpanties.com.
– article submitted
by Ashley Butler