companyThe Profit · Season 5, Episode 17 · Aired July 24, 2018
Montiel
Los Angeles, California
It is still up and running.
What happened after
Women's activewear brand (leggings, sports bras, tops); pivoted from its original fashion-brand positioning to a dedicated activewear line.
What happened on the show
Montiel was a women's athleisure company whose founder had built an early following online, only to watch her conservative aesthetic start losing its pull. In the episode's telling she refused to take risks even as sales suffered, and Marcus's challenge was to get her to think outside the box before the burgeoning startup faded away. It was a recurring Profit pattern, a brand with real early traction stalling because its founder would not adapt to a shifting market. The work centered on pushing the owner to evolve the product and the aesthetic, to take calculated risks rather than clinging to what had worked before, and to rebuild momentum a cautious founder had let slip away. The online audience was already there, which made the founder's aversion to change the thing most in need of loosening.
After the cameras left
Montiel has adapted and endured. The brand pivoted from its original fashion positioning into a dedicated women's activewear line, now sold through its own site and marketplaces, with an Instagram following around 51,000 and a current copyright footer on an active storefront. The risk aversion the episode diagnosed appears to have given way to exactly the kind of repositioning Marcus pushed for, and the brand is clearly still operating. Confirmed operating as of 2026, high confidence.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.