Yellowberry: Meet the Teen Titan Who Is Taking On The Youth Bra Industry
It took only one trip to the mall to show Megan Grassell what was wrong with the bra industry. And 10 months of hard work to figure out how to change it.
Today, the 18-year-old high school senior from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is the founder of Yellowberry, an underwear company that’s making wholesome, age-appropriate bras for girls aged 11-15.
That’s the sort of thing Megan couldn’t find a year ago when she took her kid sister Mary Margaret, then 13, shopping for her first bra.
“It was an awkward moment for her, but a chance for me to show off my sisterly knowledge,” Megan wrote in the Kickstarter pitch that helped get Yellowberryoff the ground.
“I couldn’t believe the bras that she was supposed to buy,” she added. “The choices for her, and for all girls her age, were simply appalling to me. They were all padded, push-up and sexual. Not only that, they did not fit her body properly, which automatically made me wonder ‘Where were the young, cute and realistic bras for girls?’ There were none!”
That ‘Eureka!’ moment was the spark that created Yellowberry — and may have ripple effects throughout the teen lingerie world, which has been the target of significant consumer activism in recent years.
“It was literally like an epiphany,” Megan told Lingerie Talk this week. “I was holding a bra in my hands and I just said, ‘This is not okay. I’m going to make bras for girls.’”
She turned to the crowdfunding site Kickstarter hoping to raise $25,000 to launchYellowberry, and was stunned by the response. When the 30-day campaign ended on Sunday, it had raised almost $42,000 to finance Yellowberry’s first production order, making it one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns everfor an underwear or lingerie start-up.
More at the link.
