Springrose

Springrose designs adaptive, attractive & comfortable bras to help women with mobility challenges reclaim their daily experience. As recent first place winners in the Kellogg Venture Challenge, third place winners in Tulane’s Business Model Competition and semifinalists in Northwestern University’s Venture Cat Competition (taking place 5/26), the Springrose team sat down with me to share the latest in what they are building.

A Budding Idea

Springrose founder and first-year Kellogg student, Nicole Cuervo, noticed her grandmother Rose struggle to put on her bra due to the osteoarthritis in her hands. Determined to help her grandmother, Nicole scoured the market for options but everything she found was size limited and unattractive. It struck Nicole that the bra industry had not changed much since the 1900s, and that it was time to include women with mobility and dexterity concerns in the conversation, with a product that feels joyful and feminine.

An Underserved Market

There are 45 million women in the United States with limited upper mobility or dexterity. This market has been grossly underserved – existing powerhouses like Bali and Playtex offer front-clasp options but still utilize underwire and unfriendly clasps, making them not truly accessible to their target customer. Other providers serving the adaptive market have released a single product that is lacking in size inclusivity and are simply unattractive. Springrose knew there was a better way to address the needs of these women.

Designing and Testing

Springrose began the product development journey by interviewing dozen of women and surveying over 1,000 women in a range of bra sizes to get a comprehensive understanding of the gaps in the market. They craftily launched a design challenge using their findings and received dozens of submissions to create their unique design. With the help of occupational therapists, Springrose was able to narrow down on the winning designs and is now in development with a manufacturing partner in New York and a factory in Egypt.

Looking Ahead

Springrose has not let a lack of a physical product stop them - the team has received countless messages on their website from women excited to see the product on the market. They are ready to hit the ground running with an enthusiastic customer base and are set to launch later this year in 2021. To keep up to date on their progress, visit springrose.co.