I started Springrose® in honor of my grandmother Rose, who was independent and capable but found it challenging to put on her bra due to arthritis and chronic pain. I wanted to buy her a better bra as a gift, but couldn’t find one that was functional, pretty, and size-inclusive, so I decided to make one.

Starting 2020, I spent three years doing research with 500+ women and clinicians, including testing prototypes with 40+ women before launching our flagship Easy-On Mobility Bra®.

It’s the world’s most versatile bra with over 8 different ways to put it on, including one-handed, by stepping in, and overhead. It also is safe for pacemakers, the shoulder straps adjust in the front, and the sizing is adjustable, so people can find their perfect fit. We achieved this all without making the adaptive bra look medical, which is what existed before.

Today, our line of patented adaptive bras is both the most health-condition inclusive and the most size inclusive in the adaptive intimates category. Plus, we accept FSA and HSA cards at checkout!

By the time we launched in 2023, we already ranked decently for several keywords on Google that were directly applicable for our adaptive bras. We’d been working on SEO for two years before launching the product, so that helped build our ranking and direct traffic to us from the beginning. After that, it’s been mostly Meta ads and word of mouth that have helped us grow further.

The best decision for the business was bringing Meta ad buying and ad creation in house. We tried multiple agencies and none of them were able to hit our baseline metrics, even though some were huge well-known agencies. Once we brought it in house, we were able to better understand what speaks to the consumer, what grabs attention, and how we should structure our creative.

And the most important lesson I learned early on was that all retail businesses are seasonal. Maybe your season is December – February if you sell candles, or March – July if you sell swimwear. It doesn’t matter what season is your peak, but it’s important that you understand the seasonality of your category, so you can make informed decisions based on expected consumer behavior. If not, you might over or underspend and ruin your margins.

Over the last couple of years, customers have become increasingly sensitive to pricing and price increases. This is understandable given inflation and how expensive everything has become, but we have been similarly hit with price increases. Everything from fuel and freight to manufacturing and advertising has gone up. Yet because of consumers’ pricing sensitivity, we don’t feel like we can increase our price, so to adapt we’ve been trying as much as possible to find ways to save.

I would advise anyone starting out in intimates to find a manufacturer that is willing to be flexible on MOQs, because your first product will never be your best. You’ll learn a lot about what customers actually want once your launch and you’ll need to make rapid tweaks to the product. If you’re committed to high minimums, it’ll be difficult to pivot and find product market fit.

In terms of what to ignore, it would be most marketing channels. Pick one channel or strategy to explore at a time and dedicate yourself to it. Don’t be afraid to pivot as needed, but if you start by wanting to succeed across all marketing channels, you will likely not do well in any of them.