2018: AmorSui First Year in Review
Talk about a whirlwind that 2018 has been for AmorSui, going from the idea of one woman scientist to a product that millions of female scientists all over the world will love! Here are the highlights of what our first year has been for AmorSui and what you can expect to see from us in 2019:
Jan: Beau decided that this was finally the year she would take risks and see if AmorSui is a viable business idea. She asked her colleague to connect her with a business lawyer to learn how to register for an LLC herself, and AmorSui became an LLC on Jan 15th.
Feb: Lele Tran, our lead fashion designer, joined the team and brought more than 15 years of fashion experience with her. Beau interviewed over 100 women scientists to get initial design ideas for her products. Lele and Beau met to discuss the initial concepts of AmorSui. Beau learned about Pat’s beautiful photography and recruited him as our main photographer.
March: Beau and Lele finalized their first designs and selected fabric. Betsy was referred to Beau by Lele’s colleague. Betsy started working on the patterns for the prototypes.
April: Beau and Pat met with numerous models for AmorSui. There was a lot of back and forth discussion between Beau, Lele, and Betsy on the prototypes.
May: We found Anne to be our model! Lele started working on making the first set of prototypes for the Chimie line. Beau recruited additional fashion designers (Deanna, Meitong, Brittany, and Silvia) to join the team to work on the Bioleta line. AmorSui submitted a grant for Birchbox’s Future Starts Now award.
June: AmorSui needed to raise money for its first production run. We talked to multiple crowdfunding consultants and came across iFundWomen. Beau and the team went to meet the iFundWomen team and Kat Bond, and decided to raise money through iFundWomen.
July: The team prepared for the crowdfunding campaign. We completed six prototypes for the Chimie line and had a photoshoot. Our campaign launched incognito on July 17th and went live on July 24thoffering the pre-order for the fire-resistant Marie Curie dress and Rosalind Franklin pants.
August: AmorSui was in the midst of a slow start to its crowdfunding campaign, reaching $8K by the end of August.
September: AmorSui received $5000 from an angel backer and reached $12K. We found a high-quality local family-owned garment factory with over 30 years of experience. Their workers are all women, aligning well with our mission to empower women in the workforce.
October: AmorSui was featured by the Story Exchange and 500 Women Scientists. We hosted our first popup shop as well as a launch party at WeWork sponsored by HumanKindTv, Insperity, Ninedotsmedia, and Social.
Beau was invited to speak on a panel on “A New Approach To Fashion” at Bloomberg Live’s“The Future of Crowdfunding” event. AmorSui was invited to present at the Life Science PA Conference.
The Bioleta line prototypes were completed and we had a photoshoot.
November: AmorSui received a Pay Back grant by iFundWomen and reached its crowdfunding goal. AmorSui was featured by Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN), published by the American Chemical Society. The Marie dress was featured on WE RULE & MAIA Community Black Friday Shopping Guide. Our pre-production samples were completed. We hosted a private try-on party at Lele’s shop. We had a lifestyle photoshoot with Zahavi and Schwartz.
December : AmorSui received Birchbox’s Future Starts Now grant. We were featured in the MadLab Post. A female Nobel Prize recipient (Frances Arnold, 2018 Chemistry) expressed interest in wearing our dress to speaking engagements. We announced the launch of the Bioleta line. AmorSui established ourselves as a supplier for University of Pennsylvania and is in similar talks with multiple other research institutions.
What’s Next in 2019?
In the next year,
- We plan to accelerate our efforts so you can find more pieces that you love and have easier access to buy our product. We are in conversations with the biggest life science distributor to establish a long-term partnership and leverage their established presence in the space to deliver product to you and your labs.
- We will continue to produce high-quality products, deliver them to you on-time, and launch new pieces (two pieces every season is our goal) that will protect and empower you in your dynamic professional life.
- We are migrating our website to Shopify, which will allow for a more user-friendly experience and offer an Afterpay option so low-income students and postdocs will be able to afford our product and pay it overtime interest-free.
- We are planning to expand our brand awareness by working with leading women scientists in the field and social influencers as our ambassadors. Expect to see more of our signature dress and clothing at established scientific conferences.
- We will also be working with established retail partners to reach more customers within the next year.
Want to be in the loop? Sign up to be on our mailing list for future updates here.
Our team greatly appreciates all of our supporters and partners. We would’t be here without you! We are excited for what the next year has in store for us and hope that 2019 will be an inspiring and empowering year for everyone!
Protect and Empower Female Scientists One Garment At a Time,
xoxo
AmorSui
0 comments