by In 2008, Bree McKeen was fresh out of Stanford Business School and working for a small venture capital firm, but her weeklong rigors in Silicon Valley left her with uncomfortable bra pain.
She thought it was because of her posture or that she wasn’t fit enough so she spent six months on her core strength. While standing in her physiologist’s office one day, McKeen was told she had a neuromuscular issue, like a pebble in her shoe. If her bra hurt it would affect how she stood straight.
“There was nothing that worked as well for me,” recalls McKeen, Evelyn & Bobbie CEO and founder. “How are we living in an artificial intelligence world when I don’t have a comfortable bra? Half the population is putting this on every morning for the rest of their lives.”
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McKeen had hit a product gap, 34DDD. Delving further into the history of underwire detection — first invented in 1931 — she realized there had been no “meaningful structural innovation” for more than 90 years.
That is until her first 3D technology patent was issued in 2014. During a year of research her bra design helped to redistribute weight from the shoulder muscles to the core muscles.
“The thesis was designed around how a woman looked and didn’t take into account how she felt and didn’t care about her comfort,” says McKeen on a recent exploratory trip to London, and her wireless bra brand to extend to. the UK this spring.
The second light bulb that underpinned her decision came when she was raising money and spending time with mostly male investors. McKeen wanted to convince them why a comfort bra was needed.
She had given investors homework; to talk to four women about whether they liked bra shopping, how many bras they owned and how they felt about them at 6pm on Thursday. Mostly negative responses were revealed.
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It was enough to convince her to quit her job. She moved to Portland, Oregon, home to major apparel companies such as Under Armour, Nike and Adidas, where she recruited talent before launching in 2018.
While there has been an increase in celebrity investment in the bra market, McKeen says there is less emphasis on technology and approaching it as a problem solver.
Besides, says McKeen, the alphanumeric size was never standardized. “All these legacy systems didn’t make sense,” she admits. “As an outsider, it was about making sense of it all. Women need to wear a bra and feel comfortable throughout the day. They are willing to pay for that and we need to make it easier.”
Evelyn & Bobbie, a $20m company, aims to simplify sizing with its small to 3XL outfits. The bra, seamless and invisible under clothing, can also stretch to fit bodies up to a K cup.
Costing around £70 more, the company has seen 90% growth in 2023. “We can’t explain our growth through our marketing spend, so we know women are telling each other about us,” he admits. McKeen.
They’re also telling Evelyn & Bobbie in droves – “I’ve never written a love letter to a company, I’ve only written complaints,” McKeen says – and the outfit’s customers range in age from 13 to 95.
She says: “This product category has been neglected for a long time. I am comfortable every day now and I dress like my husband. Why would you be afraid of something you have to wear during the day?”
‘Do it yourself’ was McKeen’s mantra growing up in the US. As an outdoor-minded child, she made dolls out of pine cones or built tree houses across lakes.
The company name is also one with family attachments. Evelyn is her maternal grandmother whom she never met, and her enterprising aunt and “meticulous seamstress” Bobbie taught her how to sew.
Now, McKeen hopes to be “synonymous with the bra solution worldwide”.
“The woman’s body is ready,” she says. “These bodies have these needs all the time, we’re looking at it through the wrong lens.
“The way we win is because we’re so focused and we don’t try to be everything to everyone.
“I’m not trying to be a fashion or trend-driven brand, we’re trying to achieve a basic solution for women every day.”
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