Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Mullan.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We’ve all been there. There’s nothing worse than trying to conquer the world and having to slow down because our underwear is giving us a wedgie. Or, when we do wear a comfortable pair of undies, we catch a glance of ourselves in the bathroom mirror and face the harsh reality that we’re wearing granny pants. Not appealing, right?
Why is women’s underwear stuck in the dark ages? Why is most of it so uncomfortable? Or museum-quality beautiful but built for a model stick figure with stiff lace and unflexing seams that mere mortals can only hope to pour themselves into? And why do so many styles still show a panty line, “VPL”, under our clothes?
These “whys” are why we set out to fix this problem for women everywhere, creating a brand of comfortable and beautiful underwear that works under every one of your outfits.
That is why Uwila Warrior was started.
As to how we started Uwila Warrior that was not without a lot of help from early employees of Marc Jacobs, one of which is a dear friend of mine from college, Natalia Martorell.
A founding member of Marc by Marc Jacobs, Natalia Martorell catapulted a small RTW business into a multi category global lifestyle brand. As SVP of Merchandising for Marc by Marc, Natalia was responsible for creating a consistent DNA across categories, identifying key business drivers, implementing merchandising strategies and launching new businesses.
When I came to Natalia with the idea of creating Uwila Warrior, she took my concept and made it into a reality. Her expertise in design management coupled with vast connections to amazing fabric and lace providers were key to creating the most beautiful and comfortable underwear on this planet. Thanks to Natalia’s introductions, Uwila Warrior has introduced a revolutionary new line of underwear for the modern woman that is beautiful, stylish and comfortable.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting any business, let alone an underwear business, comes with challenges.
Some of those challenges you might expect, like factories jamming you on pricing in the 11th hour, lace not cooperating with the fabric the way you had anticipated, fabrics shrinking crazy amounts in the dying process, final fittings that went terribly wrong, costs coming out of left field every day putting you deeper and deeper into the red, delays, delays, and even more delays (because the lace guy and the silk guy and the jersey gal and the factory gal each have a holiday, or a back ache, or a cigarette break– blah, blah, blah.)
And some challenges you wouldn’t expect, like having to rename your company in one weekend because your previous name happened to be the nomenclature of a not-so-stable country’s intelligence agency– oops. Just image the cyber-attacks our baby startup’s website was experiencing, and you too would have done a 180 on the name. And a few of the challenges you don’t think you’ll survive, like catching a last minute red eye to make sure your Italian factory does not fall behind mounting orders while your warehouse languishes with zero inventory.
Our team, family, friends and coworkers helping to make Uwila a reality have always remind each other of one thing– we are not building this business for the fun, for a hobby, or for the associated glitz and glamour of the fashion world. We are launching Uwila Warrior so that women can feel as bold and beautiful as they truly are. So they can stop twisting their bodies into painful conventions of today’s lingerie, so that finding underwear that works is not a chore but a joy. This mindset has kept us plowing forward despite a few challenges.
Uwila Warrior – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Uwila Warrior makes the most comfortable, yet beautiful, underwear for women.
We use luxurious, high end fabric and invest time and capital into our design process. With our organic and breathable silk line and seamless jersey pieces we have curated incredible, beautiful underwear that does not get in the way of all the great things she needs to tackle each day. We’ve created this product not only with our customer’s life in mind, but also for her girlfriends and sisters, too. Most importantly, our line was not singularly created for someone else to enjoy on her body. Our customer can expect us to continue innovating so that searching for the most perfect pair of underwear is not something that any woman will have to worry about again.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Measurement of professional success was pretty clear during my 15 year career in investment management– Did my ideas make more money than lose more money for my firm? The driver behind successful results was ultimately my intense level of curiosity about the subject matter and a drive to figure things out before everyone else.
With Uwila Warrior, curiosity and drive are still key tenets of success. Why has women’s underwear not changed in 50 years? Why can’t it be better? Why is sexy the driver behind underwear purchases when functionality is what we want the other 85% of our lives? Why is nobody innovating in this market and how can we figure out how to improve upon status quo before everyone else.
Uwila Warrior has achieved success. We have succeeded in bringing an amazing product to market. However, total success for Uwila Warrior will not be achieved until every woman who is tired of the status quo of underwear out there has tried our product.
Pricing:
- Soft Silks – $45
- Bridal Seamless – $52
- Happy Seams – $42
- Bridal Classic Silk – $62
- Happy Seams with Glow in the Dark Lace – $62
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.uwilawarrior.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/UwilaWarrior/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uwilawarrior
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB0HfJ_OrFCFYrTND8M4v1A
Shot for Kerrie Burke
Shot for Kerrie Burke
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