A new teen bra line is promoting a positive body image and self-acceptance.
Megan Grassell, 19, was horrified the first time she went bra shopping as a young girl. She was measured by saleswoman and sent on her way with a handful of bras to try on, with no idea of how they were supposed to fit her girlish figure. When Megan took her 13-year-old sister bra shopping and she tried on a leopard push-up bra, she noticed that she had the same experience and decided to do something to ease the pain of buying your first bra.
“I remember being in a department store and feeling so awkward when a woman measured me and then just sent me into a dressing room with a box of bras. I was so uncomfortable. It wasn’t until I watched the same thing happen to my sister that [I knew] I wasn’t the only girl who experienced that.”
That is when Megan decided to create her new teen bra line called Yellowberry. Megan’s line shuns the typical push-up features, underwires, and padding. Rather, her bras are made for young girls, and their simple, cute, and comfy styles make them the ideal bras for the girl who is in that awkward “tween” stage.
“I didn’t know how to sew, start a business, or make a bra… I knew absolutely nothing. But this idea was something I couldn’t stop thinking about,” Megan explained , according to Teen Vogue .
With little to no knowledge of how to go about designing a bra, or anything for that matter, she decided to try her luck and took some fabric to a local seamstress. With her first prototypes created, Megan found a manufacturer in Los Angeles and had them make her first two bras in two different colors. She then started selling those products on her website, Yellowberrycompany.com.
Needing more funds for her endeavor, Megan started a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of raising $25,000. She exceeded her goal within a few weeks and had 1,087 backers pledging a total of $41,795.
“When that really took off and went viral, overnight Yellowberry went from an idea that only I believed in to something that suddenly many people believed in.”
Megan’s goal is to make girls remain just that — young. She hopes that her line will help girls embrace their youth and not try to grow up so fast.
“It [Yellowberry] creates a lifestyle of enjoying this time. I think that is what makes Yellowberry a special brand. I created the company to fix an issue that I identified in the market. That issue is something that every girl can relate to.”
[Photo via Kickstarter]
