boxers, and you went into a dressing room and someone came in there and made sure everything was fitting in there just perfectly, and then when you checked out you paid $70 for one pair of boxers?’” said Jane. That definitely got their attention. But the duo went a step further than simply telling them what it would be like. With a video parodying the excruciating experience of shop- ping for bras, Jane and Jen- na showed investors what it would be like for a man to be poked, prodded, and measured to get a perfectly fitted pair of wildly expensive boxers. Upon entering “Dick’s Drawers: The Ballsiest Undergarments in Men’s Fashion,” an unassum- ing man is asked what kinds of boxers he wants to buy, he’s of- fered “Everyday Boxers,” “Extra Cushion Boxers,” and “Specially Padded Boxers.” Another man then sifts through the messy bin of boxers labeled with the slogan “Make Her Happy for Under $299.” It seems a bit absurd at first. But if you were to substitute the male custom- er for a woman, and the boxers for bras, it feels much more familiar. Eventually, the male inves- tors in the room with Jane and Jenna came to the conclusion that they just wouldn’t put up with that. But the video didn’t just get the attention of wealthy invetors—it grabbed the attention of hundreds of everyday women as well. “What we found with the video was that it opened womens’ eyes [to how ab- surd the industry is]. They were like, “Oh my gosh, why am I dealing with this? This is total bullshit. I’m not going to do this anymore.” Changing the way that bras are marketed, bought, and sold needs to happen from the top down—and it needs women at the helm. For years, bras have been marketed by men, and the male gaze has been the primary target. But now, wom- en’s underwear is being marketed from women to women, cutting out the unnecessary middleman.
“It used to be that you were selling men on women’s underwear. Now it’s women to women. I think that when you’re selling to the same person that’s going to be wearing it, that’s when it becomes more about functionality.” When women are designing and selling bras that women want to, need to, and functionally have to wear, that’s when the real progress is made.
and she’s not wrong. A 2015 study from Quantopian compared the performance of Fortune 1000 companies with female CEOs against the performance of S&P 500 companies with male CEOs. It found that the female-led companies produced 226 percent better equity returns than the male-led companies. Just imagine what the statistics would look like if it were comparing only the companies that make products for, market to, and thrive off the desires of women (specifically, bras). The numbers of those run by female CEOs would surely be overwhelmingly higher. It’s not that hard to envision, because that’s what Harper Wilde is doing. They’re making bras for women, by women, with comfort, utility, and empowerment at their core. Hypersexualized ads, frills and excess, and designs that fail to meet the needs of all women are being rendered obsolete as the bra industry continues to evolve. Eventually, bras will no longer be adver- tised as symbols of sex but rather symbols of comfort and support. Companies like Harper Wilde will make bra shopping enjoyable rather than isolating. Bras will be functional, comfort- able, and affordable, and women will actually want to shop for them. Jane Fisher and Jenna Kerner are determined to make these changes, but it’s not just for their own comfort. “This is a tough thing for women to talk about; it’s not something that they generally want to open up about. Overall... they hate their bras,” says Jane. But by injecting humor into an industry that can often feel exclusive, objectifying, and uncomfortable, Harper Wilde is developing something that women actually want to talk about. They’re taking an essential component of a woman’s life and reshaping it into something she doesn’t fundamentally hate—because badass women don’t deserve to wear shitty bras.
Unfortunately, the issue of a lack of women in powerful, corporate positions is about much more than just bras. There, historically, has always been men at the top, and it takes a lot of work to make a change. “If you’ve been able to see someone ahead of you in a position of power, it makes it so much easier for women beneath them to see themselves in that way and actually follow a path in that direction.” Women have not often had these powerful figures to emulate, but now they do. The intent and desire for change is evident, and Jane and Jenna are starting the revolution. “There’s a lot of stats out there that show that when women are leading businesses it’s more suc- cessful in a lot of ways,” says Jenna,
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