A Love Letter from Our Founders

We wanted to give you all a little tour of what we’ve been up to behind-the-scenes since our launch and fill you in on some exciting things in store for AVYN! We’re a little over three months old now, but we’ve made some serious progress in such a short time. 

Our Social Responsibility
While we were drawing bras on cocktail napkins last year, we knew that we wanted to be a cool company. Not just a cool looking company, but a cool company that gives back and really makes this community a special place. We are fortunate people and we believe it’s important to share the love with the world! In three months we’ve been able to help other mamas, families, and our homegirl, Mother Nature. 

We made donations to United Way to help the flood victims in the midwest (because we’re both from the midwest and these are our people), planted trees in our National Forests through the National Forest Foundation, celebrated Pride month by donating to Family Equality Council, and sponsored an event to benefit the Mother & Child Education Center (who we also donate unsellable bras to). Not bad for three months and we know this is just the beginning! 

Our Product
We’ve gotten such positive feedback that we’re having a hard time keeping up with demand! We placed an order to replenish our current inventory and we’ll be adding two new colors (one solid color and one print)! The new colors will be launching this month and we are here for it. 

Our Business
We have been BLOWN AWAY by all the support we have received! Some amazing women have been alongside us on this journey, sharing their entrepreneurial experience and lending insight. It really is true that magical things can happen when women support other women!

A couple months ago we had the opportunity to chat bras and business with Sadie Lincoln, the founder of barre3. Sadie has built an amazing business around empowering women and talked about our core values and the power of staying in your lane. She told us “until every nursing mom is wearing an AVYN bra, there is still room for you in the market” - talk about setting some big goals! 

The other woman we were introduced to was LaJean Lawson, or as you might know her, “Dr. Sports Bra”. LaJean used her degree in biomechanics to invent the jog bra, which was essentially the first sports bra to hit the market. And when we met her, it was love at first sight. Her energy is contagious and she’s graciously invited us to her studio for further product testing (which we’ll be doing later this year). 

Let me remind you, Lauren and I are working moms, just like many of you. In fact, we’re both still working our “real” jobs, but have been refining our time management skills to make sure we’re on top of things. Of course we have faced challenges, but we’re able to learn from our mistakes and push forward. We aren’t business gurus, but we are truly passionate about creating a brand that we’re genuinely proud of. 

What has been the hardest part of launching a business?

Lauren: I would say for me the hardest part of launching this business has been trusting my capability to learn a whole new industry. Can I really handle taking this on? Stepping into an entirely new career has awakened and invigorated parts of my 'mombrain' I haven't used in awhile!  So finding patience in this process and moving past my fears has been something I've really been working on- in a good way. 

Chandler: I just severely underestimated how much time a new business requires. I had committed myself to projects (for my design clients) and felt like I didn’t have enough time to execute all the things I wanted to do for AVYN. My time management skills are definitely still a work in progress!

What is your favorite part?

Lauren: My favorite part has been working with Chandler. I'm not kidding. 

Chandler: My favorite part has been learning everything. I would be in school forever if I could afford it so it's been exciting to tap into some different areas of my brain. 

What do you spend most of your time on?

Lauren: Research and communication. Asking endless questions, comparing every tiny detail, and reaching out to people who have more expertise than I do for help. 

Chandler: Social media. OMG. I spend so much time designing our instagram feed and trying to engage with our community (which is ironic considering I personally hadn’t been on facebook for years prior to AVYN). 

What exciting things are you working on?

Lauren: I'm really, really excited for everything! But I'd say the number one thing I'm excited for is expanding our designs and sizes so we can literally 'support' more women. We will be doing this by working closely with a local apparel design group whose specialty lies in sports bra design. How lucky are we to be launching this business in Portland, OR?! 

Chandler: Is a financial roadmap exciting? Haha, nope! I’m excited for our first AVYN retreat so we can get this business running like a well oiled machine and define our roles and how we want to grow. And I’m excited to finally get our Pinterest page launched! 

So, there you have it! A little insight into what we've been doing and what's in store for AVYN in the near future. If you have any ideas, questions, thoughts, or just want to say hi, please reach out! 

And a giant THANK YOU to this amazing community - we are so thankful to be surrounded by such inspiring women!