How Jaclyn Fu Sold Over 1 Million Bras Online

Jaclyn Fu grew up hating her size 32A chest. She stuffed her bra with socks, was in an ongoing war against gaping bra cups, and felt mortified about her smaller chest. It was the '00s you guys, and big boobs were everything.

In 2017 she noticed inclusive lingerie companies innovating for bigger sizes, but there was still nothing that fit small chests—standard bras in the US are created from a 36C model and scaled down or up, but this approach just doesn’t ‘result in a bra that fits small chests. So she created Pepper, a brand celebrating the IBTC (iykyk!!) that now hits 8-figures in sales.

Now she had the business idea, and she needed a scrappy, cheap way to validate it. She emailed friends and family with three questions: What bra size are you? What brand do you wear? And, do you love your bra?

Everyone who was small chest came back with, “I hate my bra, it doesn't fit, but there's no other option, so what am I gonna do about it?”

Jaclyn wanted more validation that this idea was needed, so launched with a Kickstarter to fund the business. It took off: Her entire Kickstarter was funded in 10 hours. She quit her job right away to focus on Pepper.

"The craziest thing was it wasn't my mom or my aunts or my cousins, it was strangers who were finding this Kickstarter campaign, writing into us saying things like, 'Where have you been all my life? I've been waiting for a brand like yours.' That's when I knew we were really onto something."

A big struggle for Jaclyn has been managing inventory for a fast-growing apparel business.

"I think a lot of what also helped us is shorter lead times. So working with your manufacturing partners to shorten the lead time will help you react to inventory, learnings, and, and situations faster."

Pepper began selling only through its website, and to this day continues to sell entirely direct-to-consumer and has zero stockists. This approach typically means brands need to spend on ads, and Pepper's constantly looking for creative ways to reach new audiences.

Last year they spent a scrappy $15,000 to try Hulu ads. For reference, most Hulu ads cost companies over $50,000.

"Typically our best performing ads feature my face in them, just me sharing my authentic story. That's what seems to really resonate with people."

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