London Inc. Fall 2022 - 18

Upfront TechAlliance
WHEN COMMUNITY BECOMES
YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Evolving from simply delivering a product to building a community,
a teen bra startup continues to build brand and audience
IF YOU'VE LISTENED to an entrepreneur talk about their
business-building journey, you know it often starts with solving
a problem.
When Apricotton (www.apricotton.ca) co-founders Chloe
Beaudoin and Jessica Miao started their capstone course project
as friends and project partners at Ivey Business School,
their aligned vision for problem solving sparked what is now
a growing bra brand and vibrant online community.
Apricotton is the only bra brand globally that designs bras
that " grow as she grows, " meaning customers can wear the
same Apricotton products throughout puberty and into early
adulthood without having to endure the painstaking and constant
search for new sizes.
professors and mentors to take their innovative idea and make
it a reality. With education and entrepreneurial drive behind
them, they graduated Ivey Business School together in 2020
and launched Apricotton mid-pandemic.
Two years later, their growth is impressive and sustainable,
and their continued expansion is excitedly anticipated by
Londoners and supporters alike. Beyond their innovative
products and hard work, the Apricotton co-founders have built
an online community through both TikTok and Instagram
that is gaining traction and changing the bra-shopping narrative
for many of their customers.
Developing a community of online followers, the Apricotton
founders have built a space where they support young women
by answering " uncomfortable " questions, provide education
and deliver a forum for likeminded people to connect. It's an
online community that drives their brand and, in turn, their
sales successes.
This past summer the hard work paid off as the partners
saw a 1,000 per cent increase in sales, attracted over 65,000
followers on TikTok and garnered over six million views.
Apricotton was also recently announced as an i.d.e.a.
Fund recipient, a program supported by the Government of
Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency
of Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) to help high-potential
ventures have the tools they need to succeed by providing
financial and business advisory supports to develop or redesign
products, services, processes and technologies that
reduce impacts on the environment and create made-in-Canada
climate change solutions.
The co-founders are currently in the process of additional
Apricotton founders Jessica Miao and Chloe Beaudoin
" We specifically started this company because we had
both struggled to find bras that fit u
s when we had gone
through puberty and had family members going through the
same struggles at the time of founding Apricotton, " explains
Beaudoin. " We wanted to start a bra brand that was actually
an enjoyable shopping experience and make buying your first
bra more of a celebration than an embarrassing chore. "
After creating Apricotton as simply a project idea, the two
young co-founders saw an outpour of support from their peers,
18 | londonincmagazine.ca | FALL 2022
product development and furthering their impact on social
media. With continued collaboration in the London region,
including their first in-person shopping display at Elizabeth
Noel (228 Dundas Street) and connections with both
Western University and Ivey Business School, their impact in
Southwestern Ontario and beyond continues to grow.
" We get messages from girls online talking to us about how
we have changed their lives, " says Beaudoin. " Some of them are
saying that they finally feel confident in their bodies because
of our bras, which feels so great as a founder. To hear someone
say we have inspired them brings us so much joy and energy to
continue doing what we're doing. "
http://www.apricotton.ca http://www.londonincmagazine.ca
London Inc. Fall 2022

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