Dec 2, 2024
A look into Brarista’s experience in the world’s first lingerie accelerator programme, WeDareLab
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Hey, it’s Bella here!
I’m the founder and CEO of Brarista, the AI-fitting solution for intimatewear. I’ve been reflecting on our journey recently as it’s been roughly a year since Brarista was chosen as one of four innovative start-ups to take part in WeDareLab – the start-up accelerator that’s shaking up the lingerie industry.
So, what is WeDareLab?
Created by popular French lingerie brand Etam, the 8-month programme provides start-up founders with access to exclusive networking events and dedicated mentorship from industry experts. Being a custom-made acceleration programme, each start-up receives tailored support, from product development strategy to demo-testing opportunities, all with the aim of scaling to the next level.
As part of the fourth WeDareLab cohort, we were fortunate enough to be joined by three other exciting start-ups:
Lilja the Label – the Finish swimwear brand creating sustainable, all-weather swimsuits
Elyn – the French start-up offering a revolutionising returns management
IcosaMed – the Swiss start-up designing the breast-cancer monitoring bra
Photo 1 - Etam Groupe CEO welcomed us on our onboarding day!
Brarista, before and after WeDareLab
Prior to the accelerator programme, we’d developed a propriety AI solution for bra-fitting designed to provide consumers with more accurate size recommendations when shopping on lingerie retail websites. After a successful pitch to WeDareLab, we were mentored by Marie Dardayrol Sandevoir, Marketing & Digital Director of Undiz, throughout the programme.
It was Marie who encouraged us to create a more well-rounded offering to lingerie retail companies who are our ideal clients as a B2B2C start-up. Working with the C-suite executives, we integrated our fit technology into a chatbot assistant which can also advise customers on all lingerie-related requests. These requests can range from providing product care instructions and product recommendations.
WeDareLab didn’t only offer us strategic advice. A team of IT, design, e-commerce and customer service experts supported us in developing the chatbot. The testing day organised at with Etam employees at Etam Groupe HQ also served as an opportunity to get concrete feedback about the performance of the chatbot and gain insight into future optimisations.
Photo 2 - Our super cute and professional testing station at Etam HQ
10/10 would recommend to a (lingerie start-up founder) friend
Overall, WeDareLab took a very hands-on approach to supporting us as a start-up. The journey we undertook, from our starting point of having the raw technology to packaging it up in a marketable product to testing our final solution, was a life experience, both professionally and personally.
In the three months since graduating from WeDareLab, we’ve worked to further refine our chatbot offering and landed our first retail client, British underwear subscription brand Lemonade Dolls! After integrating into the Lemonade Dolls website and beta-testing, the official launch of the chatbot is set for October 2024.
WeDareLab champions disruption within lingerie, aligning perfectly with our commitment here at Brarista to transform the lingerie shopping experience. For start-ups with similarly bold aspirations, we highly recommend Etam’s WeDareLab accelerator programme. If you have any questions about our experience of the programme, I’m happy to connect – just hit me up on our public inbox!
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