After coming up with the idea for an innovative stick-on bra in high school, shaping the idea at Brown University and founding the company Perkies, Rosie Mangiarotti has pivoted with an entire line of products that aim to replace traditional women’s undergarments.
Almost two years ago, when Rhode Island Inno first spoke with Mangiarotti, she was just about to soft-launch the first batch of her stick-on bras, when Covid-19 derailed the launch until nine months ago. As she sorted through production issues and shipping slowdowns for the Perkies Sticky Bra, Mangiariotti diversified, launching Perkies Petals, a line of reusable nipple covers, and Perkies Panties.
“The way it worked out was actually helpful,” she told RI Inno this week. “I was able to learn a lot about the back end of Shopify, integrate handy apps, work out the kinks, begin email-marketing campaigns, dabble with influencers and have some money in the door before the highly anticipated launch of the sticky bras.”
In the summer of 2021, Mangiarotti analyzed her website traffic and saw that 30% of customers were purchasing two or more products. Soon after, she launched Perkies Panties, seamless underwear, thongs and cheekies, to take advantage of these customers’ willingness to spend.
“At the time, we only had Sticky Bras, Perkies Petals, replacement adhesives and hats on the website,” she said. “This made me realize that once people were on my website ready to buy, they were willing to spend the money.”
Mangiariotti is looking to expand marketing efforts and boost partnerships for the company. Perkies recently partnered with the Pink Pom Pom Organization to distribute gift boxes to patients undergoing breast cancer treatments. The company also donates 5% of website proceeds to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Although Mangiarotti is Perkies’ only full-time employee, she leans on a team of interns and freelancers to help fulfill orders and keep the business running.
To date, she said, Perkies has closed on $125,000 of a total $500,000 pre-seed round of investment. Perkies’ investors include Eliot Horowitz, co-founder of MongoDB and founder of Viam Robotics, and Liz Lange, founder of Liz Lange maternity and the current CEO of Figue Clothing. Both investors are fellow Brown graduates.
Mangiarotti reports positive feedback on the Perkies products. Perkies Petals has a 4.7 star rating on Amazon. The Perkies Sticky Bra, which is not yet on Amazon, currently has about 20% of customers coming back for the extra adhesive sets, a percentage Mangiarotti anticipates to increase as the weather warms.
