When Emma Butler’s mother was diagnosed with fibromyalgia nearly a decade ago, Butler realized just how difficult it became for her mother to find proper clothing.
Her mother needed clothing that functioned differently, from undergarments to outwear. But she had no desire to wear anything that met the criteria outlined by her doctor. In her opinion, the clothing designed for people like her was medicinal and ugly.
Butler, at the time the head of the fashion club at Brown University, began blogging about the issue and doing research. She found scores of women with disabilities who experienced the same frustrations her mother did.
Seeing a clear gap in the market, Butler launched her own online retail store, called Intimately, that curates and sells undergarments and lingerie that are both functional and beautiful for women with all sorts of disabilities.
“I loved fashion but was looking for more innovative fashion and more meaningful fashion,” said Butler, who previously launched her own line of lingerie at the Brown and Rhode Island School of Design fashion show. “I kept thinking about how tough it was for my mom to get dressed, and met other women with disabilities... They felt dehumanized and that no one was looking out for them.”
Over the course of her research, Butler found mom-and-pop stores, brands and other hidden outlets that sold stylish, functional bras and underwear for women with disabilities.
These sellers, however, struggled to gain notoriety. Butler's solution? A curated e-commerce site. Butler began purchasing the inventory she liked at wholesale value, storing that inventory under her bed, then selling it online.
“Some stores and some women are making great lingerie, but it was being found on the 80th page of Google and had no SEO and was hard to find,” she said. “So, I put them all in one place like Amazon does.”
Intimately sells underwear from the brands Dear Kates, SlickChicks, Elba London and Wings Intimates.
Elba's distinctive bra opens easily in the front with a magnet, which Butler says is helpful for women in wheelchairs who don’t want to be leaning against their bra straps all day long. The panties sold on Intimately—hipsters, briefs and thongs—all have side openings for women who don’t have control of their legs or can’t bend over. Instead of putting the panties on one leg at time, this product allows women to thread them through their legs while they are seated, then clip them closed on the other side.
Butler is currently working on her own line of bras for women with limited range of motion and for those in wheelchairs. She and her team are also participating remotely in the Fashion Technology Accelerator in Milan, Italy, an opportunity that Butler says will help develop the company’s digital strategy to create a more global presence.
In addition to its function as an e-commerce site, Intimately is also host to a newsletter and blog with stories written by women with disabilities. The articles, with titles like "When to Tell Your Date You Have a Disability" and "Pushing Your Limits: Running a Marathon With No Legs," feature writing on fashion hacks, beauty tips, love and sex, self-confidence, travel and lifestyle.
While Intimately is starting with bras and underwear, Butler, who heads up the startup as CEO, would eventually like to expand to socks, shirts, pants, dress, jackets and more. She noted that clothing for people with disabilities, also known as adaptive apparel, presents a huge opportunity. Market research firm Coherent Market Insights predicts that adaptive apparel could be close to a $400 billion market by 2025.
Intimately launched and completed a successful $20,000 Kickstarter campaign in September to pay for its first batch of inventory and hold a photoshoot. The company began formally selling apparel in February.
In March, Intimately came in second at the Brown Venture Prize competition.
