A Winston-Salem entrepreneur has achieved a significant milestone in the journey of her product.
Three Strands Recovery Wear – known for its product the Resilience Bra – launched a pilot test with local surgeons at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Novant Health and Forsyth Plastic Surgery. The company has also begun a soft launch of the Resilience Bra on its website.
Inspired by her mother’s journey with breast cancer, Leah Wyrick founded her company in 2019 as an undergraduate at Wake Forest University. Wyrick was featured as a TBJ Founder Under 25 last year.
The bra is adjustable to a patient’s ribcage and chest, has a pocket for drain tubing and will come in a variety of patterns and sizes.
GO DEEPER: How the Resilience Bra is designed to help breast cancer patients
The startup is piloting 60 bras across three locations – Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Forsyth Plastic Surgery and Novant Surgical Associates in Salisbury.
In Winston-Salem, Three Strands Recovery wear is working with Dr. Lisa David – program director, professor and department chair of plastic and reconstructive surgery at AHWFB – and with Dr. Andy Schneider – chief of staff at Novant Health Medical Park Hospital, chief of plastic surgery for Novant Health and surgeon with Forsyth Plastic Surgery.
Schneider called the Resilience Bra is the “real deal.”
“In the post-surgery bra space, there are other companies, but Leah is trying to come up with something better,” he said. “We love participating with young folks who want to make our job better. Patients love participating because they’re living [in recovery] 24 hours a day.”
Feedback from patients and doctors
Designed to accommodate drainage tubes, the Resilience Bras will be tested on breast reconstructive surgery and some breast cosmetic surgery patients.
Schneider explained that patients typically have the tubes in for one-to-three weeks post-surgery and wear recovery bras for about a month post-surgery. He added that some patients will continue to wear it well beyond the typical period.
Wyrick expects to get feedback from patients in about two months.
She said that the willingness of local surgeons to help her with the pilot test speaks volumes.
“Here in Winston-Salem, the health systems taking part in this pilot just shows how much they truly care about their patients,” Wyrick said.
Creating a scalable company
Three Strands Recovery Wear has also quietly begun selling the Resilience Bra online as part of a soft launch phase. A limited number of bras are available for $68 dollars in either medium, large, extra-large or double extra-large.
Wyrick, who now works for her startup full-time, said the soft launch, coupled with the pilot test, will allow the startup to test the market with a finished product.
“The point of the pilot is to onboard hospitals so that we can gain credibility,” she said.
Wyrick added that she is currently looking to fundraise approximately $50,000 to help with manufacturing costs. Three Strands Recovery Wear works with a factory in Jakarta, Indonesia, to produce the Resilience Bra.
Now that the Resilience Bra is in a soft launch and pilot test phase, Wyrick is not slowing down and has begun to consider producing other recovery wear garments that would be complementary to the bra, like pajamas and robes.
“We’ve noticed that not only is there a need for these bras, but there is a big gap in the recovery loungewear space. A lot of surgeries still have drains and aftercare where people need to innovate their own solutions,” Wyrick explained. “This is where we see Three Strands Recovery Wear deviating from a one-product company to a scalable company.”
