Startup Lingerie Company Wants to Help the Homeless

What do lingerie and homelessness have in common?

If you’re scratching your head, meet Drift Light. It’s a startup that’s using a portion of its proceeds to donate underwear and socks to selected homeless shelters across the United States.

Drift Light, which launched five days ago on Indiegogo, is the brainchild of Willa Townsend.

Townsend, 22, told ABC News that the project started last year while she was in her final year at Duke University, studying economics and neuroscience.

“I didn’t want to go into consulting or finance like the rest of my friends. I wanted to do something that had an impact,” she recalled.

After a professor told her that a local homeless shelter in Durham, North Carolina — where the school is based — was in need of underwear, she discovered that it’s a prevalent need in homeless shelters, and similar U.S. facilities benefiting the homeless.

“Underwear and socks are most needed because they are the clothing items that everyone wears, every day,” Tracy Jefferson, associate director of development of So Others Might Eat, told ABC News.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization provides emergency housing for the homeless and distributes food and clothing.

“Also, if you don’t have a place to do laundry, they need to be replaced frequently to protect hygiene and personal dignity,” Jefferson said.

Townsend, who had previously volunteered at homeless shelters, sought to figure out “the easiest and most sustainable way to solve this problem” and created Drift Light.

Drift Light

The company sells fashionable bralettes, underwear, boxers and boxer briefs for men and women. The lingerie, made in Los Angeles, is created out of eco-friendly materials, Townsend said.

“One of our most popular materials is the super soft bamboo cotton, which is a renewable resource,” she explained.

The items range from $25 to $50. Townsend said the price point was strategic.

“I wanted to make sure college students like myself, all the way up to everybody could afford at least a piece,” she explained.

After she uses a portion of Drift Light’s profits to buy “basic, really great underwear” for the homeless, Townsend said she will also deliver them to three homeless shelters: one in Los Angeles, where she lives; one in Durham, where she went to school; and one in Minneapolis, where she was born and raised.

“Not only are we getting the product for the shelters, but we’re also going there and delivering them and making sure that everyone gets the right size,” she explained.

Townsend, who employs two people, said she also has a long-term goal to benefit the homeless with her company.

“I want to start hiring people, who are transitioning out of homelessness to work as part of my company,” she said.

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