Menomonie native’s lingerie company helps homeless – Leader

Menomonie native Willa Townsend started her lingerie company after learning about the great need for underwear for the homeless.

Townsend, whose mother, Jennifer Townsend, is part of the family who owned Lammer’s Fresh Foods in Menomonie for about 150 years, said she was having lunch with one of her professors at Duke University when he told her he had received an email from a local homeless shelter about a dire need for underwear and socks.

“I had no idea that there was such a need,” Townsend said. “I found out underwear and socks are the most needed and least donated items in homeless shelters.”

According to a 2015 Congressional Report on Homelessness, 600,000 men, women and children are homeless.

From that she came up with the idea to design men’s and women’s underwear and bralettes — bras without underwires or padding — for women. For each item purchased from her company, Drift Light, a week’s worth of underwear is donated to a homeless shelter.

Townsend, who graduated from Duke with a degree in economics and neuroscience, moved in June 2015 to Santa Monica, Calif., to start the company.

Crowdfunding

Drift Light is undergoing crowdfunding to help with the company startup. The goal is $20,000.

Preorders are being taken at the site shopdriftlight.com that will help with the startup of the company, Townsend said.

Unique styles

Drift Light has three styles of bralettes, three styles of women’s underwear and two styles of men’s underwear — boxers and boxer briefs.

Townsend researched what students wanted in undergarments.

“The things they wanted were that they were comfortable, stylish and affordable,” Townsend said. 

Underwear costs about $25 and bralettes about $50 to $55.

She designed all the undergarments herself. The basic underwear that is given to the homeless comes from other companies, she noted.

Townsend won the Duke startup company competition with her idea for Drift Light and received seed money to help start the company.

“It wasn’t necessarily that I wanted to be a business owner,” she said. “It is exciting to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to start a company that can make a positive impact.

“You need to buy underwear anyway,” Townsend, 22, said. “Why not get a great pair of underwear and make a positive impact.”

Sarah Thwaites of Dallas, Texas said she has many drift light undergarments.

“I love the quality of the intimates,” she stated in an email. “They’re made just as well if not better than the popular lingerie companies. I would encourage everyone I know to support drift light because it’s so much more than cute underwear. With drift light not only do you get beautiful intimate pieces, but you get to help others get (undergarments) as well.”

Drift Light manufactures the undergarments in Los Angeles, Townsend noted.

“That is another thing that makes our brand so special,” she said.

Contact: 715-556-9018, pamela.powers@ecpc.com, @MenomonieBureau on Twitter

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