Small-town girl’s lingerie business has noble cause

Her professor told the class that a local homeless shelter had been asking for donations of basic underwear.

That gave Townsend, who grew up in River Falls, an idea that has now grown into a business Townsend calls Drift Light.

Drift Light sells undergarments, bralettes, panties and boxers, all designed by Townsend. Profits from those are used to buy basic underwear that’s donated to homeless shelters.

“Currently, there isn’t anything like Drift Light,” Townsend said. “There aren’t any underwear companies that are meeting this need.”

Townsend started developing the idea for Drift Light through her social entrepreneurship course at Duke. The course encouraged college students to come up with a concept for their own business.

Then, Townsend pitched her business idea to Duke’s Changeworks Startup competition.

Any Duke student can enter the competition by pitching their idea for a business. There were several rounds, and the entire student body got a chance to vote. Ideas were also pitched to a panel of judges.

“It was very competitive,” Townsend said. “It was an incredible process and I learned so much.”

One thing Townsend said she learned was how important it was to let people know exactly what she was doing, why, and how, within the first few second of talking about her concept.

Townsend won the startup competition and received $10,000 to get the business started. Townsend said it was largely spent on product development.

“I knew the only way to make this startup a success (was) to create a product that people love, regardless of the social impact,” Townsend said.

So, Townsend started researching, figuring out what people — women especially — wanted out of their underwear.

She compiled a large survey, sent to about 200 women at Duke to see what women really wanted. Through her survey, Townsend said, she discovered women want comfort, affordability, lace, and designs that aren’t hypersexualized.

So Townsend designed bralettes — using lace, soft, environmentally-friendly fabrics, like bamboo cotton, and tried to make the products high quality, and affordable. She’s also designed some boxer shorts.

Townsend learned to sew from her grandmother, after whom she was named, who was a Home Ec professor. She said she knows her grandma would be proud.

Townsend’s parents Mike and Jenny Townsend, town of River Falls, are certainly proud of their daughter, who Jenny described as driven, compassionate, strong, loving, kind, and very intelligent. “A small town girl trying to make a big difference,” Jenny Townsend said.

She said she is “busting” her “buttons” with pride.

“A lot of people just think about doing things, writing a book, losing weight, starting a business, and she’s doing it,” Jenny Townsend said. “She’s actually doing it, and that makes me very, very proud.”

“It’s never been her dream or her passion to have a lingerie line, or have her own business,” Jenny Townsend said. “It’s really been about having a positive impact and making a difference. She’s always had this big heart about how can I make it better, since she was a little girl.”

Mike Townsend agreed with Jenny Townsend.

“I could not be more proud,” he said. “We both noticed at a very early age that Willa was an exceptional young lady, was going to go on to do great things. And I believe that this is only the beginning for her.”

Willa Townsend said it was the lack of basic underwear for homeless people that inspired her to start an underwear line as a way to address that problem.

“That was the number one reason. There’s no way I ever would have started an underwear line had it not been for that inspiration,” she said. “I found that it’s a burgeoning market, so it’s really a great opportunity to get into the business of doing good.”

As an economics and neuroscience major at Duke, Townsend said her economics background has really helped her get her business going.

A 2015 Duke graduate, and a 2011 graduate of Hill Murray in Maplewood, Minn., Townsend attended River Falls High School her freshman and sophomore year. Townsend also spent a lot of time at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson as she was growing up.

Now Townsend lives in California, in Santa Monica and L.A., working with her team to start Drift Light.

Townsend said the best part of the process has been receiving positive feedback.

“I still can’t totally believe that this is actually happening. I say that pretty regularly,” Townsend said.

To help get Drift Light off the ground, Townsend has started a page on Indiegogo, an online fundraising site. Townsend said the goal is to raise $20,000 within 40 days of the site launch, which was launched April 2, in order to get the company off the ground.

People can choose to support the site via a donation, and get some of Drift Light’s underwear through the indiegogo site.

Townsend said for every one bralette purchased, Drift Light will be able to donate seven pairs of basic underwear to a shelter. For every pair of boxers or panties purchased, Drift Light will be able to donate three pairs of basic underwear to a shelter.

Jenny Townsend said even a small donation would go a long way.

Once enough money has been raised to get things off the ground, Townsend said the first donations will be to homeless shelters in Durham, N.C., where Duke is located, in the Twin Cities, and in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/drift-light-intimates#/, or https://www.facebook.com/shopdriftlight/.

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