Georgia Grace Edwards (Co-Founder & CEO, SheFly Apparel)

Georgia Grace, along with her co-founders Bianca Gonzalez and Charlotte Massey, recently launched SheFly Apparel.

SheFly is a layerable line of pants that allows women to comfortably, safely, and easily relieve themselves in the outdoors, without exposing skin to the elements or to other people. Their mission is to promote inclusivity, accessibility, and women’s empowerment in the outdoors through innovative product design.

I’ll also add that I’m really impressed with the sustainability aspect that’s been infused into the brand, and I’ll let Georgia Grace speak to that later.

Georgia Grace and her team have appeared in several business pitch competitions, including the Vermont Road Pitch and Peak Pitch, both hosted by Fresh Tracks Capital. They’ve been able to generate a BUNCH of press locally here in Vermont, recently being featured on Fox Local 44 and Think Vermont and in Seven Days and the Vermont Business Magazine. On the national level, SheFly has been recognized by Boston Inno and featured on several other podcasts.

Their crowdfunding campaign on iFundWomen far exceeded their fundraising goal, having raised over $20k from 200 individual backers.

You can find their products online at sheflyapparel.com, or follow them on social media at @SheFlyApparel

How she thought up the idea for SheFly while climbing glaciers in Alaska
Her crowdfunding experience and how SheFly raised $50,000 before ever selling a pair of pants.
How to navigate the process of patenting IP and how to leverage patents to license to other companies
The impact that a class in entrepreneurship hosted by VCET partners David Bradbury and Sam Roach-Gerber had on the SheFly team
How to build an audience on social media
Why every startup should build a press kit
How to define the roles of each of your co-founders (hint: Hustler, Hacker, Hipster)
How to develop a prototype that you can use to pre-sell your product and how to find a manufacturer to replicate and improve your design

Anytime we make an assumption about something, it usually ends in a mistake.

How customer survey data can inform your marketing and product development

I think for any product in this market, sustainability should be high up on the list of priorities and part of the mission. We’ve partnered with a factory that has a zero waste policy. Their name is Visible Clothing. They believe that every piece of fabric or material that enters their building should leave as a finished product, so nothing is being thrown away.

Why you should fall in love with your co-founders and how to facilitate that
How Georgia Grace and her co-founders have built their business while being fully remote and living all over the world

I wish I had known how to file taxes as an LLC, and kept better records of all spend no matter how directly or indirectly its related to the business.

SheFly’s approach to packaging and the unboxing experience

Georgia Grace’s Top Reads for Young Entrepreneurs

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
Smart People Should Build Things by Andrew Yang

Check out more episodes of the Young Founders Podcast.