Not all the benefits of the Wings accelerator, Queen鈥檚 Partnerships and Innovation鈥檚 (QPI) program for startups, are found in the official curriculum. For entrepreneurs used to working on their own, having the chance to meet others involved in the same journey can have benefits, especially during COVID-19. That鈥檚 true even if that connecting takes place via a Zoom call. For Erin Huitema and Behshid Behrouzi, the CEO and COO respectively of Alucia Lingerie, such a casual encounter helped them to establish a relationship with one of the leaders in their field.

Founders of Alucia Lingerie
Founders of ALucia Lingerie, Behshid Behrouzi and Erin Huitema. Photo credit: Alucia Lingerie.

The two engineering students (they graduated in 2021) founded their company as part of the Queen's Innovation Centre Summer Initiative program in 2019, with the goal, says Huitema, 鈥渢o revolutionize the bra industry with our designs.鈥

Their intent is deeply serious. 鈥淚f a woman doesn鈥檛 enjoy full mobility, she cannot put on or remove a conventional bra by herself,鈥 Huitema says. 鈥淐urrently there are no attractive bras for women with arthritis or even minor shoulder injuries that make them feel confident in what they're wearing. Accessible bras do exist, but they are geriatric and medical-looking.鈥

鈥淲e鈥檙e making something that鈥檚 unique on the market,鈥 says Behrouzi (the two trade off seamlessly when speaking). 鈥淯sing universal design principles, we have developed a clasp that makes it easy for users.鈥 There are bras out there that purport to be 鈥渁daptive鈥 in their construction, says Behrouzi, but in fact aren鈥檛. A wearer would still need help. 鈥淲e are currently in the process of applying for a patent, with the expertise and support of QPI鈥檚 Patent Team,鈥 says Huitema.

The two learned about the Wings accelerator through the WE-CAN (Women Entrepreneurs Can) Project led by Queen鈥檚 Partnerships and Innovation (QPI). 鈥淲e were using a lot of their services and attending their events,鈥 says Huitema. 鈥淜erry Ramsay, the Project Manager, suggested we join the Wings program.鈥 They weren鈥檛 strictly an early-stage startup, but she suggested they could still benefit from it.

鈥淭he program was absolutely incredible,鈥 says Huitema. 鈥淚t was so, so beneficial, and the people who run it were lovely. COVID鈥檚 been difficult for a lot of businesses, including our own鈥t鈥檚 been hard to stay motivated. The program really centred us over the summer [Wings ran from early June to late July] and gave us a nice blueprint to progress.鈥 鈥淲e definitely saw productivity spikes after every session,鈥 says Behrouzi, 鈥渨hether it was just Erin and me discussing ideas we had come up with during the sessions or networking with people we had met through the program and leads they had given us.鈥

One particular lead, from a fellow Wings participant, has already proven particularly beneficial. Hearing about Alucia Lingerie鈥檚 product, Scott Selbie, the CEO at Theia Markerless, offered to help. 鈥淗e introduced us to Julie Steele,鈥 says Behrouzi. Julia is a professor emerita at the University of Woolongong in New South Wales, Australia and founder and former director of the Biomechanics Institute there (home to Breast Research Australia). Steele has the distinction of inventing the world鈥檚 first bionic bra, which can increase or decrease support as needed. 鈥淗e [Selbie] heard about our mission and thought it strongly aligned with her research,鈥 says Huitema. Steele now serves as a mentor to the two young women. Selbie 鈥渁lso really highly recommended that we speak to Veterans Canada for funding because our bra would be beneficial for amputees as well,鈥 says Behrouzi. Although Theia Markerless, like the other Wings participants, was involved in a very different business, they were still able to connect: 鈥淩egardless of the industry you鈥檙e in, it鈥檚 all the same process,鈥 she says.

Come early 2022, Alucia Lingerie plan on started their kickstarter round of fund raising. 鈥淲e鈥檝e done a lot of testing, a lot of validating, and we are now at the stage of getting the money and actually producing the product,鈥 says Huitema.

鈥淏ut we will definitely be tapping into the Queen鈥檚 innovation community in future,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been remarkable for us so far.鈥