Aam Innovation
What problem does Aam solve?
1 in 4 American women have fuller hips and thighs than the standard size chart – a “curvy bottom” shape. There are almost no brands in the market that cater to their body type, and they consistently struggle to find clothes – particularly bottoms – that fit. I am one of them and founded Aam for women like me.
How can this transform the world or our day-to-day lives?
Aam is one of the only brands catering to our demographic. Our main competitors are denim brands like Madewell, Good American, or Everlane, who have “curvy” lines. But there is virtually no one tackling the other parts of the closet: trousers, skirts, dresses, swimwear, etc.
Numerous studies (e.g., here, here, and here) have shown that what you wear can impact your confidence and performance. In launching Aam, I have seen firsthand what wearing well-fitted clothing does to a woman’s confidence. In fact, the most common phrases I hear when people try on our clothes are: “Finally,” “I can’t believe it,” and “Thank you.” This is what motivates me every day.
Neha Entrepreneur
What is the “Founder story”?
Neha’s story is a curious blend of art and science. She’s a data nut with a passion for consumer products who finds joy in tackling problems at their core. Aam began as a passion project – Neha has struggled all her life to find clothes that fit her curvy shape – but evolved into something much larger when she discovered that this is a problem impacting 1 in 4 American women.
Prior to Founding Aam, Neha was Director of Business Operations at Minted, where she was responsible for new product launches and brand marketing for three of the company’s core businesses. Neha has a Bachelor of Science (Honors) from the California Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
How did you come up with the idea?
As a pear-shaped woman, I’ve struggled with fit issues my entire life. But the first time I took it seriously was in 2017. I was visiting Rwanda as part of my MBA program, and on the last day, I stopped by a few local stores to do some shopping. I began trying on garments made by local designers when the impeccable fit caught me by surprise. It was something I had never experienced in the U.S. I asked the store managers what was going on and learned that the designers were using their own size charts, reflective of the local population, who shared a curvy shape like mine. That’s when the light bulb went off.
Upon returning, I dove deep into the history of sizing in the U.S. and unearthed a 1939 study that surveyed 15,000 women across the country to form the standardized sizes we still see today. This study was flawed for several reasons, including 1) it relied on bust measurements, assuming women are proportional throughout, and 2) it excluded women who were not Caucasian from the final results, thereby underrepresenting body shapes that are more commonly found among women of color – including “curvy bottoms” like mine.
I realized that the fit issue is really a data issue – this got me excited because it meant it could be fixed with better data. Over the next few years, I built up a dataset of women with “curvy bottom” shapes and developed new patterns based on these measurements. That’s how Aam was born.
Aam Reviews
What do customers love most about the product? What are they saying?
Some of my favorite quotes from customers include:
“These pants are amazing. So comfortable and fit perfectly around the waist without suffocating my thighs.”
“I haven’t felt confident in a mini skirt since college! I’m obsessed!!!”
“I have paid hundreds of dollars for ‘custom fit pants’ from various brands, and none of them fit quite as well as this pant did straight out of the box.”
“I bought these before my second kid, and I haven’t lost any of the baby weight, and they still fit!”
“It’s so obvious that someone with this body type made these pants. Wow.”
Achieving a Healthier Lifestyle Made Simple with Corazon Catering(Opens in a new browser tab)
Where can people get this product?
On our website at aamthelabel.com
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