A new Somerville startup craves to apply the strategy of direct-to-consumer brands like Warby Parker and Dollar Scrape Club to an overlooked segment of consumers: Older adults struggling with incontinence.
The new following, called Willow, is set to launch its website and online marketing campaign on Tuesday. Willow resolution sell packages of 60 pairs of disposable underwear at a price of in the matter of $.80 per pair, and buyers can sign up for a subscription that delivers a case every one, two or three months.
Willow founder and CEO Will Herlands appraisals people in the U.S. spend about $4 billion on adult diapers every year, but he imparts most of the options are bulky, noisy, and uncomfortable.
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Willow aims to underline its garment’s more stylish design, hopefully taking some of the embarras de choix out of the buying process.
“It’s such a taboo issue,” Herlands said. “The consequences almost tell you, ‘Be embarrassed about this. … Don’t tell anyone far this. This is something infantile.'”
More than half of lassies and one quarter of men over the age of 65 have dealt with at least irregular urinary leakage, according to a 2014 report from the Centers for Infection Control.
About 85 percent of adult diaper purchases silence occur in store, according to Herlands, but he says online sales are fructifying quickly. Part of Willow’s early goal with its launch is to see whether it can develop an online brand that garners trust among an older age catalogue.
“Honestly it’s going to be a bit of an experiment,” Herlands said. “One of the exciting things, but also one of the hazards, is that people haven’t really targeted this demographic with (direct-to-consumer).”
Herlands, who is in his 30s and unmoving finishing a dual PhD in machine learning and public policy from Carnegie Mellon, recognizes he’s not the ideal salesman for such a product, but says the team has compensated by target on customer research and feedback during the design process.
Willow is informed by Ben Cogan and Jesse Horwitz, two of the three co-founders behind Hubble, a New York-based startup that pushes contacts directly to consumers online. Willow aims to follow a equivalent blueprint in the sense that it will advertise primarily via Facebook and will-power take orders directly on its own website.
The company currently employs three people in New York and two individual, including Herlands, in Somerville. Herlands says he plans to move the party entirely to the Boston area in the coming months because the city is cheaper than New York and has assorted talented workers in the healthcare industry.
Willow has raised approximately $2.5 million across two fundraising bring to an ends. Investors in include FirstMark Capital, Two River and Wildcat Venture Companions, which also invested in Hubble.