When Annette Azan launched the body essentials brand Nuudii System in 2019, its early adopters funded the first shipment.
Through a Kickstarter campaign, the Brooklyn-based brand raised $750,000 over 30 days for its first product, which Azan described as an undergarment option “between bra and braless.” This funded production of the Tee System, and resulted in the company shipping to backers globally.
It marked a big debut for Azan, a 25-year fashion industry veteran who decided to make a product herself after being unable to find anything on the market to wear for her wedding.
“After years of development, we wanted to catapult it out of a cannon,” Azan said. “With Kickstarter you can do that...They have an audience that has an appetite for innovation.”
It’s an approach to launching a new business that leverages the crowdfunding platform: By supporting the project early, backers receive rewards, including the products themselves. In turn, brands receive the initial funding to make and ship their product within months. It also means the brands have a base of people supporting them.
“It’s different than having customers,” Azan said this week. “They are getting perks, but they also believe in your company. That sort of energy and community, you cannot find anywhere else.”
Three years later, Azan is launching a new Kickstarter campaign this week to galvanize that community around a new product. Called the Backless Nuudii, it's the result of engineering 360-degree stretch fabric to fit a wide range of bodies. It's designed to be worn with the open back styles that are currently in vogue, and also offers “total back freedom” compared to a typical bra, Azan said.
“This is not just for fashion,” Azan said. “This is actually for every day comfort.”
Plant-based packaging. (Courtesy photo)
On the design and production side, the brand centers simplicity in everything it does. The product does not need to be displayed on a hanger, or tried on. Rather, it comes in plant-based packaging. Yet because of how it is made for fit, it has had a return rate of 4% over two years in an industry that sees an average of 37%, Azan said.
As it defines a new category focused around body liberation and classifying its products as accessories, Azan said Nuudii System is building a true CPG brand. The product has five components, made in one factory. Designed for an on-the-go lifestyle, Azan sees the potential to sell the product in vending machines going forward.
The product launch and crowdfunding campaign comes after three years in which ecommerce was the five-employee brand’s primary means of growth.
After the initial Kickstarter campaign, Nuudii System launched a website to sell direct-to-consumer in 2020. That year, it also received resources and built community with other brands through participation in XRC Labs, a retail tech and consumer goods accelerator based in New York.
As Azan and many other businesses found, building a brand during this period required lots of grit and willingness to change. The pandemic arrived soon after the company got its website up and running, throwing the economy into a tumultuous period.
While Azan said the focus was on "weathering the storm," the team worked to build traction through this time, and was bolstered by an appearance at a self-love-themed pop-in event at Nordstrom. Now, the brand sells at Nordstrom and on the retailer’s ecommerce channel.
Then, in 2021, Apple made privacy-oriented changes to iOS 14 that curtailed the successful run with performance marketing that brands had on platforms like Facebook.
“We had to retool and rethink the way we marketed,” Azan said.
Now, she takes a diverse range of marketing approaches. This includes Pinterest advertising, and exploring TikTok. Dedicated influencer campaigns are in the works this year. The brand is also planning more tried-and-true guerilla marketing like street posters, as well as mailers and postcards.
The Backless Nuudii. (Courtesy photo)
Marketing also factors into crowdfunding, through which the brand can spread the word while at the same time pursuing growth opportunities. At the same time as the Kickstarter, Nuudii System is running an equity crowdfunding campaign through WeFunder. Made possible by changes to regulations of the the federal JOBS Act of 2012 that redefined the wealth requirements to be an investor, this approach allows the people who fund the campaign to receive ownership in the company. It’s also another chance to forge a connection around the brand.
With crowdfunding campaigns and a recent feature that appeared from ClearCo as part of Women’s History Month, Azan is finding a response that goes beyond product satisfaction. Shoppers want to know who, and what, is behind the product, and these campaigns are venues to tell the story. People who feel like they are part of a brand’s community are more likely to be loyal customers that make multiple purchases, and spread the word about a product.
“I think we have a unique opportunity here to continue to build this out with a community feeling to it because people are really responding to it,” she said.
