You may remember Kotami from last year's eLab Summer Accelerator cohort. This all-women team is back to fine-tune their sustainable, affordable, inclusive clothing line and fulfill their mission to create ethically produced clothing with a global justice conscience.
In their first year of eLab, the team ideated on their brand and mission and spent a good portion of the summer of 2020 developing their business plan and launching their startup—lots of planning but not as much production as they would have liked. This was somewhat due to limitations created by COVID-19 restrictions. So the team decided to reapply to eLab for 2021.
This year, they have used the summer to design and produce new pieces for their non-gender, size-inclusive clothing brand and build strong relationships with their manufacturing partners in Bangladesh and Brazil, which allowed them to prioritize production.
"Having a second shot at spending the entire summer concentrating on our company is an incredible opportunity for us," said co-founder MC Otani '22 "we can focus on consolidating our supply chain and expanding brand awareness beyond our Princeton fan base."
The team recently held a fashion photoshoot in Georgia, created a dynamic press kit, and is currently designing an ambassador program integrating the power of their loyal clientele.
Kotami has undoubtedly come a long way from repurposing thrift shop finds for their on-campus fashionistas, and we can't wait to see how far they have come at the eLab Summer Accelerator's Demo Day on August 11th. We hope you'll join us.
Listen to the Decelerator podcast and get the inside scoop on all the eLab Summer Accelerator teams.
Related People
African American Studies, 2023
Art and Archaeology, 2022
Anthropology, 2021
Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2022
African American Studies, 2021
