By Anna Lardinois

Startup Storyteller

An avid runner, serial entrepreneur Amy Fallucca was fed up with commiserating with female athletes about the inadequacies of sports bras. Her frustration with athletic wear for women turned into inspiration, and soon she was sketching ideas for a comfortable, supportive cami top. 

She had no experience in creating a new to the marketplace original garment, but she was determined to bring this product to the millions of women like her, who need this functional, stylish piece of athleticwear. She launched Comfyist in April 2021 to turn her vision into a widely available retail product.

We’ve been following Fallucca from the design of her cami top, and into the prototype stage of product development. Along the way, we’ve watched the CEO grapple with pandemic-induced labor problems and shipping delays, as well as supply chain issues. Fallucca has nimbly reacted to roadblocks, rejiggering timelines and budgets along the way.

This week, Comfyist was hit with another roadblock to the marketplace.

Fallucca discovered that the logo Comfyist adopted was nearly identical to the one used by a national fitness brand launched in partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods. Fallucca immediately contacted the agency that created the logo, and her trademark attorney for guidance.

According to Fallucca, “my trademark attorney said that it’s too similar to keep and that a search for existing logos should have identified this conflict.” The logo needed to be changed. The agency that created the logo has been tasked with coming up with several new options, but this will take time.

“It’s going to slow things down a little bit,” said Fallucca. “I don’t think it will interfere with my size set. Hopefully it won’t affect production timelines. I think we have enough wiggle room between this third prototype and the size set that we can get the new branding ready for production. The biggest obstacle on the production side is that we had already created the heat transfer labels. The vendor will have to redo that now, and I don’t know how long it will take.”

This unanticipated setback comes the same week the third prototype of the cami top arrived. In this version, Fallucca made changes to the sizing, straps, and clasps. She also added a unique technical design element for the integration of the bra cups to the cami that is not yet on the market. So far, she is delighted with the results. “This third prototype is awesome,” she said. “We tried some different things from last time. I’m wearing it right now and it’s extremely comfortable. It’s exactly what I envisioned: unique, functional, stylish, and, of course, comfortable! I’m thrilled.”

Fallucca anticipates a few minor tweaks to the design of the cami, but nothing that will delay production of the garment. The Comfyist CEO hopes to receive the sample size set of the cami tops in April. The line will offer sizes from XS-XL. Fallucca has secured local fit models to test the camis for comfort and support in the range of sizes.

Despite the setback presented by the logo change, Fallucca is planning for a retail release of Comfyist cami tops this summer.

We’ll continue to follow this journey from vision to product launch. To learn more about Comfyist, click here.