Lume Lifestyle has the smart leggings you’ve been waiting for

Lume Lifestyle used campus-based brand ambassadors to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign—and their company. About a year ago Waira Mungai, a student and personal trainer at the University of Kansas, saw a problem at the campus gym. “I noticed a girl who put her phone in her waistband and when she bent over it fell out.…

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The Lawrence, Kansas, company has been featured on Business Insider, MTV, Mashable and Cosmo. Photo courtesy of Lume Lifestyle.

Lume Lifestyle used campus-based brand ambassadors to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign—and their company.

About a year ago Waira Mungai, a student and personal trainer at the University of Kansas, saw a problem at the campus gym.

“I noticed a girl who put her phone in her waistband and when she bent over it fell out. Then I noticed over and over again that if a woman didn’t have an armband she had nowhere to put her phone. Most of them have leggings and they don’t have pockets.”

He also noticed that it wasn’t just a workout problem. Women are wearing leggings casually everywhere now, and they don’t have a place to put their phone.

An attempt to solve that problem led to the launch of Mungai’s fitness apparel company Lume Lifestyle.

“Coming into entrepreneurship I was really interested in tech, more with apps and software,” said Mungai. “I had absolutely no idea about fabrics and manufacturing processes. I’ve learned a lot about that.”

Lean methodology meets yoga pants

The day that Mungai identified the problem, he went home and told one of his roommates.

“He was like, ‘Well, my dad used to be a tailor so he knows how to sew,’” said Mungai.

They had to test several types of materials until they found material they could see and touch through that wouldn’t deteriorate after heavy washing and use.

“One of the benefits in apparel is that it’s really easy to create a product, get it out into the world, have someone test it, and get their feedback,” said Mungai.

He estimates they were able to iterate their product 20 times within the first 8 months of development at very low cost.

“One of things I learned was how to listen to what people were saying,” Mungai said. “Because sometimes the feedback they give is just nice feedback. You have to listen to what they are really saying and what they really want.”

The product design is currently patent pending.

A calculated Kickstarter campaign

On November 20th, 2015, Lume Lifestyle launched its first Kickstarter campaign for $10,000. They ended up raising over $22,000. That part wasn’t surprising to Mungai.

“I had done a lot of research. I knew a lot about Kickstarter, and I knew that’s how I wanted to bring the product out into the world,” said Mungai. “I knew there was a good chance it would take off.”

What he didn’t expect, however, was the media response. Within the second day, their product was featured on Mashable. Every day after that they seemed to be featured in something new, according to Mungai.

“We had no press lined up going into the Kickstarter campaign, even though we had tried for weeks and sent plenty of emails,” Mungai said.

It was through a friend of friend, who had previously worked at Mashable, who had a friend at Mashable that was interested in their story.

The success of the campaign is also attributable to 14 brand ambassadors on campus at the University of Kansas and Kansas State.

“They really believe in the idea and the product. They got early samples, and they were promoting them to all their family and friends,” said Mungai. “They also really helped us hone in on the voice of the brand.”

Creating a value-first proposition

Lume Lifestyle’s smart leggings are available to buy now, though they won’t be shipping until mid-March, after the Kickstarter orders are finished, according to Mungai.

This year they plan to release a cropped version of the leggings as well as compression tights for men.

“What we want to focus on is defining our brand voice,” said Mungai. “We want provide value to people through unique products but we also want to be a value-first proposition through social media, so we can provide stories and tips that have helped us progress in our own lives to create a community around that.”

Ryan Pendell is the managing editor of Silicon Prairie News.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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