We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erin Calhoun-Dulaney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Erin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Erin Calhoun-Dulaney created the SkirtMyPump slip for insulin pumpers. She was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic (T1D) in 1982, at the age of six. Regardless the age of diagnosis, being informed that you are a type 1 diabetic is a life changing experience. At the time of her diagnosis, finger sticks and meters were not available to the masses and things like insulin pumps were such a futuristic idea.
Here we are, a couple decades later and diabetics are able to see their blood sugars literally every five minutes with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), and have insulin automatically dispensed into their bodies consistently throughout the day with the technology of insulin pumps. These advancements in technology have been life saving for insulin dependent diabetics.
In 2003, Erin moved from her childhood home city of Phoenix, Arizona to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment public relations. Not long after, she was fortunate enough to begin using an insulin pump. For twenty years, she worked in the entertainment industry, working some of the most glamorous and highly publicized award shows in the world.
For most of these shows, it would be required to wear black pants and tops, but for some of the more elegant events such as the Golden Globe Awards, she would be able to instead wear dresses and ball gowns. These events, while incredibly exciting, were stressful for Erin as her chosen attire made for difficult planning regarding how and where to wear her insulin pump. Of course she could have worn pants suits to these events, but when life calls for elegance, she much prefers fancy dresses. We should all be entitled to wear what we want, even when attached to a medical device.
In 2016, Erin became acutely aware how the advances in the delivery of insulin have evolved, but the clothing to accommodate these advance had not evolved along with the technology. Erin had grown to absolutely love the consistency of having her pump on her at all times, and the steadiness that pumping insulin brought to her blood sugars, and therefore to her moods, her train of thought and her entire peace of mind. Conversely, she grew tired of consistently trying to figure out how to wear her insulin pump so it was comfortable and easy to get to when she wanted to wear dresses or skirts.
Then and there, she took it upon herself to make her life easier when wearing skirts and dresses. Initially, she came up with a prototype of a slip with a deep pocket in the front, so she could easily wear her pump under her skirts and dresses. This prototype was only beneficial to her for so long. Modifications were needed to the design so that the slip would both securely hold her pump in place, but also make it so that wearing the slip also made it easy enough to access her pump as well for when she needed to bolus (take insulin).
After years of modifications and self-trials with her design, in 2019 she was finally pleased with the modified designs of the slip, and the SkirtMyPump was officially born. This patented undergarment has a uniquely placed pocket and multiple openings for ease of access to the pump. Each slip also has buttons and elastic bands to easily shorten the hemline. The SkirtMyPump makes for a safe yet accessible way to wear an insulin pump with a skirt or dress. This innovative slip provides insulin pumping diabetics with maximum freedom to be able to wear insulin pumps with tubing, with their favorite skirts and dresses.
The 2020 Golden Globe Awards show was the first award show that Erin was able to wear the same SkirtMyPump slip that is now also available for others to purchase. Wearing this incredibly designed slip made working in such a high pressure environment so much easier as an insulin pumping diabetic.
Insulin pumping, T1D customers from across the globe have also been making their lives easier with the purchase of a SkirtMyPump slip. Brides-to-be have written to Erin, elated that the SkirtMyPump slip, “saved their wedding day,” making it so they could more easily wear their pump on their big day and not also have to modify their lifestyle to try to figure out multiple daily injections (MDIs) or make any more decisions in the midst of all of the other wedding planning. This was the exact reason Erin set out to make this piece of apparel available to others; we’re in this together and it brings Erin a tremendous amount of joy to be able to bring an additional sense of freedom to other insulin pumping T1Ds.
Living in Los Angeles, some of Erin’s colleagues work in wardrobe departments on television shows and movies. Upon seeing and hearing about the SkirtMyPump slip, a few of these friends immediately said what a great tool this slip would be for microphone packs on set and for live performances for actors and singers. The slip is presently being used as a way to discreetly hide microphone packs on the sets of tv shows. The slip has further evolved to be used as a safety measure for non-diabetics who use it to discreetly carry their passports and money while traveling.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Erin did not have any design or fashion experience before venturing into designing the SkirtMyPump slip. She simply saw a need in her own life that she knew would also help others, so she slowly embarked on learning the process of creating a clothing design and bringing it to market. From finding a manufacturer, sourcing fabrics and materials for the slip, marketing the idea to the right market and distributing each order, Erin has become a self taught entrepreneur in the apparel industry.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Type 1 Diabetics, and probably most people living with a chronic dis-ease, have an extra burden of figuring out how to manage all the pieces required to function in our daily lives. From knowing blood sugar levels, to having items on hand at all times to help manage blood sugar levels, having type 1 diabetes is almost another full-time job in an of itself.
As a T1D insulin pumper, I tried all of the other products on the market that claim to hold an insulin pump in a place where people could also easily and comfortably wear skirts and dresses. They did the job, to an extent, but not to the extent that I needed in my life. I needed a place to comfortably, discreetly wear my pump without having to worry about it falling out, or without a large bulge happening under my clothes somewhere. I created something that was useful and comfortable to my needs, and figured others might also find the SkirtMyPump slip useful to their lives.
After I had filed a patent for the SkirtMyPump slip, I released information about it on social media. I was underwhelmed with feedback as I didn’t have many followers. However, once a couple people started taking notice of the slip and really understood how helpful it is, the word spread and other people started posting about the slip, and my clientele grew from there.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
I do not know how to even sew a button onto a piece of fabric. Finding a person to make the SkirtMyPump slips was definitely my biggest hurdle to jump. I attended a seminar for something that had nothing to do with clothing manufacturing. I was sitting by a woman and started up a conversation about, “what we do.” I told her about the idea of the SkirtMyPump slip and she told me about a distributor in downtown Los Angeles. I went home that day and researched their contact information, set up a meeting and started the process.
Since they were my only contact in that space, I didn’t realize how their timelines and their pricing stacked up to their competition. I knew I needed more insight in this, so I attended the free sourcing portion days of the MAGIC show in Las Vegas. I met other distributors there who had a faster turn around time and for less money, so I was able to find a better fit for my budget.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SkirtMyPump.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skirtmypump/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkirtMyPumpSlip/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@skirtmypump
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@skirtmypump
Image Credits
Joshua Mobijohn captured the image of Erin holding up the slip in the factory, and also the images of the woman in the yellow dress.