Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katherine Anne Koury. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Katherine Anne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Panic Panties started over a late dinner and some good old fashioned complaining. We were three on-the-go friends living and working in New York City, sharing honest conversations about all of the times that we were at the gym, on a date, on our period, on a trip, and suddenly needed a new pair of panties with nowhere convenient to get them. Sure, our local drug stores carried the Hanes or Fruit of the Loom granny panties, but honestly we’d rather go commando. This made us think, if convenience stores are supposed to be convenient, why don’t they carry underwear women actually want to wear? And thus, Panic Panties was born and we set out to solve an unmet need for women on the go and bring pre-washed, individually-wrapped, premium underwear to convenient places.

One of the things that made us most excited about being small business owners was building a community where we embrace life’s oh sh*t moments, laugh with you, and give women the tools they need to live their most on-the-go lives. We KNOW our product fills a huge unmet need and we are up for the challenge as a small, women-owned brand to be the disruptor that changes the way women shop for underwear.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Panic Panties are individually-wrapped, premium panties for all those times you’re at the gym, on a date, on your period, on a trip, out of laundry, or laugh just a little too hard and PANIC realizing you need a new pair of panties in a pinch! You can find us at Walgreens, Urban Outfitters, CIBO Express Airport stores, GoPuff and more.

As Co-Founders, we are a trifecta team and have leveraged our combined experiences to make this dream a reality. Maria is a marketing copywriter by trade, Katherine Anne is a creative producer/branded content strategist, and Alex is a CPA.

How did you build your audience on social media?

We create all of our social media content in-house (@panic.panties). With 12.5M ORGANIC hashtag views across social and a 500% growth rate on TikTok alone, we have a robust community of women who feel included, heard, and engaged so much so that they are constantly sharing stories about all of the times they have needed or used Panic Panties in their day-to-day lives.

We have also partnered with influencers (both micro and macro) to create content as a way to reach wider audiences. Lastly, we have enlisted some guerilla marketing tactics. We created a life size costume of our panty packaging and have used that to create a stir in different cities from LA to NYC to Vegas. Our advice would be to know your audience and be authentically yourself. Also, consistency is key!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In 2023 we created a new more affordable on the go line specifically for our mass-market retailers. We pitched it to Walgreens without even having real samples and they loved it so much they wanted to roll it out in stores as a test within months. That was the great news! The not-so-great news was that we had a fraction of our usual timeline to produce this new line, including in-store displays while also figuring out where we were going to get the money to do so.

We launched a Kickstarter, exceeding our goal within the first 28 hours of launching. Additionally, we were able to secure a manufacturing partner that offered 100% recyclable, carbon neutral packaging that also helps fund ocean clean ups. Securing the Walgreens partnership was already a proud moment, but creating an entire new line with sustainable packaging and a Kickstarter campaign on top of it all was a monumental effort and ultimate success.

Contact Info:

• Website: panicpanties.com
• Instagram: @panic.panties
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/panic-panties
• Other: Tik Tok: @panic.panties