We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Crites. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.
Lisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The SHOWER SHIRT product evolution was the epitome of the term, “necessity is the mother of invention,” meaning, the product became the driving force from an overwhelming need. The SHOWER SHIRT is a patented, post-surgical, water resistant garment designed to protect breast surgery patients requiring surgical drains after mastectomy surgery. The shirt arrived from my own personal need, after being diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing mastectomy surgery. Post-mastectomy, my surgeon stated I could not shower until the post-surgical drains were removed, (in about two weeks) or risk an increased chance of surgical site infections from shower water (due to pathogens and bacteria in tap water). I began doing research for a protective garment to purchase, with nothing in existence, I began showering in a plastic trash bag.
Unacceptable, in my opinion, being reduced to a product used for trash to protect myself, I decided to design, manufacture, and now distribute The SHOWER SHIRT under The SHOWER SHIRT Co., LLC. Though the creative focus for the product was initially only designed for mastectomy patients, the product is also utilized by dialysis patients, cardiac patients, Rotator cuff, chemotherapy, wound vac, central line, and pacemaker patients; essentially any chest surgery patient who has a drain, port or catheter who needs protection from water while showering. My hope in creating this product has always been to help make the recovery process easier for both breast cancer and chest surgery patients while showering, after surgery. No breast cancer patient should be reduced to showering in a trash bag after such an emotionally draining diagnosis and amputation of the breasts.
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 background and context?
BIO:
Lisa F. Crites is the award-winning inventor of The SHOWER SHIRT®, the first and only patented (US Patent No. 8,516,613), water-resistant garment to protect chest surgery patients while showering. Her patented invention, awarded for ‘design’ and ‘method of use,’ was created following her breast cancer diagnosis and bi-lateral mastectomy surgery. Reduced to showering in a plastic trash bag to keep her surgical drain sites dry (advised by surgeon to decrease the chance of a water-borne illness), she was frustrated by the thought of future mastectomy patients being required to do the same; subsequently, she designed, engineered, and now distributes The SHOWER SHIRT® to post-mastectomy and general chest surgery patients all over the world. A Class 1 Medical Device, the garment is available at more than 1,000 mastectomy boutiques nationwide, and a myriad of domestic and international e-commerce sites such as AMAZON, Walmart and Pink Lotus. The product is exported to patients in Canada, England, Ireland, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Austria, Dubai, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, India, Turkey, South Africa, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the Seychelles.
Lisa was a 2015 InnovateHER winner for her work and innovation in creating The SHOWER SHIRT®, an initiative to award inventors who create products to enrich the lives of women. The National InnovateHER series, sponsored by the SBA, Washington Post, and Microsoft, led her to travel as a guest of the US State Department to present at WE-APEC in Singapore. Lisa also received a 2015 Patient Innovation award from the University of Portugal, School of Business & Economics, and requested by Dubai ruler, King Sheik Mohammad, to present at the World Government Summit – Edge of Government exhibit in the United Arab Emirates. Additional international honors include a request from the London Science Museum to host The SHOWER SHIRT® for the museums Science Innovation Exhibit, which expands across 78 location in Europe, where Lisa and The SHOWER SHIRT® are represented as one of the first Patient Innovation award series recipients.
Lisa has been featured in FORBES Magazine, the Huffington Post and Readers Digest; FOX News, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Lifetime TV’s, ‘The Balancing Act,’ discussing her invention and the legislative filing of the ‘Post Mastectomy Infection Reduction Act,’ sponsored by United States Congressman Bill Posey (R-FL) and Congressman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL).
A Health/Medical broadcast journalist, print columnist, corporate healthcare consultant, media strategist, guest speaker and obvious entrepreneur, Lisa has more than 30 years of experience in the field of health/medical journalism, corporate communications, news issue management and media relations. Lisa was the original Health/Medical television anchor/reporter for Central Florida News 13 (Channel 13) in Orlando; her background in television also includes anchoring at America’s Health Network (now Discovery Health); reporting for ‘Success Central Florida’ on WKMG Local 6, also in Orlando, and feature reporter for the Travel Channel. Lisa consults with Gannett News Service as a broadcast media coach and works for both CNTV and NADA-TV as a medical television correspondent.
Lisa travels often for speaking engagements across the country and internationally discussing The SHOWER SHIRT® and her ongoing initiatives to support breast cancer survivors and related programs. Lisa frequently guest lectures at colleges and universities across the United States discussing ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ and the focus of multiple academic thesis on the topic.
Lisa’s philanthropic work includes being a member of the Cocoa Village Playhouse Board of Director’s; Digital Arts for Autism Board of Directors; Space Coast Early Steps Board of Director, Emeritus for Driven by Heart, a national Breast Cancer support group. Lisa has volunteered for the Central Florida Second Harvest Food Bank and Central Florida Homeless Coalition for the past 28 years. She earned her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Journalism from Murray State University, Murray Ky; Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Corporate Communications, and Master of Science (MS) in Digital Marketing and eCommerce, – (add) from the University of Barcelona, European School of Business, Barcelona, Spain.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
Yes, we sell The SHOWER SHIRT on our own site at www.theshowershirt.com. However, over time, we have added several sales platforms to host the product. We sell on Walmart.com, (or rather Walmart purchases inventory wholesale, and then sells retail). We drop ship for several sites like Cure Diva; Health Products for You; Wholesale Point; Kidney Buzz; Unbeatable Sales; ETSY (through one of our existing sellers on AMAZON); Frugal Hack Me; and even mastectomy boutiques. Additionally, a few Home Medical Equipment and Durable Medical equipment locations who sell the product in their brick and mortar stores, also sell on their websites. Regarding AMAZON, yes, we had (4) sellers on that platform, however, we’ve recently signed with a company (HOOT Products, LLC) – to take over those sales exclusively. AMAZON can quickly get out of control with sellers not following the Minimized Advertising Price (MAP), so it’s good to trust your sellers.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
We use a company called Waymark, who markets our product on FB through the social media feeds. We are lucky in that there are many breast cancer communities on social media, so we’ve been able to share the product exponentially through those groups. Additionally, we’ve signed with an extremely reputable social media group out of South Florida called ‘Full Throttle Social,’ thus, we expect to grow exponentially in our social media presence.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theshowershirt.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crites305/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/showershirt
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-f-crites-34089534/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaFCrites
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+shower+shirt