Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation<\/a> (CCEI), the program helps UConn-affiliated entrepreneurs with everything from legal concerns to finding financing sources.<\/p>\nAt the conclusion of the program, Puure was one of six startups selected to compete in the Wolff New Venture Competition, the School of Business\u2019 pinnacle entrepreneurship challenge, in October. Puure will compete for a share of $50,000 in business funding.<\/p>\n
In addition to her MBA degree, which she plans to complete in spring 2025, Phillips brings a strong background in textiles and retail experience to her startup. In fact, this is not her first business venture.<\/p>\n
Phillips started her career in sales for a home textiles company that sold bedding and bath products. There she became familiar with fabrics, natural fibers, and sustainability issues. She went on to work in retail for a table linens\/kitchen company, and then for a company that made sunglasses and optical frames.<\/p>\n
She and her sister also had a special-occasion clothing line for six years and became knowledgeable about clothing and manufacturing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know what we were doing initially, but we learned a lot about entrepreneurship, business development, and manufacturing practices,\u2019\u2019 says Phillips, a native of Westchester, N.Y. What they lacked was a solid foundation in building a business, and that\u2019s something that Phillips gained through Summer Fellowship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI needed a foundation, including developing a core strategy and defining my competitive advantage,\u2019\u2019 she says. \u201cThe program mentors were great and welcomed us to bounce ideas off them. I learned how to organize the company financially. And I appreciated that all the other entrepreneurs were so like-minded and supportive.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Company to Offer Comfort, Style\u2014and Wellness Advocacy <\/strong><\/p>\nPuure lingerie will be made of organic and non-toxic material, but Phillips is also creating garments that are comfortable, well-fitting and stylish. Her company will be very committed to advocating for feminine wellness. After mulling over the business idea for a few years, Phillips began to seriously explore her interest in the $80 billion lingerie business in February. By April, she had won CCEI\u2019s Get Seeded competition and a $5,000, first-place prize.<\/p>\n
Her company is off to a quick start. Phillips is already sourcing suppliers and deciding whether to manufacture in the United States or in Europe. She has a technical designer now and is looking to grow her team.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything I do is very intentional, even down to the tags,\u2019\u2019 she says. \u201cI want to partner with factories that are not only producing organic good but are practicing fair labor, are committed to sustainability, and are not solving one problem while creating another.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Because of their unique health needs, Phillips is focusing on Black women. She initially hopes to market directly to consumers and through pop-up events in New York and Connecticut, before partnering with retailers. Black women are very brand-aware, Phillips says, and she believes that interest in her products will grow rapidly.<\/p>\n
The name Puure came from a friend in Summer Fellowship, after Phillips discovered that her first choice for a name was already trademarked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the name because it says what it is\u2026pure, organic, not superficial. This isn\u2019t a company that\u2019s out to trick anyone,\u2019\u2019 she says. \u201cOur goal is to produce something that is healthy and safe for women. Our core values are integrity, transparency and holding to what we claim.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Wolff New Venture Competition will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 17 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the School of Business\u2019 GBLC, Second Floor, 100 Constitution Plaza, Hartford. All are welcome. Please pre-register at https:\/\/ccei.uconn.edu\/wolff-new-venture-competition<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘Everything I do is very intentional, even down to the tags’ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":204666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1731,2459,156,1862,2235,2306],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2105],"class_list":["post-204632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurship","category-graduate-students","category-profile","category-busn","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-voices"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 23:10:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204632"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204834,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204632\/revisions\/204834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/204666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204632"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=204632"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=204632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}