Bare Essentials
This entrepreneur has hipsters lining up for her low-riding undergarments and sportswear.
Vital Stats: Sarah
Siegel-Magness, 30, founder of So Low
Company: Los Angeles-based
maker of intimate and sportswear apparel
Sales: 2003 projected sales
of $3.5 million to $5.5 million
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Uprising: The daughter of
Celestial Seasonings' founders, Siegel-Magness exhibited a
knack for entrepreneurship early on, working by age 13 and
operating a successful Celestial Seasonings kiosk in college.
Envisioning low-rise underwear that wouldn't show in
today's belly-baring, hip-hugging fashions, she asked her
atelier to make a sample from her prototype.
Solo Mission: When
Siegel-Magness took her creation to the California Market Center, a
wholesale buyers' marketplace in Los Angeles, hoping to find
representation, she brought one pair of underwear. "Getting
picked up with one style was unheard of," she recalls.
"My ignorance paid off, because I walked in there like I knew
what I was doing." When her new rep asked her to come up with
three more styles, she quickly followed with low-rise boxers and
tank-top and G-string styles.
"I would always
joke, 'I'll make 10,000 pairs, and if I just have to wear
them myself, I will.'"
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Mirror Image: Sporty, sexy
and young is how Siegel-Magness describes the line that's
evolved from underwear to a collection of low-rise sportswear
spotted on celebs like Lucy Liu and Gwen Stefani. "It's
what I saw missing from the marketplace and needed myself,"
she says.
Public Spectacle: Teen queen
Hillary Duff donned a So Low skirt for The Lizzie McGuire
Movie poster, displayed in high-traffic areas like Sunset
Boulevard and Times Square. The distinctive striped skirt has
increased interest in So Low, especially among the younger
demographic. Siegel-Magness didn't angle for the placement, but
she's not complaining: "Today, celebrities can really make
lines."