Meet Rob and Sarah of do+dare undie co.
Get to know the people behind your favourite places & spaces in downtown Burlington! We’ll be introducing you to a new owner & business throughout the year!
This week, meet Rob Bourbeau and Sarah Hemingway of do+dare undie co.
1. Why did you start/open your business?
We’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit etched into our DNA. We are creative doers with diverse backgrounds (Sarah’s a teacher, and Rob’s an engineer) – a few summers ago while on a road trip we challenged ourselves to find a way to make our passions a bigger focus in our lives, all the while bringing our love of adventure, living life to the fullest and smiling often, to the world! Lots of late nights later, do+dare undie co. and personalized underwear was born.
2. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your business. (i.e. What is your unique offering?)
We make the most amazing underwear – super comfy, eco‐friendly, ethically produced (in Burlington!), and because amazing alone isn’t enough, our underwear is also the most fun underwear! We encourage our customers to personalize them with any art, any text, on any side of the undie.
Personalizing your underwear is an experience unique to each customer and that’s what we love so much about our biz. It doesn’t matter if it’s for yourself, your BFF, or your sweetheart, our undies make people smile and feel special. We love seeing what people dream up!
We also love telling people about our business, watching them for a few seconds as they realize what we do, then watching their surprise turn into a smile and then into “I know who to get these for!”
As for us personally:
Rob is a Professional Engineer – he loves to learn, solve problems and is constantly figuring out how to make things work better. He’s active, playful, positive and has a seemingly endless supply of energy…just imagine what would happen if he drank coffee!!
Sarah is an awesome teacher – she loves adventure and trying new things – just check out her hobby collection! She’s an avid reader, is full of great ideas and loves to keep her body moving – she even manages to keep Rob on his toes!
3. When did you open your business in Downtown Burlington?
We moved into our Brant St. Studio space on September 1, 2020. This is our first location. Before that we had everything stuffed into our apartment in preparation – our bedroom was filled with rolls of fabric leaving hardly anywhere to sleep, and we had all sorts of equipment and boxes in our living room! We so needed a dedicated production space!
4. What made you choose Downtown Burlington?
We love Downtown Burlington – we also live here, and wanted to be producing our amazing undies within walking / running / cycling distance of our home. It’s so nice to leave the car at home when we go to work!
5. What other downtown businesses do you frequent and do business with?
La Crème de la Crème Creamery, Luganos Pizza, Coop Wicked Chicken, Kelly’s Bakeshop, Centro, Canada Post, No Frills, Buds Smoke, Cinestars, Amaya, Pintoh, Burro, Oddspot, RBC, Burlington Lakeshore Pharmacy, Tim Hortons, Charcoal Pit, and probably a few more – there’s such awesome food downtown – we love it all!
6. What special events/promotions do you currently have or coming up in 2021 that you would like the BDBA to promote and/or publish on our website and social media outlets?
We are constantly introducing new products on our website for all the various seasons as they come up so check our site often! Oh, and sign-up for our newsletter to get free shipping when you buy 2 or more undies. Our retail location in The Nooks at the Mapleview Mall is also a great place for people to touch and feel and buy “bare” undies or a small selection of our favourite undies for the season.
7. If you had a piece of advice for our new businesses, to help them succeed, what would it be?
Surround yourself with people that are better than you in at least one way and who are not afraid to tell you the “truth” as they see it.
8. If you could make a matching set of undies for any famous couple (living or dead), who would it be and why (and what would the design be?!?!?)
Marge and Homer Simpson!!
On Marge’s – a donut just like the one Homer loves… because she needs to do whatever she can to keep Homer focused!
On Homer’s – “FRONT” and “BACK”. Because, well, you know – doh!
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