Local Entrepreneur Wins Under Armour Competition for $50,000 Award

Local entrepreneur Leigh Cockram and her 10-month-old sports apparel company have won Under Armour’s Future Show Innovation Challenge and its $50,000 prize.  Cockram and the Collinsville-based RaesWear LLC she started in December won the 2015 Under Armour award with the creation of pouch pants, which incorporate a pocket in workout clothes to hold cell phones, money, keys and more.

“It’s not a fanny pack. It’s not a belt,” said Cockram, of Collinsville, herself a runner. “The pocket and waistband are one and the same.”

This is the fourth year of the Under Armour Future Show Innovation Challenge. Under Armour, the second largest supplier of sportswear and casual apparel in the world received more than 2,000 entries from entrepreneurs and inventors for the competition.   A select few were invited to showcase their products to Under Armour employees in a Trade Show like setting and present their products to a panel of 12 to 16 people, Cockram said.  Employees voted on their favorite and the panel judged presentations to narrow the field from ten to five contenders. The five then made presentations to company executives the next day, and the winner was announced that afternoon. The 2-day show was held in Baltimore, MD on Oct 8-9.

During the final announcement, “they went through all the teams and we were the last one standing. It’s been surreal. It’s an amazing competition and one which likely has never been won by someone from an area as rural as Henry County,” she added.

The $50,000 prize will go back into RaesWear, Cockram said. “While the financial award is very helpful in offsetting a portion of our start-up expenses, the recognition by Under Armour of our innovative product is even more rewarding,” she added.

Earlier this year the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) awarded the promising start-up a $1,200 website development grant through its Small Business Division.

“Entrepreneurs like Leigh are a critical part of growing our local economy,” said EDC President Mark Heath.  “What’s great about RaesWear is that it is an innovative product, from a local business person, and it’s also in the apparel and textile market which has such a rich history in this community.”

The idea for RaesWear began when Cockram set out to solve a problem.  While on a business trip in Atlanta just more than three years ago,  Cockram became frustrated because she had no place carry her phone, money, hotel key and other items in her running pants, and she did not want to carry a fanny pack or belt.

She came up with the idea of sewing the waistband-pocket material directly on the pant. It is a 360-degree pocket, encircling the entire garment, and its material has elastic so items in the pocket will not move. “The pocket and waistband are one and the same,” she said.

Kevin Haley, executive vice president of innovation for Under Armour, stated in an online article in Co.Create that Under Armour plans to do additional business with RaesWear. “This year’s winner was an incredibly simple but elegant idea for improving apparel. It came from someone who I don’t think had any experience in the industry, but we’re very excited to see this go across a lot of our products because it is such a great idea.”

The RaesWear product line was launched in December 2014 with leggings, running tights and boot cut pants and the company now sells shorts, skorts and skapris, which is a short skirt over capris pants.  The majority of sales are from their website www.raeswear.com, Cockram said, adding that sales have been “steady” since December. The RaesWear’s website has recently been redone to be more mobile friendly, she added.   

It was important to Cockram that RaesWear’s line be made in this country, and she wanted to do as much work and buy as much product and services locally as possible to help the area’s economy.

Sharon Sleeper, owner of Mollie’s Originals in uptown Martinsville produces the patented sportswear line and sells it at her store.

In addition to Mollie’s Originals, RaesWear buys skirt material for its skorts and skapris from Solid Stone Fabrics, uses the accounting services of Mallard and Mallard, and had HD Web Studio design its logo and website — all local companies, Cockram said.

“Leigh’s use of other locally grown businesses shows the culture of entrepreneurship that is growing here.  Local businesses are partnering with each other for materials and services and creating a product  that is receiving national attention and recognition, said Heath.  “The EDC and our local partners in economic development are assembling a tool box of resources to help entrepreneurs develop more stories like RaesWear, but ultimately their success is based on their willingness to work hard, take risks, and be persistent.”

Cockram worked for several years in business development in her work with the local EDC and then the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance. So she knew that 90 to 95 percent of first businesses fail, she said. “Failure isn’t really an option in my vocabulary,” she said.

Cockram said the idea for her pouch pants came from the need to solve a problem — how to store personal items while working out. That, she said, is the key to entrepreneurship.

“I don’t think you can teach entrepreneurship. There needs to be resources available to help someone who has an idea, but that idea is not going to be generated in the classroom. They are solving a problem. If you don’t have a problem, you are not going to be an entrepreneur,” she said.

An entrepreneur also needs a thick skin, be able to trust his or her gut and know when it is time to keep moving forward or exit a project, Cockram said. It also is important to think things through, rather than having knee-jerk reactions, she said.

Being an entrepreneur is not always easy, Cockram added.

“There are times when being an entrepreneur is a lonely space. You have no one to talk to,” she said, explaining that other entrepreneurs are working with different businesses so their concerns and experiences are different. “A lot of learning is on your own. I’m self-funded except the EDC (market grant). There are days when I think, ‘Why am I doing this? I could have redone my kitchen; I could have gone to Jamaica.’”  On those says, Cockram said, “to have family and friends say, ‘No, it will pay off,’” helped her get through.

Now, her achievement has been gratifying, Cockram said. “Winning the Under Armour challenge validated the whole idea,” she added.