Emma Conant Designing a Safer Future for Gender-Affirming Wear

When Industrial Design student Emma Conant takes the stage as the student speaker for the afternoon Summer Commencement ceremony, she won’t just be representing her graduating class. She’ll be representing a new generation of innovators who are using their design skills to solve real-world problems and build a more inclusive world. 

Conant is the founder of EVERYBODY, a startup clothing line born at Wentworth Institute of Technology, which is on the verge of launching its first product: a revolutionary swim-safe binder. 

A binder is a compression garment that provides a gender-affirming feel by compressing a user’s chest. For many transgender and non-binary people, it’s an essential piece of apparel. However, as Conant discovered, a dangerous gap existed in the market. 

“One of the biggest questions I got was, ‘When are you going to have a swim binder?’” said Conant, referring to customer discovery and research she conducted. “I realized that people were wearing apparel binders to the beach and working out, and you're not even supposed to wear it for over 8 hours because there's a lot of health risks.” 

She was struck by a heartbreaking reality. “People were sacrificing their physical health and safety for their mental health,” Conant said. “They were still willing to do that, which I thought was... sad. I felt like I needed to create a product for them to help them.” 

With that mission in mind, she set out to design a solution. The EVERYBODY binder is purposely different. It’s an adjustable garment that isolates the compression, allowing for greater breathability and safety, making it the first of its kind specifically created for swimming and physical activity. 

Transitioning from a designer to an entrepreneur was a journey Conant didn't initially anticipate, but one she embraced with the help of Wentworth’s ecosystem for innovation. 

"Getting into apparel was really kind of something I didn't expect," she admitted. "Luckily, I was able to go through two entrepreneurship programs here at Wentworth. Accelerate (Wentworth's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center) and the ACE Scholarship program really helped me learn and gain my footing when it came to business, and how to meld that hand-in-hand with design." 

The community response has been overwhelmingly positive. Conant received over 200 applications from people wanting to be user-testers and interviewees. And her company now has over 500 followers across social media and dozens of pre-orders for the upcoming launch. 

EVERYBODY is set to officially launch its pre-sale after Labor Day in September.