The Best Friends Turned Co-Founders Behind Our Favorite Top-Drawer Essentials

Rip & Tan: You co-founded Negative Underwear after having similar career-path epiphanies and discovering your mutual desire for a complete career shift. When did you know you wanted to embark on this venture together? How did you broach the subject?

Marissa Vosper: Lauren and I had been best friends since freshman year of college and always shared a love for fashion. When we both graduated from UPenn and moved to NYC to begin our careers, we followed more traditional paths (Lauren went into finance, I pursued brand consulting). Fashion jobs didn’t feel like viable options for either one of us at the time. And while we both saw growth and early success in our respective jobs, we knew our hearts weren’t in them for the long run, and so we continued to question how we could change our trajectories to pursue our passion.

Instead of quitting our jobs to go back to school full time, we opted to take night classes at FIT, spending our after-hours and weekends thinking about what could be. What opportunities did we see in the fashion industry? What skills could the two of us bring to the table to solve a problem that we personally identified with? As we honed in on intimates, it became clear there was a big white space—a need that wasn’t being well served by the existing/default options. The more we dug into this insight, the more conviction we felt that this was where we needed to focus. It may have taken years to get to the launch point, but we never looked back.

Rip & Tan: As friends first and business partners second, how do you balance your relationships with each other? What do you love most about working with your best friend?

Marissa Vosper: A business partnership is often compared to a marriage, and in many ways it is. Like with any long-term committed relationship, there are highs and lows and we’ve been through them all. What’s really been eye-opening to me is that we’re stronger as friends now that we’re both mothers. There’s something about going through this motherhood journey together that’s stripped away a lot of the drama that comes in younger years. There’s no time for that anymore! 

What I love most about working with Lauren is knowing I always have a confidant who loves this business to the core the way I do. She’s the first person I call when something exciting happens, and equally when something really frustrating or disappointing happens. Being able to share this experience of entrepreneurship with someone I love and trust has made it all the more fulfilling. I am so grateful for that.

Rip & Tan: The day-to-day of running a successful brand surely comes with many challenges—what do you do to recenter and reinvigorate?

Marissa Vosper: Running a business can be all-consuming—there are literally never enough hours to do all the things! Before having kids I found more time to be by myself as a way to recenter. To meditate or do yoga or go to the gym, or spending a cleansing week at We Care in Palm Springs. Since having kids, those moments are few and far between so I try my best to squeeze in 10 minutes of meditation and 20-30 minutes of a workout most days. It doesn’t always happen, but I try!

Rip & Tan: What advice do you have for other women making the entrepreneurial leap? How important is trusting your intuition?

Lauren Schwab: I would emphasize the amount of hard work it takes to start a business, and how important it is to choose a product or category that you truly believe in—one that you’ll want to think about and work towards essentially 24/7 for years to come. In the world of fast-growth VC-funded startups, the entrepreneurial path can seem so glamorous and so effortless. While there have been immensely proud and exciting moments for us, the majority of the path is about doing the hard things without wavering in your dedication.

Rip & Tan: You are a business by women, for women. What can other companies learn from your ethos and the way you operate?

Lauren Schwab: Making a product for a demographic while also being part of that demographic is hugely helpful – there’s no guesswork based on assumptions of how your customer will use and experience the products you make. When we try on a sample, we’re immediately thinking about comfort, function, fit, and wearability.

If it doesn’t pass our wear tests, we won’t make it, period. Our ethos often comes down to: if we can’t make something better, why make it?

Rip & Tan: Each piece in the collection feels like an instant must-have. Do you have a favorite?

Lauren Schwab: I recently had my third baby and the Whipped Triangle Bra in Ivory and Heather Grey is one of my current nursing favorites—it’s incredibly soft and easy to pull to the side, while still feeling chic and pulled together despite the chaos that is life with three little kids.

Marissa Vosper: I sleep in one of our Whipped High Rise every night of my life. The Buff + Ivory combo from the Jenni Kayne collab is my newest go-to.

Rip & Tan: What was the inspiration behind the Negative x Jenni Kayne collection?

Lauren Schwab: When the Jenni Kayne team approached us with the idea of collaborating, we knew it would be a great fit. We’re both brands that care deeply about quality and who take time to obsess about the details. Since Jenni was a fan of the Whipped collection, it was a natural area to focus on. We worked with some of our best-selling core styles and added a newer style (the Whipped Thong) to the mix to bring more of a true “underwear” option to the capsule.

The color palette felt so clear for two neutral-loving brands, focusing on our core neutral palette in an exclusive color-blocked combination took something classic and made it special and exclusive. We worked together to find the right balance of fabrics and trims to achieve the result. We’re so proud of the capsule—it feels like a really beautiful reflection of both of our brands coming together.