By Shobha Philips, Founder & CEO of PROCLAIM
In 2017, I launched PROCLAIM from my apartment with a simple, radical belief: you shouldn't have to choose between your values and finding products that actually represent you.
The Problem I Couldn't Unsee
"Nude" intimates were everywhere — but nude, in practice, meant one shade of beige. For billions of women with brown skin, the most basic wardrobe staple simply didn't exist in their skin tone. I'd been told by salespeople that beige was "close enough." I'd made do with workarounds. The longer I accepted it, the more absurd it seemed.
I also couldn't unsee how the intimates industry portrayed women: airbrushed, homogenized, and filtered through a lens that had nothing to do with how women actually see themselves. That felt just as broken as the shade range.
As a brown woman, I was paying attention to something else: who actually makes our clothes.
The Rana Plaza disaster occurred just as I was crafting the idea for PROCLAIM - bringing to light the dark underbelly of the garment industry. The reality is that women of color make up the majority of workers in the global fashion supply chain—nearly 80%—and they are too often the ones absorbing the cost of cheap production. The reality is that women of color make up the majority of workers in the global fashion supply chain—nearly 80%—and they are too often the ones absorbing the cost of cheap production. This includes unlivable wages, unsafe working conditions, and exposure to toxic chemicals in factories, on farms, in dye houses, or in waterways downstream. I wanted to prove you could design for brown women without exploiting other women to make the product.
I realized that if I wanted to see a fashion world that was more inclusive and less extractive, I had to build it myself. Entrepreneurship, for me, is the ultimate tool for building the world you want to live in.
How PROCLAIM Was Built
The first months were spent researching materials, connecting with factories, and designing that first collection. Over the course of a year and a half, our debut product came to life: a single bra style in three inclusive nude tones, manufactured locally in San Francisco.
- The Evolution of Materials: At the time, the gold standard for sustainable materials was recycled polyester made from plastic water bottles. Is that a material I would use today? No — but that's a story for another time.
- Moving to Los Angeles: Almost immediately after launching and building our community on Instagram, I knew that if I wanted to grow while keeping production local, I needed to manufacture in Los Angeles. Not as a marketing buzzword, but because keeping production close meant I could actually verify fair wages, safe working conditions, and a supply chain I could stand behind.
- Global Ethical Manufacturing: Today, PROCLAIM manufactures locally in Los Angeles, as well as in Portugal, with occasional specialty drops utilizing organic Pima cotton from Peru.
Since that first bra, PROCLAIM has grown into a full collection of inclusive intimates, including bras, briefs, socks, and shapewear. A defining milestone was the launch of our shapewear line: the world's first plant-based shapewear, built around women's health rather than harsh compression and synthetic materials.
Every product decision starts with the same question: Is this good for the person wearing it, the person who made it, and the planet that provided the materials?
What PROCLAIM Stands For Today
Our mission is to expand the definition of "nude" while setting a new standard for ethical manufacturing that prioritizes comfort, women's health, and the people in our supply chain. That means:
- Inclusive Shade Ranges: Designed for real skin tones, moving far beyond a single beige standard.
- Natural Fibers: Prioritizing skin safety and lower environmental impact over synthetic alternatives that trap heat and odors.
- Ethical Production: Made in LA, Portugal, and Peru, ensuring every person in our production process is paid a living wage and works in safe conditions.
- Women-Led, Women-Centered: From our leadership to our factory floor, advancing women is a core pillar of how we operate.
We aren't just selling underwear. We're proving that a business can be both profitable and a genuine force for good.
Nine Years In
What started as a search for a bra in my own skin tone—made without exploiting the women who made it—has become something much larger. PROCLAIM is a brand built on the belief that the clothes closest to your body should be made with care for the health of the humans who wear them, the humans who made them, and the earth that provided the resources.
Every business decision is a vote for a better future. There have been plenty of ups and downs, but that's what gets me up every morning.
