Jeremy Levine

The Founder Spotlight Series is designed to facilitate conversations with entrepreneurs around innovation and their experiences building businesses and launching products. In our first installment, I sat down with A.T. Kearney alum Chaitenya Razdan who founded Care + Wear, a "healthwear" startup that designs hospital apparel to enhance the patient experience. A.T. Kearney recently supported Care + Wear on the launch of a re-imagined hospital gown designed to improve patient dignity while maintaining the functionality required by medical professionals. The gown was developed by a team of students at the Parson's School of Design at The New School. A.T. Kearney supported the design process and developed an end-to-end supply chain strategy to help make the gown a reality. Chat discusses his experience pioneering a new category, working with doctors and patients to create products beneficial to both, and driving fast and effective innovation.

Jeremy: Can you introduce yourself and give an overview of Care+Wear?

Chat: My name is Chat Razdan and I’m the Co-Founder and CEO of Care+Wear. We’re a leading provider of innovative healthwear focused on creating positive and effective healing experiences for patients everywhere. My mom is an anesthesiologist and I’ve been a patient several times, so I’ve been exposed to inefficiencies and discomfort in the hospital for many years. We started Care+Wear after my co-founder and I had loved ones diagnosed with cancer who were receiving chemotherapy through a semi-permanent IV called a PICC Line. These patients were wearing tube socks in order to protect their lines and we knew that there had to be something better. Recognizing the need to bring innovation and design to the healthcare industry, my co-founder and I worked in partnership with leading hospitals, patients and clinicians to create our first product, our Antimicrobial PICC Line Cover and have since expanded to offer many other additional healthwear solutions for patients. We now sell Chest Access Shirts for people with central lines or port-a-caths, a new patient gown that we made with the Parsons School of Design and we plan to launch a project with Oscar de la Renta, as well as mobility gloves for people in wheelchairs or on crutches, in the coming months.

J: You and I have spoken about how Care+Wear operates in what is essentially a new industry. Tell me about the healthwear space and where you see it going. What’s it been like pioneering a new industry?

C: We created this company because we realized that there was a huge disconnect between the needs/preferences of clinicians, patients and designers. Our idea was to bring these three parties together to help create products that are stylish, comfortable and medically compliant. “Healthwear” as we’ve called it, is the marriage of these three requirements. Leading the charge on developing this industry can be daunting, but it’s really rewarding. At the end of the day, making these products for people is really important. No one else is doing this work – not just creating the products, but showing hospitals and clinicians the value of these solutions and how they help patient treatment experiences. By introducing more and more of these items into the market, we’re starting to change the conversation in healthcare to focus more on what is best for the patient holistically. Healthcare is a human-to-human business and we’re trying to bring the human touch to this space.

J: What have been the keys to your success so far?

C: Healthwear is a completely new space, which definitely has its benefits and difficulties. There is a great opportunity to create meaningful products that have never existed before for patients in need. Also, since we develop all of our products directly in conjunction with clinicians and patients, often working with hospitals, we can create items that are really personalized for different patient populations. However, since we sell both direct-to-patient (online) and direct-to-hospital, creating solutions that work for both audiences requires a lot of research and development. At the end of the day, the key to our success for both markets is that we actively consult with experts across the board. We have worked with fantastic hospital partners, world-class designers, top-of-the line non-profits and have a remarkable board of advisors who help us with everything from medical to marketing guidance. A.T. Kearney specifically, was an extremely helpful partner in the creation of our patient gowns (recently launched in The New York Times ), providing critical consulting services to ensure a seamless production and supply chain for the gowns. We feel extremely lucky to be working with best-in-class partners across the board who are all dedicated to improving the patient experience.

J: I know I speak for everyone on the A.T. Kearney team when I say I really enjoyed the experience of working with you and your colleagues to bring your vision for the gown to life. What inspired this product and what were the biggest obstacles to making it a reality?

C: Wearing a patient gown is an almost universal experience. The core mission of our company is to improve patient experiences and so addressing the issue of making the traditional patient gown more comfortable for patients has always been on the top of our list. When we connected with designer Kay Unger, Chair of Board at the Parsons School of Design, about doing a class at Parsons, there was no doubt that this was what we wanted to pursue. While there were some basic concerns that we were well aware of going into the project, including coverage/no backside exposure and general aesthetic, there were additional challenges we came across during the class. For example, we learned the importance of the laundry, in that the gown needed to survive 440 degrees Fahrenheit in the dryer; as a result, we had to use materials that would survive that high temperature that were still cost-effective for the hospitals. We also learned the importance of various access points for clinicians, resulting in such features as snaps on the arms for undisturbed IV access.

J: You have a unique perspective having worked at A.T. Kearney for corporate clients and now operating in the startup world. What do you think large companies could learn from startups to drive innovation? What opportunities do you see for companies like your former clients to tap into the startup world?

C: Start-ups move very quickly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that their decisions are made with haste. At Care+Wear we have dozens of conversations every week with hospital partners, clinicians, patients, caregivers, non-profits, investors, designers, suppliers and more, gathering feedback and consulting with them on how to make the best products possible. Larger companies should realize that the way to success is constant evolution, and partnering with start-ups is a great way to fuel that innovation pipeline.

J: What was the most surprising thing you learned or saw during the design process?

C: We learned many things during this class, but one of the really interesting facts we learned was that there are fabrics made from coffee grounds! Also, the great surprise of the course was that legendary designers Donna Karan and Kay Unger came to the very last class to provide the students with feedback on the gown design – the students and the Care+Wear team were BEYOND thrilled and it was so cool to see them in action making edits on the fly!

Jeremy Levine

New York, New York, United States 2K followers 500+ connections

Experience

Alvarez & Marsal Consumer and Retail Group

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Education

Darden Business School

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