A new year means new resolutions, which may include health and fitness. With fitness comes sportswear, and that’s where Booby Trap Bra’s comes in! Meet founder Jennifer Cutrona. Her own dangerous experience on Lady Bird Lake’s Butler Trail inspired her to come up with a sports bra that has a built in knife or pepper spray.
Jennifer was on her favorite trail when a man, who was hiding in the bushes, jumped out and reached for her arm. The man had missed and got away, but it changed Jennifer’s perspective of “it would never happen to me.” “I went from, ‘I live in a nice town to, I am mega vulnerable and need to carry something on me just in case.’ I like to tell my girls I don’t think he was going to drag me in the bushes that night and kill me; I think he wanted to get my attention. I haven’t lost faith that we live in a great town. It’s just that if we end up in an encounter like that you’re going to need protection and we just don’t have it on us if it’s not practical. My movement is about practical ways to actually carry [protection] and have it ready in that one second that it’s going to matter.”
Cutrona went home that night and opened her drawer of all her self-defense equipment that her husband had bought her. The knife that is now incorporated with the bra was in that drawer. “So I’m thinking how do I include the knife into sportswear? The knife comes with this belt when you purchase it. It’s a great little design because on yourself you can pull it from your side, but it’s not for my purpose since I’m a runner. What happened to me I would never be carrying this since the belt moves around so much. So I cut a V shape slit in my bra and then stuck the knife in there and sewed it in. That’s how I came up with it. The knife fit perfectly. Even my homemade prototype didn’t look terrible.” Jennifer added a special sheething that goes between the knife and the bra so the knife doesn’t get anywhere near your skin. There is also a built in magnet in the bra that keeps the knife from moving.
“I realized that this is going to work, this is really awesome. I had my shoulders back a little more and felt confident. But then I was like, Ok, this is scary, I could jump off this cliff of starting my own business and patenting this and going through the motions, but is it really going to sell?” Jennifer’s husband does some work with a renowned icon in Austin and got her an appointment to meet with him to pitch him her idea and get some feedback. “He gave me the ‘hell yeah!’ So that was what I needed confidence wise to go ‘if they think I can do this then I can do this.’ [The local icon] actually hooked me up with a pattern maker here in town, told me who to call, and I got an appointment. Within two days I was on my journey to making the Booby Trap Bra!”
This was Jennifer’s fist bra and exactly what she wanted. “I started getting some feedback about what scares the users. Some girls said they didn’t think they would know what to do with the knife. So I was like let’s give them an option of pepper spray. One downside of carrying your pepper spray in your hand is if you fall, there’s the potential of panic with the canister. Plus, it’s not that free feeling that we get from running. So I made the pocket in the bra to where it would fit perfectly. The pepper spray is a 10 shot pepper spray, so even if you miss one, two, and three, you still have several shots to go. Mace actually partnered with us to give us some great pepper spray. Basically, if you’re wrapped up from behind, you have access to it. If you’re pushed down, you have access to it. If he’s on your back, it’s just the most practical spot. We also have a Mace Alert 911 Direct Connect. It’s a button you push and it says, ‘911 what’s your emergency?’ The attacker can hear that, you’re GPS tracked and the operators on the line.” The Mace Alert 911 Direct Connect is a button the size of your palm and retails for $99.99. It’s battery operated and has a one year battery life.
With the success of the knife and pepper spray Booby Trap Bra’s people have begun to ask Jennifer if she will incorporate more pockets for “stuff”. “I want to get good at knowing the chest portion because as women, immediately even if we’re scared, that’s our natural response is to be here [hands by our chest]. So we’re always close to our chest and I want to get great at saying, ‘Hey, let’s defend ourselves.’ If you want something additional in other places, Ok, maybe we’ll do that one-day, but let’s focus on this right now. I have a 20-year war veteran and police officer that helps us with videos and how to use the bra. That’s free education! We’re revamping those videos now so that we’ll be able to watch a new one a week on our website and YouTube channel. He shows you if a guy approaches you at your car, this is what you would do if he’s wrapped you up from behind, duck your chin, these are the steps you take to get away. He’s doing it because it’s his passion to keep women safe.”
When Jennifer isn’t busy growing Booby Trap Bra’s, she enjoys spending time with her young boys in the Great Hills community in Wimberly. “My 10 year old plays football and then my little boy, my six year old does Ju Jitsu. I’ve been training with him for several years so we like to do that as a family. I love to run, but haven’t had a lot of time. I did an interview yesterday with CNN and was in my business get up and then I threw the dress off and put my shipping clothes on and got to shipping. I hand write a note in each and every one of my orders which is getting to be impossible. I feel like this is a passionate product, either the buyer has been touched or someone they know has been touched to make them want to buy this. So I owe them that to say ‘hey, I’m connected with you, I’m committed to seeing this through.’ It’s not just to get my athletic wear on you; it’s more than that. I like to give everyone a coupon code so if they are a return shopper they get a discount. Basically all my first supporters have that coupon for life; I’m never going to turn that coupon code off. They believed in me when I was a baby, so no matter how big we get, they can always use the coupon.”
There isn’t anything Jennifer can’t do. She enjoys volunteering for Bridges to Life. “Every Sunday I do ministry where we sit down with 10 prisoners and talk about changing their life. Just because you’ve landed here based on what’s happened to you in the past or bad decisions you’ve made doesn’t mean that this dictates your future. I want you to walk out those doors and I want you to never talk about this again. I want to empower them to come back into the community and not go back and recommit these crimes. We have a great success rate. My time is a big one on that.”
Booby Trap Bra’s has 50 distributors in 25 stores. The pepper spray bra is $50 and the pepperspray is $16.99. The knife bra is $54.99 and the knife is $13. “ I separated them out because we started having so many girls ordering multiple colors.” There is the Booby Trap Bra signature blue, purple, grey, and UT colors will be coming soon.
Next week, Booby Trap Bra’s will be partnering with Mace at the SHOT show in Las Vegas. To learn more about Booby Trap Bra’s, visit BoobyTrapBras.com and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Photography by John Pesina
