Every innovation begins with the aim of fulfilling a need, and that is exactly how UV Couture came to be.
When the father of the clothing line’s founder, Heather Tate McCartney, was diagnosed with melanoma, a skin cancer that is one of the fastest growing in Canada, she took to swimming wearing T-shirts and swathing herself with towels to protect herself from the sun.
While McCartney had realized she needed to protect her skin with more than just sunscreen, her efforts to do so were not very flattering, so she started looking for more attractive alternatives. This led to her developing UV Couture, which offers fashion with health benefits.
Launching in 2012, the UV Couture line includes shirts, zipped jackets, dresses, cover-ups, skirts and leggings, which are available in both single colours and attention-grabbing patterns. The fabric used has an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of 50, which stops 99 percent of harmful UV rays. The UPF of typical summer clothing is about 10, according to expert estimates.
UV Couture clothing is designed and manufactured in Canada, and can be purchased from high street and online retailers, with prices starting from $39.
Medical professionals believe clothing offers better protection against harmful UV rays than sunscreen as people often do not apply enough sunscreen to keep them protected between applications. Sunscreen also gets washed off by water and perspiration.
According to Toronto Centre for Advanced Skin Repair Physician Keven Sliwowicz, clothing is the primary defence when it comes to harmful UV rays, as it absorbs or blocks the majority of them.
Despite the benefits of wearing sun-safe clothing, some see it as being unfashionable and uncomfortable, which is a perception McCartney hopes to change with her chic clothing line.
As UV Couture shows, innovation can help entrepreneurs change the world, which is especially true when it provides goods and services that fulfill a previously unfulfilled need – even one the majority are unaware of.
However, the path to success for entrepreneurs as Heather Tate McCartney is not always easy, but many of the obstacles along the way can be overcome with the right knowledge, skills and expertise. These can be acquired by taking an MBA in Canada at an institution such as University Canada West (UCW), which offer corporate training and executive education, creating effective, efficient, entrepreneurial business leaders who strive for organizational success.
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