Meet Summer Germann of Summer in LA in Westside & Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Summer Germann.

Summer, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Twelve years ago on Halloween, my family became one of those statistics. Little did we know we were about to be faced with the fight of our lives. My brother, my only sibling, was only ten-years-old. I was 15 years-old older than Mac. We went from an office visit to driving straight to Children’s Memorial, directly to the fight of our lives. Mac ended up spending just over a year in the hospital. Halloween Day, 2001 to the eve of Thanksgiving 2002. I wish my story had a happy ending and I can tell you that my brother lived, but he is in heaven. He fought a battle that they said was impossible, but he beat it. In the end, he went to heaven due to a medical error.

My favorite memory of our journey was the following year once again on Halloween. My brother was in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) and couldn’t Trick or Treat. He was laying there in a dingy, pale yellow hospital gown that looked like it had been washed hundreds of times. There was nothing festive about it. It did not represent his personality or the holiday that he so loved! So I painted his face like a zombie. We were laughing so hard at that moment. Life felt a bit “normal” during this horrible time, but then we got in so much trouble! His skin practically peeled off as we were trying to wipe off the makeup. All I could see behind the facecloth was his smile. Mac looked so happy, just as a ten-year-old boy should.

Around Halloween of 2014, I saw a picture of my friend’s daughter who was going through treatment, and she was posing in her gown with a caption that read, “Maya trying to rock her blah hospital gown before her spinal tap!” That’s when the idea of Brave Gowns hit me. Hospital gowns make you feel like just a number. They do not reflect these children’s personalities; they do not tap into the pure magic of a child’s spirit. They do not bring hope! I told my husband my idea and then he asked: “you mean like superheroes and stuff?” That one comment sparked a fury in me and there was no turning back!

I knew we could do better and we set out to do so, but what I didn’t know was that the hospital gowns hadn’t been updated for over 150 years, and nurses and doctors everywhere wanted a change. So that was what we intended to bring them, and we did! We did a Kickstarter that raised over $60k in a short time to launch! Professional fundraisers said that I’d never pull it off without a full team, but nothing can stop you if it’s your purpose! People came out of the woodwork to help make this happen and spread the word. I’ll never forget my phone and two computers going off like crazy as soon the goal was hit. I always say I’m just the vessel. Brave Gowns is nothing short of God’s work!

Has it been a smooth road?
Ha! No. Even bumpy is an understatement. I had a background in product development, so I knew what had to be done, but what I didn’t expect for it all to drop me on my knees so many times! I love the thrill of development and launching, but the business end threw me for a loop. When I ordered the first two-thousand gowns, the manufacturer flipped the pattern around and put the chest port access for the gowns on the wrong side. No one caught it until all 2,000 gowns were excitedly handed to me! Then I was invited to go speak at an event with Deepak Chopra at his resort. The goal was to pitch Brave Gowns in front of millionaire and billionaire’s looking to invest in new products. Well, I went directly after Deepak Chopra….The DEEPAK CHOPRA! At that moment, it hit me on how magical this opportunity was. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. By the time I got on stage, I was sobbing. I am not a cryer…Well, I wasn’t then anyways, and I’m definitely not a pretty cryer. I couldn’t’ even speak. Someone had to come on stage to ask me questions to get me through the pitch. Luckily, they thought I was just that passionate about Brave Gowns, and felt compelled to help! While I didn’t get investors, I received something much better. Three mentors that have stuck with me through the years that are priceless.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Summer in LA story. Tell us more about the business.
To date, there are over 450,000 little heroes that have worn BRAVE GOWNS. They are now the standard issue gowns in over 17 children hospitals, with numerous medical offices using them worldwide! As for children’s hospitals, we are the first and only gown ever to be approved to wear in surgery or MRI’s in place of the current standard-issue gowns! I think what sets us apart is that we put the children first. I spent a year researching the perfect fabric for their soft skin, how to access their body without having to move or interrupt them. During that time, I would send them to one of my brother’s favorite nurses, who is also the Head Transplant Nurse for Lurie’s Children’s Hospital in Chicago. We then did a clinical trial for Brave Gowns with Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles! These children have such little say in their daily lives in the hospital that getting to choose a design or just getting to have a little privacy for their body matters to them!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I am being knocked off as I type, so a gown that is a Brave Gown, under another name will more than likely be in every hospital, and on every patient even if it’s not called a Brave Gown. Even Disney just announced a $100 million dollar investment to improve pediatric children’s hospitals, from the experience, to the gowns, to sheets and anything else along the way. We set out to change patient wear and patient care, in a market that hasn’t been changed in over 130 years and guess what, we apparently did! We woke up the sleeping giants and proved that the spirit of the child is just as important as the treatment.

Pricing:

• You can Gift-A-Gown to a child on our waiting list for $25 a gown! We send them directly to a child in need!

Contact Info:

• Address: 2720 Neilson Way #5313, Santa Monica, CA 90409
• Website: www.bravegowns.com
• Phone: 310-883-4041
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/bravegowns
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/bravegowns
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/bravegowns

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