How I Started My Business

Izzy Wheels started off as a college project in 2016 when I was in my final year in Art College. I was inspired by a brief that asked me to ‘Empower the lives of people living with a long-term lifestyle-related health condition’. Immediately I thought of my sister, Izzy, who was born with spina bifida and has been a wheelchair user all of her life. It always bothered her that her chair was the first thing that people noticed about her but it wasn’t a reflection of her personality. She has always had a very positive relationship with her chair and she sees it as a symbol of her ability, not her disability. We came up with the tagline ‘If you can’t stand up, stand out!’ I designed a range of stylish wheel covers for her chair that allowed her to express her personal style and so that she could match her wheels to her outfits. The project was awarded a first-class honours and it gained a lot of attention online and in the press.

That summer after I finished college I decided to open an online store selling my designs. I was only twenty-two and the idea of opening my own business seemed terrifying. Most of my friends from Art College went straight into full-time jobs in design studios, which was a much safer and clearer path to take. Izzy Wheels had gained a lot of attention online when it was still a college project and people were writing to me asking where they could buy them. It was clear that there was definitely a gap in the market, and consumer demand for the product. I knew that if I wanted to turn the project into a business I needed to up-skill and learn more about marketing, sales, finance and how to scale. I was accepted onto a course called ‘New Frontiers Entrepreneur Development Program’ which was run by Enterprise Ireland. It was a 6-month program that gave me the business training, mentorship, funding, and office space. The most valuable part was the opportunity to meet with other entrepreneurs who, although had very different business ideas, shared the same highs and lows. We learned more from each other.

It’s so important to make friends with other founders who are going through a similar journey. As the company grew I found it really important to connect with founders who were a few steps ahead of us commercially, who were on the path we wanted to be on and who had raised the kind of money that we needed to raise.

In the beginning, I did feel like a bit of an oddball going to business events, as I didn’t feel like I fitted in. I was much younger than most people and having come straight from Art College I was dressed like a rainbow. I wondered did being a businesswoman mean that I had to now wear a suit to events? Looking back I find it funny how self-conscious I felt. Being different actually really worked in our favour because it meant we stood out and as a result, people remembered us. Being dressed really colourfully became an important part of our brand.

Everything changed for us in the summer of 2017 when we had a video that went viral online. Our minute and a half video was viewed 2 million times in one day and sixteen million times in one week. Suddenly we were getting more orders in one day than we had been getting in a month. It was absolutely crazy and we were freaking out. We had to learn to scale up very quickly to keep up with the demand. BBC Three also featured us, here which lead to more widespread brand awareness.

A big part of our success has been because we have always stayed consistent with our branding. We make sure that everything we post online has the same vibrant and playful feel to it. This makes our colourful branding immediately identifiable. We are mixing together wheelchairs, a typically mechanical looking device, with expressive artworks. It’s an unusual combination and it’s very enjoyable to look at. Artists and design studios are constantly writing to us wanting to design for us. We have now collaborated with 50 world famous designers on our collections. We have worked with the likes of Camille Walala, Timothy Goodman, Malika Favre, Orla Kiely, Craig and Karl, Brosmind, Okudart and many more. We have a waiting list of over 900 designers who have applied to design for Izzy Wheels.

Disability fashion is one of the most underserved areas of design. Society can have very negative associations with wheelchairs but the colourful wheels allow users to express a positive relationship with their chairs. People now engage with these wheelchair users and allow them to speak about their mobility equipment in a positive way. We are creating so much more than wheel covers; we are creating a movement in the design world. We are reinventing the wheel.

Ailbhe is speaking at Retail Week Live in a keynote session ‘Bright Young Things’ on Wednesday 27^th March at 14.55pm – 15.25pm.

About Izzy Wheels:

Izzy Wheels provide a range of colourful designer wheel covers for wheelchairs. Ailbhe and Izzy Keane – two Irish sisters, founded the company. They collaborate with high-profile artists and fashion designers to create their limited edition prints. Their tagline is ‘If you can’t stand up, stand out’.

Following viral online success online and 12 national awards Izzy Wheels are now selling in 35 countries. They have been the top story in many media outlets including Vogue, Teen Vogue, Elle, TechCrunch, and Business Insider, Vice, Oprah Magazine, The Late Late Show and BBC Amazing Humans. Both sisters were both named on the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30.