Gone are the days where you must bring an extra set of clothes to change into after work to go to the gym. DASDUO offers business casual wear that doubles as gym clothes. They combine functionality and fashion by creating items like a convertible skirt-short duo, slacks, and tops with a flexible and breathable polyester spandex materials you find in athletic wear.

DASDUO was co-founded by Sarah Hamer, a fourth-year student in the Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Hamer began her co-op with Manhattan Consultants as a Supply Chain Software Consultant during Fall 2017. While at Manhattan Consultants, Hamer would spend her lunch break every day going home to walk her dog and coming back to work with no time to change in between.

“I hated [walking my dog] in my traditional business clothes, and so I started looking for business casual wear that combined the work wear and athletic wear and couldn’t find it,” said Hamer. “So I decided to make my own line.”

Initially Hamer intended on applying to CREATE-X Startup Launch with an app idea that streamlined Greek Life platforms, but ultimately decided to go with her gut and pursue her true passion with DASDUO.

“It always irritated me that brands like The Loft or Betabrand just made comfortable business clothing, and I wanted to go one step further and make work to workout apparel,” said Hamer. “I saw a problem that many women faced, and I was energized to solve it. This is why I started DASDUO.”

For any current students interested in pursuing the entrepreneurial path, Hamer warns that if you are not passionate about your idea and the issue you’re solving, it is easy to burn out.  

“Make sure you participate in CREATE-X because you have an idea you are passionate about and not just because you want to have your own startup,” said Hamer.  

During her time in CREATE-X Startup Launch 2018, Hamer attended the weekly speaker series. Every week, Startup Launch invites current industry professionals and past CREATE-X alumni to come and speak about their experiences. Topics range from tips on how to budget, best practices for pitching to investors, and other essential topics all entrepreneurs should understand. Last summer our speakers included alumni from Startup Launch including, Vijay Balasubramaniyan from Pindrop, and John Gattuso from FIXD and more. Hamer said the successful alumni from the program  provided great advice, in turn inspiring her to face all her challenges head on.

As a Georgia Tech engineer, Hamer has learned a thing or two about resilience. At the end of the day, even if there were a few failures, Hamer can still say she founded her own company and calls herself an industrial engineer.

“I understand that just because I’ve gone through a rough patch doesn’t mean I should just give up,” said Hamer.

Hamer was featured in Atlanta Inno’s 25 under 25 Rising Entrepreneurs. The DASDUO website launch took place on November 1, 2018, and they are now taking orders. Click here to check out the products, and make some purchases.