Esther Sedgwick, CEO of Carry
In this Q&A, you’ll hear from Esther Sedgwick, CEO of Carry, a weighted vest brand for women. After discovering the strength and longevity benefits of rucking, Esther found gear on the market didn’t serve her. Aiming to empower women, she details creating a female-first rucking company.
Tell us about Carry.
Esther Sedgwick: Carry is the first weighted vest and rucking brand purpose-built for women.
Rucking—walking while carrying weight—is growing rapidly and clinically proven to build strength, improve health, and boost longevity. For women over 30 in particular, building lean muscle mass is one of the best things to do to increase healthspan, and walking with a weighted vest is a great place to start.
While the market for gear has existed for many years, it has failed to design for women’s unique needs. Carry is here to change that — combining style, comfort, functionality, sustainability, and community to build a solution women truly love.
What led you to pursue this opportunity?
ES: At 39, I started to feel out of control when it came to my health. The things that worked for me in the past weren’t working as well anymore.
Needing to feel like myself mentally and physically again, I started looking for answers, consuming tons of research on midlife health, hormone health, and training regimens that focused on women’s longevity.
Some of the trainers and physicians I was following recommended walking with a weighted vest, so I decided to give it a try.
I fell in love with the workout as part of my revamped training regimen, but I didn’t love any of the products in-market. All six of the vests I tested had significant flaws and drawbacks for me, and for people like me.
Around the same time, my mom had been diagnosed with osteoporosis — a bone disease that weakens bones, making them more prone to fractures. From my research, I learned 30% of women in the US will be diagnosed with osteoporosis in their lifetime, and 50% an osteoporotic fracture. Meanwhile, the 12-month mortality rate for osteoporotic hip fractures is 33%, meaning if my mom fell and broke her hip, I might lose her.
With my mom’s intention to try a non-pharmaceutical treatment plan before taking a drug, and rucking’s ability to build bone density, it’s like the universe was telling me: “Go build this thing, NOW.”
How did you turn your idea into a company?
ES: I started documenting my market research, building the business and growth models, and calling around to see if I could find a firm that would design a completely new vest based on my product requirements. Then I sat on it… for almost three months.
To get this off the ground, I needed a partner, and I found a great one in my co-founder Cortney. She was there with me through the whole journey — listening to my musings about perimenopause and weighted vests between rounds of tennis with two other mom friends (who became our first two investors).
Rare traits for a mom juggling the demands of everyday life, she’s risk-seeking, entrepreneurial, and experienced, while matching my obsession with wellness.
We agreed to partner in August 2024, kicked off the product development workstream in September, debuted our brand on Instagram in October, and were incorporated by November. After publishing an article detailing our journey through product testing, we opened our waitlist with immediate traction.
Taking on our first funding in January, we expect our product prototypes to arrive this February. If everything goes smoothly, we intend to launch pre-orders this spring and ship to customers this summer.
How big can this get?
ES: Theoretically, our TAM could be as large as “people who walk”.
Narrowing down our serviceable addressable market given our target audience, we found women are more aware of how hormones affect health than ever before and are exploring steps to increase healthspan. Weighted vests are already a part of that conversation.
Google search volume for “weighted vest” increased by 900% in the last year, and market reports estimate the global market for weighted vests will reach $7.9B by 2030. Interestingly, half of the top search queries for vests on Amazon include the keyword “women.”
We believe most women still don’t own a weighted vest because they haven’t found one they are excited to wear. So, the demand already exists; now we just have to deliver.
How do you reach your core customer?
ES: Our target customer right now is women in the US age 30 and older who want to age powerfully.
Many voices in health and wellness are focused on the obesity epidemic, with one in eight adults in the US having taken Ozempic or another GLP-1. While that’s an interesting audience for us, all women need to be concerned about frailty — the narrative needs to focus less on being skinny and more on being strong.
To reach them, we’re focused on acquisition through organic channels, brand and retail partnerships, and influencers. Demand signals also point to expanding into other countries as a fast-follow.
What’s next on the roadmap?
ES: Right now, we are laser-focused on finalizing the product design and launching our first vest. We’ll then turn our focus to product expansions, starting with additional shells that work within the same weight system, as well as brand collaborations.
We’d love to expand to three international markets within the next 12–18 months.
Anything else you’d like to share with readers?
ES: Women are not small men. We have equal ambition but significant physiological differences due to our genetic makeup and hormonal influences.
Historically, brands (and research budgets) have largely neglected the unique needs of women — despite the fact that women own 85% of purchase decisions for their households.
We’re excited to enter the market at a time where women are getting vocal about needs and becoming more conscious consumers of health and wellness products.
If you’re interested in having your company featured in our Q&A series, send an email to team@fitt.co.
