Don’t sweat it, you’re covered and sparkling

This all-new underarm wear promises to make unsightly sweat patches a thing of the past, writes Joanna Kiernan

FRESH IDEA: Jane McTernan with MONDSS. Photo: Tony Gavin
FRESH IDEA: Jane McTernan with MONDSS. Photo: Tony Gavin

They say that necessity is the mother of invention – and this was certainly the case for 26-year-old Jane McTernan, when two years ago she found herself battling a serious wardrobe malfunction.

“I bought this light orange-coloured top that was very fitted. I started to get sweat marks on it during the day and I couldn’t go home and get changed,” Jane explains.

“It looked really bad. I ran into the pharmacy and asked the lady there if she had anything that I could stick under my arms that would absorb it. She didn’t and just suggested trying some tissues – but she also said ‘if you ever do find something let me know.'”

This was to become Jane’s first lightbulb moment.

“I wanted to be able to wear that top again – but I didn’t want the same thing happening, so I went in search of something,” she explains. “But I looked online and in pharmacies and shops and couldn’t find a thing.”

Jane, a qualified speech and language therapist, has always had a passion for business.

“I have always wanted to set up a business but just didn’t know what until then,” she says.

Two years and a lot of research later, Jane launched her underarm wear product – a discreet, absorbent and adhesive pad – online, via her website Mondss.com in August 2014.

“I finished designing it last May and then I started working on the box. I wanted the boxes to be small enough to fit through an average post box, so people wouldn’t have to collect it in the sorting office,” Jane smiles.

“It drives me mad having to go down to collect a top or something I have ordered online and it is really hard to get there at the right time.”

MONDSS may have started as a simple solution to what many might consider an aesthetic issue – but it has come as a great relief to people with medical issues which involve severe sweating, such as hyperhidrosis.

“Some people sweat a little and some people sweat a lot more. I have had a lot of people with hyperhidrosis contacting me, saying that this is brilliant for them,” Jane explains.

“We have had a huge response, particularly through social media,” Jane adds. “That type of constant contact gives me a direct line of feedback from all the different kinds of people who are using the product.

“Some brides and even TV personalities and models are using them too, so as not to get fake tan on clothes. And mothers are buying them for children who do Irish dancing, because the dresses can be very expensive and difficult to wash or dry clean. So the customers have almost told me about the different markets for the product that there are out there.”

Since MONDSS Underarm Wear was launched, business has been building steadily.

“We haven’t had a quiet day yet, thank God,” Jane, who still works by day as a speech and language therapist, says. “Being based online is really good because it means your shop is always open – and I can work at it at odd hours too. Not just nine to five,” Jane says.

Jane has taken a great deal of inspiration from the success story of Sara Blakely, the founder of SPANX – the multi-million dollar undergarment company known for flattering ‘shape-wear’ products for women.

“It’s very like SPANX – because I’m sure initially people didn’t shout about the fact that they were wearing SPANX either, but over time people became less shy about it. And I think the same thing will happen with MONDSS,” Jane says.

So why the name MONDSS?

“I took the end of the word ‘Diamonds’ and added another ‘s’ just for a little difference,” Jane explains. “I got the idea from a funny saying my grandmother had years ago, which was that ‘women don’t sweat, they just sparkle!'” Jane laughs.

www.MONDSS.com

Sunday Indo Business

http://www.independent.ie/business/small-business/dont-sweat-it-youre-covered-and-sparkling-30953520.html

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