We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Beth Wiese. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Beth below.
Alright, Beth thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
One day while I was folding a load of laundry, I got to the bottom of the laundry basket and I felt a sinking feeling knowing I still had to put all those dang lose bra pads back into their garments, which we can all agree is the worst part about doing laundry. I thought to myself – wouldn’t it be great if there were a permanent solution for this? Instead of creating another meme complaining about the concept, I made it my mission to solve the problem once and for all. I thought about all the other solutions on the market that didn’t really solve the problem and realized we needed a bra pad that would adhere to fabric, not skin. In the same way that we used to iron on letters to shirts in middle school, couldn’t we iron on bra pads? By combining heat activated adhesives and a pad, Padhere (Pad + adhere) was born.
Later that night, after a bit of googling, I tracked down a factory that I thought may be able to make my solution. When I explained the concept, the factory didn’t understand it. I spent hours that night drawing the vision I had in my head and creating videos to send to the factory for them to understand the invention despite language barriers.
The next morning, I woke up to a video that factory had taken – the very first Padhere prototype. The factory had adhered the pad to some scrap fabric and was showcasing the strong bond between the two with some pulling and tugging. I immediately ordered prototype samples so I could give the product a test run.
When I received my product, it was perfect. It worked great, it was easy to install and could withstand the washing and drying machines. At this point I knew I wanted to create a brand for this product so myself and others could benefit from the technology.
Creating a brand was arguably the hardest part for me. As an engineer, my knowledge of design, psychological placement of graphics and coloring, marketing, and branding was lacking. In the days following my receipt of the samples, I created a not-so-great logo and plastered it all over some really cheap packaging. I ordered my first batch of pads and had them packaged in nearly illegible packaging and sent to Amazon so I could start selling them online.
In the process of getting set up, I taught myself Ecommerce, I filed my trademark application, and worked with a lawyer to file both a provisional and nonprovisional patent. I researched all inventions that came before mine in the realm of bra pads, learned about fabric elasticity and why placement of the adhesives was so important. I was so set on the idea of the company succeeding that I wore whatever hat I needed to. I suddenly had gone from engineer to wannabe textile expert, patent lawyer, marketer, designer, and product developer.
While the idea of launching a product may seem daunting to some, there’s only one way to do it: jump in and figure it out later. I read a quote recently that really resonated with me, “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you have launched too late. It’s about taking those little steps and iterating on those steps to scale.” The fact that nobody else had obtained a patent on this technology, nor had created anything similar, goes to show that you should always pursue your ideas if you truly believe in them.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am an engineer by degree, stuck in a creative’s body, with enough ideas to fill the ocean. Time is fleeting, and as such, I am passionate about leaving value on society. Value comes in many forms: a conversation, a compliment, a piece of advice, an implemented or improved process, or an invention that many can benefit from.
I remember an awkward time in middle school, prior to my first purchase of a bra, when I wore a pink North Face jacket for an entire year straight because I didn’t want my nipples to show at school. In some sense, not much has changed; as an engineer and entrepreneur, I would be mortified if I gave a presentation, only to have attention drawn to anything other than my words and the value I’m providing.
I created Padhere permanent bra pads to literally, figuratively, and metaphorically support myself and others. I was so over losing bra pads in the laundry only to avoid wearing specific sports bras because of it or having to put the pads back into garment pockets. I wanted to spend less time worrying about removable pads twisting out of place and more time focusing on my goals. By combining a bra pad plus adhesive, Padhere was born, with the word “HER” sitting firmly in the middle.
Padhere stands for female empowerment by encouraging women to fiercely pursue their goals, invest time back into themselves, look confident, and feel secure while doing it. By creating Padhere bra pads, my goal is to leave value on every single customer by saving them time and energy when they use our permanent, patent pending, solution.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
I run my business using Amazon as well as Shopify. Consumers go to Amazon explicitly to shop so as long as I have a captive audience willing to spend money, I just need to show them why they should spend their money on my solution. I love that Amazon has algorithms and advertising because it allows me to play the game and figure out what works and resonates with my audience. Additionally, I use Shopify because of its ease of use and versatility. I like that I can hook up the backend to do multichannel fulfillment through Amazon, in addition to being able to sell across social media channels.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Resiliency is one of the most common traits among entrepreneurs and I started to realize that I too possess this trait when I noticed how I always frame my mindset. Failure has never been a word that I use, or even think about. Instead, if something isn’t working the way I want it to then I have to revisit the drawing board and figure out what it is that needs fixing so I can proceed on the journey. As I previously spoke about, branding was never my strong suit. As Padhere grew I had to lean into whatever feedback I was receiving from my customers. The first year of business, I experienced a high return rate which was in part due to illegible packaging the product came in. To alleviate this issue, I worked with a talented designer to provide consumers clear instructions on how to install and use the product.
Once I had all of my new packaging designed, I had to repackage all of my existing inventory by hand and send it back into Amazon. This was quite possible the least enjoyable task I have ever done as a business owner, but as a result the return rate has been significantly reduced. I always tell myself that there is a solution to every setback, sometimes it must be more creative if not obvious at first. No matter what though, failure isn’t an option.
Contact Info:
- Website: Padhere.com
- Instagram: padherepads
- Facebook: padherepads
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/padhere%E2%84%A2/
- Twitter: Padherepads
Image Credits
N/A