Episode 110 - Innovative Solutions for Chronic Conditions: Exploring BeWell's Adaptive Clothing Line

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Amanda Phillips, the director and creator of BeWell, a company dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with autoimmune diseases through thoughtfully designed apparel and products. 

As you'll hear, Amanda's story began with her struggle to manage Crohn's disease during long car rides, leading her to devise a makeshift emergency toilet using an ice cream bucket. This experience sparked her creativity and led to the development of the IV hoodie, designed to provide warmth and easy access for infusion treatments. In our conversation, we also touch on the challenges of starting and running a business, especially in the niche market of adaptive clothing.

Amanda's commitment to the community is evident in her approach to product development, actively seeking feedback through a VIP Facebook group to ensure that the products meet the needs of her customers. She also highlighted upcoming products and the introduction of a patent-pending design aimed at providing even more versatility for medical access.

This episode not only sheds light on the unique challenges faced by those with autoimmune diseases but also highlights how innovation and entrepreneurship can lead to practical solutions that enhance daily living. Amanda's story is a testament to the power of personal experience in driving change and creating products that offer comfort, dignity, and functionality to those who need them most.

DISCLAIMER
The information in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

Links and resources:
Sign up for the 10 Weeks to Disrupt MS Program
Visit BeWell
Contact BeWell at hello@wearebewell.com
Connect with BeWell on Instagram 

If you're interested in having Kathy speak at your event, learn more here
Find out more about the DMAT Fitness Training program

You can find Kathy Chester at:
msdisrupted@gmail.com
disruptfitnessgym@gmail.com
moveitorloseit109@gmail.com

Connect with @msdisrupted on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

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Transcript

0:02

Hello, I'm your host, Kathy Chester, and welcome to the Move It or Lose It podcast, a podcast about all things that move the mind, body, and soul. The Move It or Lose It podcast is for information, awareness, and inspirational purposes only. I am not a doctor and I don't even play one on TV. So please consult with your doctor before making any medical decisions. The views expressed by advertisers, guests, or contributors are their opinions and not necessarily the views of the Move It or Lose It podcast. Good morning. So today we've got Amanda Phillips, the director, the creator of BeWell. I am really excited about this. I actually have one of their sweatshirt jackets on. I'm going to let her explain what BeWell is all about. So Amanda, I'm really excited to have you on today. We're both Easter standard time, so early morning for a podcast. And I'm really excited about this. The second I saw these sweatshirts, I was like, that is such a great idea. So tell us about what is Yes. Good morning. Thanks for having me. I will tell you a little bit about BeWell. So I've had Crohn's since I was 17 years old and I've always been adapting to things that I needed. For example, with Crohn's disease, I have urgency issues and some of my symptoms first came out to me on very long road trips. And I urgently needed a bathroom and I and I didn't think we were going to make it to one and I had panic attacks and with those panic attacks and there's other people in the car it's like what are you going to do we're in bumper to bumper traffic there's nowhere. So, um, after dealing with those types of symptoms for a long time, I had an idea to prepare myself if I needed a bathroom while in my car. So one of the first things that I prepared for myself is, you know, those big ice cream buckets that you get for a party. Well, yeah, ice cream first. And then we line that with plastic bags and throw in a roll of toilet paper. It's a great idea. You have a makeshift, a toilet. for your car. That's an awesome idea. So then you kind of lose that idea of a panic attack because if you had to go, you could just pop in your back seat and use the shift bucket if you really needed to. So that did really help me. Of course, I've had to use it. And to sit on that is it's like difficult. You can't put all your feet on a plastic little bin from what that ice cream. So that was one idea that I've had that I was makeshifting. And then when I had my second most recent hospitalization about two years ago, I was in the hospital and I was freezing and nurses were hard to come by. So I felt bad to call a nurse, but I was freezing and I wanted to ask for another blanket. And I remember it took them over 15 minutes to come to me. And I'm like, what if this was an emergency? Like I couldn't believe like how long it took. And that's where I think the IV hoodie came into play. Yeah so any of us getting infusions know it is such a pain because we're freezing. A lot of times I was coming from work as a trainer so I've got really tight shirts on so then I'm taking one pretty much it off so then I've got a tank top and I'm freezing so I'm needing to take one of their blankets and you know they're itchy and they're scratchy and I'm trying to take that and make it as some kind of a sweatshirt because you know in my work I've got it very everything's very tight so this is such a great idea because you just zip it back up So that, that in the hospital with being cold and yeah, they are more of a, a boyfriend, a little bit looser of a fit. And that, because our first launch, we have the Ivy hoodies, all a unisex sizing just to be able to reach a lot more people. Uh, and so as a startup, obviously you don't have enough cashflow to do everything that you want. So we had to choose. So we did understand that. as neutral as possible as style possible and the premium materials but yeah so that started in the hospital and like it's of course like you said even just the sheets and the gown like all scratchy and not like a comfortable feeling so. When this Ivy hoodie came about, I was sitting in the hospital and my initial thought about it was, you know what doesn't exist? A Krohn's store, because I have Krohn's. So my initial thought was, you know, there's no Krohn's store. And my husband has been successful at launching his own e-commerce business. So that's what gave me the courage and ability, I think, to do it so quickly that my husband's very good with the whole graphic design, the website. So I was interested in that, because it looks awesome. So Yeah, so he's the behind the scenes. He helps with the accounting. He helps with the graphic design, the picture taking, the editing of the pictures. So we did it all ourselves. And I think we did it so fast because he had just done his own e-commerce thing. He's always the entrepreneur spirit. So I think it was easy for me to be like, OK, if he did it and he was successful, then I think we could do this Chrome store idea. So the first thing was trying to think of a name because if you're going to have this logo on things, That was kind of the one of the things I was bouncing around probably for over a month. I'm like, I can't find any products till I know what I'm putting on it. um that was the hard part and yeah so tell us how the be well story tell us how the name came to be i which i love i love the story so it i don't think i mentioned before like some of the other things we were bouncing around but since i had the idea in the beginning of a chrome store which it very quickly morphed to all autoimmune because obviously everyone can helped with these products. And the purpose of BeWell is to make life easier or cozier with an autoimmune disease. We don't have to be uncomfortable. We don't have to be undressed and we And you've got great colors. I love the colors on there. There were so many to choose from. I was like, wow, I didn't expect, I expected with the startup company, there might be like four colors, you know, three colors to choose. And when we did start, we did start with, I believe it was one color. And the color I chose was the pale pink that you can see on the web now. And the reason I started with that one is because I thought it was the most pretty, cheerful, pale pink. And if someone's going through an infusion or in the hospital, I would have thought you want something that's, you know, cheerful and happy. The color was so pretty. And of course, right away, you're going to miss a market of people that aren't pink people. Right, right. Yes, we had the opportunity after selling a few of those I I think that's when sleep blue the one that you're wearing black was where the next two colors yeah. that's one of the things i've seen in the adaptive where spaces there's not a lot of colors and I think that's what differentiates be well as well, and the adaptive space is you want to do what everyone wants, and we have. a BeWell VIP Facebook group. So we take feedback there. We take notes and polls on what people want to see, what colors they want, and we actually implement it. So I love having the color options. So if black or slate blue are out of stock, there's still five plus more colors to choose from. So that's something that was important to me. but I guess going, going back to the name, be well, that came from really thinking about initially crones. And I was like, and I was trying to put together words and I was like, what do they tell us to do when we have crones? And the only things that was coming to my head is, well, when I have a certain restrictive diet, they're like white bread and white rice and eggs and very bland things. And I was trying to throw around the words like soft white and I was not making anything work. I'm like, I'm aware that something that's a soft white or something in that realm, trying to chop up that name. And it was like Sophie. And I'm like, that sounds like Sophie. And so it was finally, it just clicked one day. I had a GI appointment and I realized like every time I leave my GI doctor, he doesn't say goodbye. He says, be beautiful. And that's where it came from. So it seemed very fitting. And the reason to me it was so fitting is because saying be well to someone is a message to them and to be well. And that as a message and a logo and a brand name, like on the clothing, on any of my products, I looked at it like that. And that's why I also went with is because it looks almost handwritten message on that's I love the message. It's just such a pretty message. And I love the idea of saying be well. It made me almost want to, you know, change when I say it to someone, you know, I'm getting off the computer or the women's support group that I do is saying be well, because it's just such a pretty way of ending. A conversation with someone and I mean, I grabbed you right away because I love companies. That's what I did is starting from the grass. I love grassroots companies and startup companies. And one of the things that as the podcaster that I love doing is. interviewing companies that help us, that just want to help our bodies and get just really creative in things that I'm like, oh my gosh, that's such a great idea that should have been here 20 years ago. Like, why did we not have that? Seems like, you know, such a simple thing that could have been there, but you were creative enough to like do it. So tell So I think that was part of being in the hospital being cold. But yes, I think making them my own is what was important. We actually currently have, I think, three different blankets, we have a very, very premium bamboo blanket. And I designed that one and I love it. It's, it's like a three layer bamboo. So think the idea came from, what do I think is the most cozy fabric? And I have two young boys and I just remember there being some onesies that they wore that were like, oh, milky. They were super soft. I'm like, what is that fabric? So I looked at it and I went to the store and I was looking at tags of the fabrics that I thought were extremely soft That's a great idea. Having my first granddaughter, I'm like, that's great, because I'm in that section now. I feel like I live there again. So that makes great sense. So the Bamboo was the fabric that was a soft and that's what I made this quilted one out of and it ended up being that with three layers and a middle padding that it's actually is a little bit weighted, which is really nice. Because there's plumbing effects and benefits to having weighted blanket so. I love that it's my favorite blanket. I think it's a little over three pounds, slightly blanket. It's not something that'd be difficult for weak people. That's like a seven or plus blanket. And I had that leather type of patch on it. I wanted it to look pretty. I wanted it to be what I would call like my style. And it could be pretty if it was so, they're very expensive to make. They're actually more expensive than the hoodies. Just the fabric alone is the expensive part. And then the stitching of the quilted pattern. But I wanted an option that for someone that could afford it and that someone likes that style to have. It's really pretty, really premium. That's very smart. I mean that because, you know, I often think as I teach, you know, a lot of autoimmune clients, You know, I think of when I was a single mom and I think of so many that are in that situation and there are and people that are living on disability. But we have also a ton of people that can afford things that do very well, you know, that are taken care of. And we tend to gravitate towards the ones that are that are not doing well. And we forget that there are there are people that are doing well and that they would like the finer things and Yeah, I and I wanted to offer more than one because again, going back to our VIP group and the community, I love doing votes and seeing what people want, because I know that the people out there want something sometimes different than what I want. And so the hard part, like I want to go design something that I want, but it's the choice in the polls and what everyone else wants. And one of the ways I saw that was the blankets where I had like a sweatshirt material. It was our cheapest blanket to make. We were out of stock. Now we vote the community voted to not restock style, I think it was too neutral, maybe it was too masculine it was like a sweatshirt Ray Jersey neutral blanket, and they voted for Muslim, the like to like the baby blankets what soft right. those muslin blankets, but I think they're also trendy right now. Like the adult community has them on their beds and in their living rooms. And I said, okay, what's different with this muslin blanket than the first blanket I did? And that's where I started adding the motivational messages. And I think that's what makes this blanket something you would get for going through infusions or chemo or hospitals is because you can do hard things or it says everything else can wait. And those messages resonate with me. I think they resonate with the community. And I think that someone looking down and reading that message on a blanket during an infusion is motivational. So I wanted to keep my blankets differentiated in that way. And I ended up coming up with my own quote. And that's what's on the quilted blankets and the fuzzy infusion day blanket that we have now. And it's find comfort in the little things and strength in the journey. So I love that quotes that are more generic. That's our original quote. And so you'll see enough things. Thank you. And the fuzzy blankets and the muslin are more expensive than our original blanket that we have. But that's the community voted on those fabrics. They're more expensive. But again, now there's three options out there. And in terms of I know this community, there's a lot of people on disability. We do have the installment option. We pay for that service to be able to split your payments. I believe it's across like four payments. So I think that having that, trying to do a welcome discount, for new customers. I think we try to help, but the world is different now. Things are very expensive to produce. And one of the things I think that everyone doesn't remember that is just not involved in the creation of products is If not, I think people think it's just fabric, right? Fabric together. So you can go buy a sweatshirt at Walmart for $10. And then I'm like, no, this is one, it's premium fabric. So it's not $10. And then on top of that, when you add the premium, the pull strings, the premium metal ends, and add the labor of I mean, even honestly, this is such quality, the sweatshirt with the holes. And, you know, it's like when I got it in, I was like, wow, this is like quality. And, you know, being someone who's owned a gym and now doing what I do to get the quality fabric, you know, at a limited amount, it is a tricky thing. And as you said, to To have someone to order from and to have people understand that it's not the same, you can't get it for $30. It's going to be much more, and it's a very hard concept for I think someone told us that they had it because of the price of our hoodies. They were going to go have zippers added to a hoodie they already owned. And they came back to the group and actually said something along the lines of the labor to add the flaps and the zippers the I mean, if you think about taking a zipper in somewhere, if you've ever And then you add the customization that we have, the color mat. We get the color match zipper. It can be more discreet. And then you add that to the labor. And then it's beyond the material cost. Like, I don't I think some people don't realize, like, how did you see us? Because we have to pay for advertising to get our product out there. Also have to pay for normal business expenses. Right. Where we use the packing materials like there's a lot more expense yeah it is, it is tricky and I know there's so many expenses that go into it and oftentimes people don't don't understand that. Is your company, business, school, nonprofit organization, or maybe your support group looking for a speaker to talk about what it's like to have an autoimmune disease, or maybe just to motivate and help inspire? Well, my name's Cathy Chester, and I'm the owner and maker of MS Disrupted and the program DAMID, Disrupt, Move, and Transform. I have been doing motivational speaking for years and I'd be happy to come and help whether it's motivational speaking at a company or at a school. So please feel free to email me at msdisrupted at gmail.com or you can check out the website msdisrupted.com or feel free to DM me at msdisrupted. Can't wait to hear from you. What are your ideas for this next year? What are some of the things that With BeWell, definitely it's growing the product lines and offering more variety. Personally, also in terms of costs and BeWell, I have a day job. I work nine to five with a day job. Yeah, with Crohn's. So two kids, a day job and be well. So my days are full and I run everything right now. So I'm dealing with the customer service. I'm dealing with social. I'm dealing with past quarters and my day job, picking up kids. My goal is to be able to quit my day job. And currently we do not take anything from be well because I choose right now, since I have my income from my day job. to put everything back into BeWell. And what that means to everyone else is that I get new products and restocks sooner. So I take my cashflow and I go buy more products and that's all I've been doing. So that's why everyone feels the time periods where I'm actually out of stock because I need the cashflow to go reinvest it and then have to wait for everything to be made. But since I've been doing that and since we grow how much we order each time, I've been able to use some of the cashflow invest in new products. And the ones that I'm really excited for, it's actually, I also just applied for my first patent with BeWell. Oh, good. We are currently patent pending on all of the designs. Oh, that's awesome. And this design I think could be so helpful for people. And we hope to launch it within, definitely within two months, maybe more like a month. It is going to have a picture coming up from the shoulders. inwards to the abdomen, two zippers in towards the abdomen, flaring out just a little bit at the bottom. It's going to hit everything from your access to abdominal injection, abdominal catheters, ostomy bags. That's great. And I know I'm missing probably five other things. And we're like, it's going to even help with the breastfeeding community. Oh, that's awesome. So it's that one's patent pending and I'm really excited. So just like our other port design, this one's obviously a lot more than ports because you have so much going on between the heart monitors, the stomach injections for some autoimmune feeding tubes even. So there's so much. hit on the front and I can't get them here. It's our first run of it. So, of course, we'll make improvements that right angle of our arches need to be changed what we're going to take feedback and make it better. Something that we did different because the zippers are on the front. We found an invisible zipper design. So that's discreet as we can get it. Of course, if you look at the flaps on your arms So we found this invisible zipper design. I think we're going to have to advertise. We're going to have to get the word out because it's going to be able to help so many. Because I've heard some people say, do you have port versions? Do you have something for ITs? And I'm like, We have something coming it's coming and I and all the feedback we can on it but that's coming soon, but in terms of other things over the next year we are working on And that's another thing people don't get. It's a hard thing to do because people don't realize you have to order a thousand of them. You know, I remember the first batch I ordered when it came in, I'm like, no, not at all. That is not how I wanted it. There's a lot that goes into it because once it's there, it's there forever. You know, that's it. That's how it looks. That's your logo. Yeah, it's I was I'm happy with how everything has turned out so far. The only thing that's been messed up with our logo, I think, is one of our urgency buckets. It got scrunched a little bit, but we actually talked about, can you change your branding halfway through? Can you change the font that you're using? We decided not to. We gave it some thought. We said, is ours not modern enough? Is it not neutral enough for men to wear? something or use something with the be well in almost cursive font but we decided against it there was a reason that it was the message of someone like almost writing it so yeah and you've got the black and hey you know what i think of guys wear lululemon if a few years while I was training to be a trainer. And I've seen the Red Wings go in there. I've seen football players, many of the guys in Philadelphia, and they all came in getting Lululemon boxer shorts. And they never felt weird that it said Lululemon. So I don't think they'll care about BeWell. So I think it's cool. small and discreet that's my main thing because yeah one of the things that I saw when I first came up with this idea is of course the first thing you do is google and see what's out there. There were other products out there at the time like one or two when I first had the idea and the products that were out there is what I you don't think about the makeup industry you walk into a makeup aisle there's hundreds of product for sure there's yeah 50 lipsticks multiple brands yeah of course it's likely that something existed already and that's okay you don't have to be the first at something you just have to do it better right and so i said well yeah why wouldn't i just go buy this one that exists and There is multiple reasons. One of them is over $200 and the sleeves opened up all the way. And I thought, this is my personal opinion, that there was this big, ugly inner sleeve lining design. And I'm like, you want to look at that if that's complete. The other thing that existed at the time was slightly actually cheaper than the design, but it looks like your typical glitter They're like a white and they stood out. I'm like, why would I want to call attention to these extra zippers? I mean, this is something I would wear out. Literally right now, I can't see the zippers on your sleeve. No, you can't. That was the goal, like be able to go from infusion to grocery store if you need Yeah. And I would wear it and I think it's great. I could definitely see my clients and stuff seeing the podcast and absolutely getting it. For sure. I've obviously worked with people with Crohn's and movement and stuff like that, but talk like, on a personal level, what were some of your biggest fears being So I remember the initial thoughts through my head is that I'm one of four children, my mom never worked. So she stayed at home and raised us until we were at school. And my dad had a job. And as far as I know, it was a decent job. It wasn't that we were, we weren't well off or anything like that. And so the initial thing that came to my mind was guilt. And it was a lot of guilt over being a sick child. And causing my parents a lot of medical expenses. Yeah. And to think about feeling that way, sorry, But just feeling guilt for what I caused them to have to pay for, to worry about. I think that was one of my initial thoughts. And I think immediately following that was the idea of being diagnosed with calling it a disease at the age of 17. And what does that mean for my life? Like, what's my life expectancy? Because it can't be good if you have a disease, like you have to be cutting some years off your life. So let's say if a typical life expectancy is 80, am I 70? Am I 75? Like, what does this mean for my life? I think that was kind of what was going I'm sure probably fears of relationships, stuff like that. What Who's going to want to marry me if I have a disease? Who's going to want to take care of me or deal with the things that come with it or also have Right, right. I'm sure your parents never felt that one time. And it sounds like you met a great guy who doesn't feel that at all. And it sounds like the fears that we have oftentimes are just that. Things did work out. And even though these diseases really suck, you know, they get turned around. And I think that you've done a great job at making something beautiful out of these crazy diseases that don't make sense. And you never know in the morning when you wake up, like what is today going to look like? I have no idea. But it sounds like you're doing something really Yes, thank you. I think that every day is just about how to take care of myself so that I can take my family, and now that I have two kids. trying to go through the opposite thought of, OK, I don't want my life expectancy to Spoken as a true mom. Yeah. They definitely give you a purpose and a reason to keep pushing and fighting. So thank you for sharing. And then the one thing I want to ask you, Amanda, is if you were able to just share something with your journey and just share something The slogan that always comes to my mind is that no one is coming. No one is coming to help you. No one is going to just think of it as no one's going to be there. And that means it's on you. And don't wait for somebody else to help you help yourself. Be your biggest advocate and learn to say no and learn to ask the questions I say no and ask questions so much that I'm surprised my GI doctor hasn't told me to find somebody else. And so I think that's the asking questions, not waiting for someone else to show up for you. So I think that's beautiful, Amanda. And I love the way you said that. I am so appreciative for this interview. So if somebody wants to I think the two easiest ways are the email, which is hello at we are be well.com. And we definitely get Instagram messages easier. And our handle on there is we are be well. So Instagram or email, I think those are the easiest ways. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on Move It or Lose It Podcast, where you can, again, find us wherever you like your podcasts, whether it's Apple, Spotify, and join us on that. And we can't wait to see you again. We're gonna have a lot of exciting guests and working together. And as always, you'll hear us say at the end of every podcast, we are stronger together. So let's do it. Let's become stronger together. Have a