Marie Mueller has developed a thong that, according to the founder, not only avoids “riding up into the crotch”, but is also “beautifully comfortable”. The so-called camel toe effect – meaning the visual distortion of the crotch area in women – is uncomfortable and sometimes painful. Bye Bye Toe aims to remedy this with its reinforcement through soft padding in the middle of the thong. A material blend proven in professional sports is supposed to make the underwear flexible, robust, durable, and thus sustainable. An innovative laser-cut bonding technology, in which the fabric is cut with a laser and the seams are glued, is responsible for additional wearing comfort, according to Mueller. This makes the thong additionally seamless and virtually invisible under clothing.
The founder’s target audience includes all women who do sports, are looking for a camel toe solution, or simply want a comfortable thong. The German national beach volleyball team has already discovered the product for themselves. Mueller describes customer feedback as consistently positive:
“I receive almost daily fan mails in which the girls write how glad they are that my product solves several problems at once.”
Mueller offered the dragons an investment of 100,000 euros for ten percent of her company’s shares.
Bye Bye Toe and Tijen Onaran: A perfect match?
To convince themselves of the product’s quality, each jury member was handed a shipping package including Bye Bye Toe. Tijen Onaran praised especially the elasticity and fit of the underwear and showed enthusiasm in other respects as well.
“We can really keep this short: I would love to invest. Definitely take me, because I’m a perfect match for you. I bring the female community with me, I bring the marketing with me, I stand for this topic. Nobody in Germany stands as much for female empowerment and diversity.”
Nevertheless, the founder wanted to hear the opinions of the other dragons. Ralf Dümmel found the founder’s performance convincing, but considered the valuation of her startup too high and therefore declined to invest. Nils Glagau and Carsten Maschmeyer withdrew in view of the announced perfect match. Tillmann Schulz also stated:
“The question is, can I help you get the product to women? I don’t think I’m the right dragon for you. That’s why I’m out.”
Mueller accepted Onaran’s only offer of the requested 100,000 euros. In an interview immediately after her appearance before the “Dragons’ Den” jury, the founder was overwhelmed by the dragon’s commitment:
“It was amazing, I thought this couldn’t be real. I believe she will really give me a boost forward. This is the right investor at the right time, it couldn’t have worked out better.”
According to information from the platform Business Insider, the deal failed after the episode aired. The founder stated that several months after the recording, she was informed that Onaran did not want to invest in Bye Bye Toe after all. The fashion topic did not fit the strategic direction of her company.
