March 31, 2022

Rochester, NY, March 14, 2022…In observance of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Month in March, ThermApparel, the maker of the world’s slimmest and nearly invisible cooling vest, is pleased to launch its #RIPUPMS crowdsourcing campaign to help raise awareness of the everyday challenges people living with MS face, and how they are overcoming them.
 

Neurological autoimmune diseases, like MS, can affect people in a variety of ways. Not everyone will experience the same symptoms in the same way. Heat for instance can spark flareups, inflammation, and debilitating fatigue for some –– but not for others.

“It can be frustratingly hard for people to learn how to overcome their particular MS-related challenge,” says Kurtis Kracke, founder and CEO of ThermApparel. “There’s no ‘one’ place to go to learn from others. But by crowdsourcing, and working directly with the MS community, we’ve created a new positive space that can help people learn and grow from others so they can do more of what they love.”

One customer for instance has drop-foot and found that using a walker helped her maintain balance and safety in the winter, which helps her exercise and stay active. Another user felt debilitating fatigue while blow-drying her hair so that’s when she learned her cooling vest was most useful at that moment, not for your typical activities. Tiffany Talent learned that doing certain things at different times of the day helps her stay in shape and in fact, has helped her get back to running 5K races again, something she was not always able to do because of her MS. Talent recently ran the 2021 Isle of Palms Connector Run, in South Carolina, finishing in the top 1/3 overall and in the top 1/4 of women.

“When I was first diagnosed, I found the online community could be negative and I was often discouraged,” says Tiffany. “I like to stay positive and have hope, so this is different,” she adds. “Not every outcome will be the same but we are moving beyond MS.”

 

Tiffany Talent learned that doing certain things at different times of the day helps her stay in shape and in fact, has helped her get back to running 5K races again.

Tiffany recently ran the 2021 Isle of Palms Connector Run, in South Carolina, finishing in the top 1/3 overall and in the top 1/4 of women. 

“We are not just selling vests, we want to build community, find answers to common questions, increase awareness to the unique but frustrating and often debilitating struggles MSers experience, and the solutions they have found to minimizing their challenges,” says Kracke.

The #RIPUPMS campaign starts in March and will end in August when we announce our 2022 slate of #RIPUPMS heroes. To participate write down your (large or small) obstacle on the paper template, tell the community in a video how you are overcoming it and then tear up the paper and rip up MS!

Write down your MS challenge here, show us how you are overcoming it and then tear it up!

 

 

The revolutionary UnderCool 2.0 cooling vest: lightweight, invisible and meticulously designed for extreme comfort and freedom of movement.

### ThermApparel was founded by two industrial designers working on inclusive design. With community input, they set out to create the world's first lightweight, comfortable, and invisible, cooling vest so people with debilitating heat and inflammatory conditions can have a healthy and active lifestyle.

For more information call 855-232-7233 or visit www.ThermApparel.com. Media Contact: Neal Gorman, NRG Communications, 212-203-3889, NealGorman@nrgGOpr.com