ILoveBoobies: Cycling for a Purpose and Raising Breast Cancer Awareness by providing screening for women in Remote Areas

Mountain biking legends, Karl Platt and Tomás Misser are currently riding the Cape Epic and are aiming to fundraise for the breast cancer screening charity, ILoveBoobies, the goals is to provide screenings for 500 women in historically disadvantaged communities. The ILoveBoobies trademark socks can be seen across South Africa on trails and tracks, in races or on training rides in all the various styles. A firm supporter of this initiative we were keen to find out more about the origins of ILoveBoobies.

Why did you start iloveboobies?

We had been riding our bikes for years and entering  races like the Absa Cape Epic for a few years and just got to the point where it had to be more meaningful than just doing it for ourselves. We decided to raise funds and awareness for cancer, and wanted to make it more specific and chose breast cancer. It struck us that the places that we rode through were quite remote and that the women in the fields and vineyards were always supportive and cheering us on.  It got us thinking how do they get screened, would they take a day off work to go to the nearest provincial hospital usually hours away? School shoes and dinner on the table trumps a breast cancer screening. We decided to take the screening service to her. In our minds the children have the best chance of a bright future with a healthy mother present.

How did you decide on the business model you would use for iloveboobies?

We are business people and we applied business process and efficiencies to the charity.

We enterprized it so that it could be sustainable and not reliant on donations as most charities are.

The merchandise range is high quality, made by reputable South African companies and the ILoveBoobies brand is synonymous with ‘Do Good, Look Good, Feel Good’ which is so important for social consciousness. All sales are through our ecommerce store.

The questions we asked ourselves was – how do we ask for a donation which is discretionary under $10 or R150, give the donor a receipt, grow the brand presence and have enough funds left over to screen South African women in need who do not have medical aid or funds. In 2017 when we registered the charity colourful socks were just starting to take off and ticked the box. Of course now the merchandise offering is so much more than just socks.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Time, funding, opportunity and learning, our background is commercial property, we are not medical experts, logistics whizz’s, ecommerce fundi’s, merchandisers, retailers, event organisers, marketing guru’s or design experts. This is all new to us, very exciting, but we literally do an event or sell 100 pairs of socks and then take the team to screen the ladies. It is very hand to mouth and funding is the only thing that can accelerates our service. Funding can also be classified as opportunity or contribution – it may be a retail roll out, or one of your readers is an event organiser and is looking for a charity beneficiary, or there is an ecommerce expert or marketing guru out there that would like to help.

What Does Success Look Like for iloveboobies?

Screening 10 000 women a year. Educating 50 000 women per year. Teaching women so that they can examine themselves regularly and know the action path they need to follow if they do find something that concerns them. A fleet of mobile clinics servicing South Africa that would be our ultimate dream.

How do you provide scans into the community?

From a cost efficiency basis our ideal screening service is group of about 40 women per nurse per day. Typically it will be at a farm where there are seasonal workers, we find these are the women with the highest financial risk profile. Usually there will be a room we can use, if not we take along our privacy gazebo and examination bed and all the necessary PPE equipment. It is a clinical (physical) examination that we do with a registered nurse that is trained for this. We try to make the event special, memorable and empowering for the women. The programme includes a group talk about women’s health and wellness. Each woman is then screened and shown how to self-examine. She receives a ‘shower sticker info diagram’ and a pair of ILoveBoobies socks, in the hope that this will also remind her to check herself regularly. Our aim is educate and to demystify breast cancer, it is quite wonderful to see how the conversations become normalised around breast health and just how supportive they are of one another. It really gives them a sense of sisterhood and community. All important is the referral pathway if we do detect an abnormality. The nurse will issue an official referral letter which has to be presented at the nearest state facility for further diagnosis and treatment. At this point she is now a state patient.

How can fans support iloveboobies?

Buy the socks!. For every 5 pairs of socks we sell one woman receives a free breast screening. If you are going to buy a present or treat yourself to a new active tee or cycling shirt, choose to make a difference at the same time.  Take part in our events or take part in your normal events, but represent ILoveBoobies when you do. Make a monthly donation. Talk about ILoveBoobies. Put the sticker on your helmet, bike or the back of your phone, it starts all important conversations.

To support Karl Platt and Tomi Misser’s fundraising campaign, by direct donation visit www.givengain.com and search for ILoveBoobies. Alternatively visit the charity’s website at www.iloveboobies.co.za, because together we can make a difference. Early detection saves lives.