College: Senior, College of Business Administration

Campus Activities: President of Applied Global Business Learning

When Mark Mueller closes his eyes, he doesn’t see the usual dark, black abyss. He sees his snowboard carving into pearly white snow.

Mueller, a senior in the College of Business Administration, is a diehard, glued to his board, fresh-dusting-of-snow craving, dusk ‘til dawn, mountain dwelling, kind of snowboarder. He may sound like your typical snowboarding junkie. But he’s not.

Mueller designs ski apparel under his 2011 startup company, Mūe.

Mueller’s inspiration for the company came from the very same mountains he snowboards on. After seeing fellow snowboarders dressed in thin hoodies, soaking wet and freezing after a day on the slopes, he decided to step in.

Mueller was on the quest for the perfect snowboarding attire: a soft-shelled hoodie with an athletic, field design and trendy colors — a jacket he says is “for the snowboarder, from the snowboarder.”

It started with some simple sketches in class, and then led to phone calls around Milwaukee and across the globe to China. After he drafted a prototype, Mueller brought it over to a production company in Milwaukee, where the store owner not only agreed to produce the jacket, but to complete the embroidery himself. “That’s what I love about working with local people in Milwaukee,” he says. “Kudos to Milwaukee.”

But of course, with a new business comes the possibility of failure. Mueller knows startup businesses have an 80 percent failure rate. He’s questioned if Mūe is worth it. He’s been through numerous trials… and errors. Mueller says one of the largest obstacles is making sure the supplies and material arrive from their various spots in the U.S. and China.

For now, though, Mueller is on a roll.  He gets feedback from fellow snowboarders and says he’s able to adjust jacket designs based on what’s popular. To Mueller, it’s not just about a “cool design.” The jacket has to make sense, he says.

And that’s just what makes Mūe different. “We are our customers,” he says, referring to his two team members, Nicholas Winninger, a junior in the College of Business Administration and spearhead of Mūe’s website; and Bryan Miguel, a senior in the College of Communication and Mūe’s marketer.

Mueller’s jacket designs combine functionality and style for a flashy, non-restrictive fit — a jacket that “makes your life easier as a snowboarder,” he says.

Mueller is currently designing a backpack, and in the future, says he hopes to move onto summer sports, like long boarding.

Although Mueller comes from a family of businessmen, nurses and real estate agents, he says he’s always loved art. Sketching his designs and incorporating dimensions and specifications has allowed Mueller to combine that artistry with his business studies and his snowboarding passion. It’s the best of every world.

“Most people can’t bring recreational passion into what they do,” Mueller says. “I feel like the luckiest person in the world.”

Luckiest person in the world or not, he still probably has the coolest threads on the slopes.