The longer you stay on the wrong train the more expensive it will be to get back. - Mark Donnelly HUH Clothing

Wednesday January 2025, 14:47 pm

By Darren Donoghue

It’s hard to believe that its nearly 5 years since the first covid case was found in Ireland, bringing a nationwide lockdown that was never seen before. Public and social gatherings were prohibited, businesses were forced to close, face masks were mandatory indoors and you could only travel a radius of 2km, as efforts were made to flatten the curve.

The nation found itself in unknown territories. Only essential business could open, while other businesses had to close their doors. Being in lockdown brought its own challenges such as not being able to socialise with friends or family, while the lockdown was in place.

The lack of socialising meant people couldn’t do the normal day to day things such as meeting up with friends or playing football with their clubs. This lack of social engagement that the country faced meant there was rise in mental health issues.

But as nation when it seems our backs are against the wall, this is where we see our true colours, our identity and we most importantly our courage and determination.

Mark Donnelly from Ashbourne Co. Meath is the perfect example of how to prosper in difficult times. Mark created HUH Clothing (How's Ur Head) Ireland’s leading mental health clothing & well-being Brand.

Mark recently caught up with our reporter Darren Donoghue and told him how HUH came about:

“I set up the brand as form as a form of self-expression. I have struggled with mental health all my life and to this day I still struggle. I even had a therapy session yesterday, so I try to stay on top of things.”

“I suffered from anxiety, OCD and self-confidence issues and never knew how to express myself. So, I wanted to do something that people would ask me about my mental health? I didn’t know what that would be.”

 “For 12 years I didn’t know how to express myself. Eventually I decided on clothing and thought that if I could create something that people would ask me about for example how’s your head? That would get people to ask me how I felt?  It would make me work on addressing myself and have the conversation about the topic mental health.”

“The idea came in March 2020, but we didn’t start selling clothing in Ireland until August 2020 during the lockdown. There was the 2km rule and no Gaa. I was working around the clock, as I couldn’t do anything else.”

Mark went on to say how lockdown helped business.

“Every cloud has a silver lining. Lockdown really helped the business. People were constantly on their phones; they had nothing else to do. While getting the PUP payment, people had disposable income, and they were supporting the business.”

“Then I just got on TikTok and started making videos. The people of Ashbourne and Ireland started supporting the business like no other. It was so important, as so many people around Ashbourne and Ireland that started supporting me."

“Then comes the important part of the journey which I never really spoken about it before. Now people in my town, people on my teams, my family and friends are all buying it. It was kind of like an eye opener, as we need to do more for mental health. Then people all over Ireland started seeing the videos and started buying the brand.”

Not only has Mark helped people to talk about Mental health in Ireland, but he has also generously donated to many different charities in Ireland since setting up HUH Clothing.

“We have given around €38,000 to charities and we give a percentage of all our sales back to charity. For example, since the start of HUH every single hoodie, t-shirt, hat that we sell, we donate back to charity. It’s donated to charities all over the country now, from Ashbourne Suicide Awareness Prevention to Pieta House. Depending on sales sometimes we could have high sales in certain counties. For example, we might have high sales in Clare one month so we would donate to charities in Clare and the same as Dublin. It’s done across the board  and we try to support as many charities as possible.”

Mark was asked was he surprised how quickly HUH took off? Mark responded,

“Yes, I was operating out of a box room and then I’m asking myself, how is this happening? How is there so many people out there buying my stuff? Then the sales, the followers and the views started coming in, then came the comments, messages and emails.”

“But then I was in a bad place, I was working nearly 18 hours a day to distract myself. It was getting so busy, but at the same time I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Then I was like, you’re the mental health help guy here, so let’s go and work on it. So, with therapy and exercise I went and actively pursued to help better myself.”

As mark and I got into further conversation, we acknowledge how similar we are in so many ways. Like Mark, I also suffer from mental health issues, but this reporter is also in recovery from alcoholism as well. Like mental health issues, addiction can be quite harmful, but with the right help it is manageable. I was able to relate to Mark the similarities between mental health and addiction. Both can be quite devastating if left untreated and festering away at yourself without any help. I was able to explain to Mark that meetings are number one medication I use to treat my disease and it’s the same with mental health, being able to be open up and talk about what is going on in your head is very important.

I asked mark about any highlights or ultimate highs since he started HUH?

“We donated one time to Ashbourne Suicide Awareness Prevention; it was like €1,100 and I remember being stopped on the street by someone in the charity and they said the €1,100 you donated is ten counselling sessions for someone you know who is going through depression that cannot afford it in Ashbourne. I wasn’t told a name due to confidentiality reasons.”

 “They walk the same streets as you, they are in the same clubs, and in the same restaurants and pubs as you. You’re probably in the same whats app group as this person. It was a point in the journey when I was like wow!!! That is someone I could know personally that is suffering. But they are the best actor in the world, but no one knows. It was a big eye opener to think it’s in every town, every club, every community no matter what your circumstances are. Everyone deals with mental health. That had a big impact on me.”

“When I get messages off people like, I wore this HUH hoodie at my family gathering recently and my cousin asked me what it meant? Then, the next thing we are speaking for 3 hours about problems and issues we never knew we had.”

“Another high point in the journey was when Mini-Ireland approached me to be a brand ambassador. I have now been driving their cars for three years as a brand ambassador. That was kind of surreal moment for me. I was like, I am Mark from Ashbourne, why are you giving me a car?”

I always wanted to do this article with Mark. We both live in the same town of Ashbourne in Co. Meath. I wanted to do this piece sooner rather than later, but sometimes life just gets in the way. Then one day I was scrolling through social media and Mark’s HUH Clothing post came up and it stopped me in my tracks. It said, “The longer you stay on the wrong train the more expensive it will be to get back.The quote hit me like a tonne of bricks, and I knew I had to reach out to Mark asap.

I asked mark about the quote, and he said, “2020, 2021 and 2022 business was at an all time high. You couldn’t write it. I was out of a box room and into an office. It felt like everyone in the country was buying my hoodies.”

“2023, we came into a slower year. The cost-of-living crisis starts and coming into effect. People are starting watch what they are spending. I’m three years in and I’m not losing the love for it, but I’m just like going through the motions of business ownerships. It’s so stressful. On one hand I’m a mental health ambassador and on the other hand I’m so stressed. So, I was kind of contradicting myself. I had to reevaluate things.”

“So, in 2023 I ended a relationship as it just wasn’t working. It was a tough decision I had to make. The cost of living was going up.  Then the third thing that happened in 2023 was my mam got diagnosed with cancer.”

“It was October when these three sucker punches came, and we are after having three really busy years. Now we are like, what am I doing here? What’s happening? So, I decided to pull the plug on it completely.  Cause I was essential saying the longer you stay on the wrong train the more expensive it will be to get back.”

“I learned the hard way. We stopped trading for seven months, but I still had to pay rent, insurance, tax and all the bills were coming in. Suppliers still had to be paid. I started 2024 with a bill of €54,000 to pay. I’m sitting there at the bottom of this mountain thinking, what’s happened here?”

“I spent the last 12 months of 2024 working on that. That’s going to be zero by the time we end this year.  A lot of people would say write business off, liquidate it or end it, as its not worth it. But that’s not how I operate. I built the brand and a community. We built a massive mental health awareness. I owe to this people, and I owe it to myself.”

 “I was like pull the plug and we are going to attack 2024. Then last week we paid off the final payment. It was one of those moments when I look back now, they are character building resilience moments that I will remember forever, but it was also the worst time of my life. Especially towards the end of 2023.”

“It’s important to make though decisions when they need to be made, because if I didn’t, I could have been in a much off situation.”

“2024 was one of my best years personally. We are now doing corporate talks and corporate orders.”

“I’m doing a lot of talks at the minute. I try to speak to a lot of students all over the country because when I’m in those talks, I try to imagine myself being in the front row when I was a teenager, and this is what I needed to hear. I never heard a talk like that when I was in school and if I did, it might have changed something in myself.”

“Corporate talks are a big part of what I do. It just helps get the message out there to the masses. This year I’m finishing with mini the end of this month and I am a partnering with Frank Keane on the Nass Road, so that’s a big collaboration. We are trying to work with a lot of festivals this year to spread the word as much as possible.”

Mark concluded by saying, “This year, if January is anything to go on, it will be our best year yet. I’m excited to see what’s to come.”

If anyone would like to buy any HUH Clothing, we have attached the link below

https://huhclothing.com/

We have also attached links to HUH Clothing social media pages below

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/HowsUrHead

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/huh_clothing?igsh=MWp3Mm9sejUzdnRmZg==

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