Shannon McLinden ’97 (MBA ’98) is a woman with a mission — to say goodbye to swampfoot. Tired of suffering “cute shoe” deprivation due to sweaty feet, she invented Summersoles, a slim, sweat-defying fabric insole that she calls the “solution to squishy shoes.”

These days, McLinden wears the cutest sandals and strappiest heels she can find and sells the insoles through her website, Summersoles.com. The site is hip, funky and very professional, just like McLinden, who says that her MBA from TCU “helped tremendously in strategic planning for the company.”

She is negotiating with distributors in Singapore and South Africa, as well as with major catalog publishers and retailers in the United States. Initially for women only, Summersoles began to get complaints from men feeling left out, so they now come in two sexes.

And fashion mavens and celebs love the idea. This summer, Summersoles found their way onto ABC’s “The View,” and they’ve been getting the thumbs up in fashion mags all over the United States and Canada. They even made it into the coveted celebrity “swag” gift bags at three high-profile events in 2005. Stars from Gwen Stefani to Eddie Murphy now have a little bit of Texas to slip inside their shoes.