Teens can be ‘the bosses of their periods’
Hygiene industry has seen innovation as brands try to make more sustainable menstrual products
When Joanna Griffiths launched Toronto-based Knixwear in 2013, her products were considered taboo. Absorbent panties designed for women to wear during their periods instead of pads or tampons were hard for buyers to wrap their heads around.
“I think we were maybe a little bit ahead of the time in terms of messaging . . . Over the past couple years, periods and this whole topic has had a movement and has really made its way into the mainstream,” 33year-old Griffiths said.
Initially, she marketed her brand as “activewear” because of the lack of openness when discussing menstruation with buyers and the restrictive, sometimes negative, language associated with menstruation.
But the underwear, which can soak up 15 millilitres of liquid, or the equivalent of roughly two regular tampons, have proven so popular — the company is on track to do $20 million in sales this year — that Griffiths is launching a line for teens this week.
In the last few years, the period industry has seen growth in innovation, as companies aim to make more sustainable products. Knixwear was followed by U.S. company Thinx in 2014.
And while menstrual cups, such as the DivaCup, were invented decades ago, there has been a recent resurgence with women who want to use organic or reusable products. According to a 2016 report by tech research company Technavio, competition in the menstrual cup market is growing as businesses expand to developing countries and awareness of available options increases.
Companies such as Easy, a tampon mail-order service, have started making hygiene products from organic cotton, which is free from pesticides, bleach and artificial fibres. Natracare, another company, also uses organic cotton in its feminine hygiene products.
Elissa Stein, the author of Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, said while there has been a movement toward organic products, the underlying message that periods are dirty and should be kept secret remains.
“When I wrote Flow (in 2009), these conversations were impossible. These new products were not on the market. So, definitely there’s a change in the air, which is heartening to see,” she said, adding that she hopes the messaging can expand to make the conversation about periods more comfortable and realistic.
“Five years ago, you wouldn’t see the word period or menstruation mentioned openly and honestly. So those are really positive steps forward. Using real people and talking about their experiences (in advertisements), is also a step forward,” Stein said.
But she said there is still a long way to go when it comes to fully accepting that periods are “not something that we have to hide.”
There has been reinvention over the past couple of decades when it comes to pads, tampons and menstrual cups, says Dr. Yolanda Kirkham, who works as an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Women’s College Hospital and at St. Joseph’s Health Centre Toronto.
“If we think about years ago, people had to wear a special underwear with a belt or knee stockings, so over time, things have changed,” Kirkham said.
Early versions of tampons were described as being made from wool or papyrus in ancient Rome and Egypt. An article published in 2008, in Early Modern Women, concluded that many British women in the 17th century would menstruate directly onto their clothing.
“It might be the case, though, that in the course of everyday life, using a method for absorbing menstrual flow was not considered necessary by many women because bleeding into layers of clothing was perfectly normal,” wrote Dr. Sara Read in the article.
In the 1850s, women often wore “sanitary aprons” made out of rubberized cloth under dresses to avoid leaks. In 1896, Johnson & Johnson started distributing Lister’s Towels, the first commercial disposable pad. However, because the subject of periods was “unmentionable,” according to authors Janice Delaney, Mary Jane Lupton and Emily Toth of The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation, the towels were unpopular. Women didn’t want to be seen buying them and they were pulled from the shelves.
Women would have to wait until the 1930s for the first menstrual cup and modern tampon.
The options have remained relatively the same since then, but the materials have changed. The types of fibres and the absorbency have improved. Tampons, made out of polyester in the mid-1970s, were super-absorbent and attracted bacteria, a trigger for toxic shock syndrome. In severe cases, it resulted in kidney failure, according to the Mayo Clinic. However, since manufacturers have stopped making certain types of tampons, the incidence of toxic shock syndrome in menstruating women has declined.
“(Companies have) also changed the shape, added wings and take into consideration different people,” Kirkham said. “But it’s always exciting when there’s a completely new product to complement what’s existing or replace it.”
The Knixwear underwear, which sells for $26 to $32 per pair, is made from carbon cotton, often used for cyclists’ apparel such as jerseys, that dries two to three times faster than regular cotton, Griffiths said. The carbon-embedded fabric is bacteriostatic, meaning bacteria cannot reproduce.
A built-in pantiliner acts as an inner second layer with a thin membrane for absorbing liquid.
“The idea is that you wear (our underwear) exactly as you would your regular underwear . . . When you’re done you just throw it into the washing machine,” Griffiths said.
In September, Knixwear switched from selling the majority of its products wholesale to stores like Hudson’s Bay, to using an e-commerce format. Since, sales have seen a 500-per-cent increase and the company has continued to grow 25 per cent every month, she said.
Griffiths believes the company’s growth was due to their popularity after becoming the most-funded fashion project on Kickstarter for its 8-in-1 bra in 2015 — it raised $1.5 million — as well as shifting the business model in September.
Customer feedback prompted Griffiths to design a line targeting teens.
“We were getting a lot of comments from women saying, ‘I wish that this existed when I was a teenager. It could have saved me so many embarrassing moments’ or ‘My daughter just started getting her period. Can you make (underwear) that are suitable for her?’ ” Griffiths said. “And so I started working on this a little over a year ago, but basically saw that if anyone could use these, it’s young girls when they’re first starting to get their periods.”
The teen line will be available online for $19 a pair.
“The whole idea is to empower girls to be the bosses of their periods from day one,” Griffiths said.