
Women's underwear gets an upgrade - lisch
http://www.artinfactmag.com/culture-dish/thinx-underwear-period-panties/
======
alukima
This is pretty amazing. I spent grades 5-12 worried about bleeding through to
my pants in school. There's already so much going on at that age, dealing with
'learning to be a woman' was just more anxiety.

Even as an adult who can typically tell when my cycle is about to start I
still end up with stained undergarments and sometimes pants. The worst is at
night when things move around and you wake with stained sheets and ruined
pajamas.

Considering I have cheap cotton underwear that is 2-4 years old, if these
prevent leaking as they claim they could potentially save me time, anxiety,
embarrassment and money.

~~~
girvo
I showed this to my girlfriend and she thought it was a brilliant idea (and
priced well, too). She's had accidents, forgotten it was nearly here, and all
sorts, so this is a great way of tackling that.

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peterwwillis
This is an interesting yet drastically different take on a similar story from
India. Some of you may remember articles about Arunachalam Muruganantham, an
uneducated man who lost his family, friends and whole way of life in order to
bring affordable sanitary pads to girls and women in India. Now he helps rural
villages install, run and make money off of machines which produce sanitary
napkins for pennies on the dollar, and at the same time teach local women how
to use them and break cultural taboos.
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26260978](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26260978)

So when I read this article about THINX, while I want to be positive about
anyone who works to make people's lives easier and less stressful, all I see
is commerce. These are basically luxury items that are intended for people who
already have access to sanitary pads. It almost seems like the whole story
about being inspired by a girl in South Africa is a marketing ploy to get
people to purchase their product by preying on people's sympathy for an
unrelated issue. If they really wanted to help women around the world,
donating a small portion of sales to one African country is not what I would
consider a realistic approach to that goal.

~~~
BrandonMarc
_If they really wanted to help women around the world, donating a small
portion of sales to one African country is not what I would consider a
realistic approach to that goal._

... but it's a good start.

------
allisonburtch
On the reusable front, Diva Cups are the greatest thing to happen to
menstruation. Been using one for ten years, which means I haven't had to buy
or throw anything away every month. Saves a lot on waste and money.
[http://divacup.com/](http://divacup.com/)

------
lisch
I believe the purpose of the underwear is to prevent stains and leaking from
accidents, and is not meant to be used INSTEAD of normal sanitary products.
This is similar to those disposable plasticy ones that have existed in some
countries for years, but I like what they've done with the fabrication and
design here. It's silly that it's taken so long for someone to bring this type
of product to market. I hope it's successful!

------
Xymenah
There is a huge movement towards reusable menstrual products. I use a
menstrual cup or reusable cloth pads (have done so for the last 5 years and
wish they had been around for much longer). I hate plastic disposable products
that make you feel like you are wearing a diaper (note: I cloth diaper my son
as well) and that these products and their chemicals have been scientifically
shown to cause you to bleed more or even contribute to some cramps and also
with tampons TSS. Reusable products dont have these problems and last a long
time so are much more cost effective even if steeply priced off the bat as
they last longer. It is not gross at all to wash these things if you think
your body is gross in this way then you have some other issues you need to
probably deal with and likely they come from our culture's deep rooted taboos
on the topic. Periods and such used to be celebrated in many cultures as a
coming into adult hood, it was a rite of passage type of thing. Now it really
is seen as shamefull or taboo to talk about it in some ways. There are many
small companies and people who are seeing this problem time and time again and
trying to deal with it and get rid of the taboos and help other people out
with products that work and are better. These resuable pads they are working
with in uganda (I am familiar with afripads which was helped to be created by
lunapada a local to me but widely known reusable cloth pad company)really do
actually have a positive impact - there are lots of other movements and stuff
that does similar things in other african countries. I would totally wihtout
thinking about it in an instant buy a product like this underwear, it is a
really genius idea and I think this company will do well.

------
skue
Dear Kate is another company has been working in this space for years:
[http://www.dearkates.com/pages/technology](http://www.dearkates.com/pages/technology)

Their CEO Julie is great - studied chemical engineering at Brown, was very
active in the local RI startup scene, raised a series A, and the company is
now based in NYC.

------
zasz
This is actually a really good replacement for pads. They say their underwear
can hold one to six teaspoons. There are five milliliters to a teaspoon, and
according to Wikipedia, the average period produces one to six tablespoons
total. There are three teaspoons to a tablespoon. So their underwear should be
able to easily cope with one day's worth of flow, since it should be able to
cope with half a period to an entire period's worth.

Assuming their manufacturing process isn't too toxic, this could be vastly
more environmentally friendly than pads and tampons. The downside of reusable,
durable items of this nature, is that it's gross and requires handwashing.

~~~
istorical
I think you neglected the factor that flow varies over the course of a period
with a shape like sin(x) from x=0 to x=3.14. Or in other words it starts off
slow, peaks, then peters out.

~~~
peterwwillis
The average tampon will hold 5mL. Sanitary pads hold 5mL-15mL. These things
hold 29mL.

~~~
oskdfjgfgg
And many women go through 3 pads a day during their peak. Which is much more
convenient than having to change your underwear, and have somewhere to put
them to carry them around with you until you get home.

~~~
peterwwillis
Those "many women" may have menorrhagia and should consult with their doctor
for treatment, yet very few realize this and just think they are "heavy flow"
people, which puts them at risk for disease and other medical problems. I
should think, though, that it's much more convenient to carry around one pad
than three, and for the rest of people is probably a relief to not need one at
all.

------
hawkharris
Speaking of antimicrobial underwear — it's not every day I get to use that
segue — The New Yorker just had a fascinating piece about the world of extreme
cave divers. Apparently, specially engineered underwear is one of the secrets
to making it through the world's deepest cave:
[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/21/140421fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/21/140421fa_fact_bilger?currentPage=all)

~~~
ljf
What an excellent article. Great Saturday morning in read with a coffee,
thanks for the tip!

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noobhacker
The article does not actually explain the technology behind this "upgrade." I
was hoping to learn about that most.

~~~
reubenmorais
The article links to the company's Technology page:
[http://www.shethinx.com/technology/](http://www.shethinx.com/technology/)

Basically it's underwear with a built-in sanitary pad.

------
mpatobin
The CEO, Miki Agrawa, has a book that's a pretty good read called "Do Cool
Shit"

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0062261533](http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0062261533)

------
ankey1
This doesn't seem like an upgrade from Dear Kate's (dearkates.com) products
except for the partnership to give back. Love the few pairs I have from Dear
Kate, they work really well.

~~~
astrieanna
Looking at there websites, this one claims to absorb 6 teaspoons; Dear Kate's
claims to absorb 3 teaspoons. That's the only difference I can see, beyond the
partnership.

------
teamhappy
I googled for stats on tampons vs. pads and according to a paper some 3/4 of
all women prefer tampons anyway, so I'm not sure they actually need a
replacement for pads? I'm amazed that almost everybody using the word "gross"
in this thread seems to be a women. I thought if anything men would be the
problem. While searching for the paper I actually found a lot of women calling
pads disgusting which I though is a little harsh. I hope they're talking about
the feeling rather than the blood? About the product itself I'm not sure what
to think. It's patented tech so it's not all that helpful to women in poor
countries and I'm not too happy about the language they're using either.
They're kind of implying that all women have tried so far isn't sexy and now
they fixed it. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. I guess what I'm trying to
say is that I'm convinced the tech isn't the problem here (seems fairly
obvious).

~~~
fulafel
Where did you read tampons are more common?

I found this which sounds like pads are used more:
[http://lipglossandabackpack.com/feminine-hygiene-around-
the-...](http://lipglossandabackpack.com/feminine-hygiene-around-the-world/)

~~~
teamhappy
Here's the paper:
[http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852185/Kohen.pdf...](http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852185/Kohen.pdf?sequence=1)

The first sentence is: "Tampons are used by up to 70 percent of menstruating
women in the United States today, and the average woman may use as many as
16,800 tampons in her lifetime."

~~~
cheshire137
Using tampons doesn't rule out using pads, too. If I use a tampon one day, I'm
one of that 70% of menstruating women that uses tampons. If I use a pad when I
swap out that tampon, I'm now also one of the x% of menstruating women that
uses pads.

~~~
teamhappy
Realised that the second I pasted the text. It's midnight in Germany ...
That's the original link I found: [http://askville.amazon.com/AMERICAN-WOMEN-
TAMPONS-PADS-PERIO...](http://askville.amazon.com/AMERICAN-WOMEN-TAMPONS-PADS-
PERIOD/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=15177503)

And here is another statistic:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22980411](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22980411)

They're both not clear though I do think it's fair to say tampons are
preferred. Just google for "tampons vs. pads".

------
kisielk
Lunapads has been making these kinds of products for over 20 years (est.
1993):
[http://lunapads.com/underwear.html](http://lunapads.com/underwear.html)

Really great people there too, and their products last for years so it reduces
a lot of waste.

------
trhway
would be interesting to hear a woman's opinion here. My understanding was that
panties are usually bought on the merits of fit and, especially, quality of
material. Is the built-in pad an improvement or gimmick?

~~~
drzaiusapelord
Not a woman, but its well known they buy several pairs of "period panties" as
to not ruin their nicer ones. This seems to be tapping into that market by
making an explicit "period panty" that'll last longer, come in dark colors,
has a pad, etc. So instead of buying a cheap set of disposable panties and
using those, you'd buy a few pairs of these that are specialized for the task.

No idea how pricing works out. In the end, it might be smarter to just buy a
box of 10 granny panties at Walmart for 12 bucks than pay $20 a pair for these
high-tech ones. (The 5 day set is $180.) Especially if they can only hold 2-6
teaspoons of liquid. Seems the 'help a girl in the third world' narrative is
pretty disingenuous here at those prices. Pads cost a fraction of that. This
seems like something a western woman would use on top of a pad or tampon.

Does every startup need to be about "changing the world" and "helping the
third world?" Its practically self-satire at this point and was expertly
mocked in HBO's Silicon Valley series. This is a luxury good, not a charity.

~~~
shortstuffsushi
I don't think that the period panty product is actually what they're sending
to Africa. They mentioned that "the purchase of a pair of THINX also buys
seven washable pads for girls in Uganda."

I don't think the majority of startups are out to 'help the world,' though
many are out to change/'disrupt' (even this one claims to be disrupting). I
don't know that I find that such a bad thing, though. Many products try and
fail to change what they see as a problem, but there's really no harm in that.
They're just trying to help.

------
lauradhamilton
DAMN that's some expensive underwear. $47 for one?

~~~
drcube
They give away like five pairs to women in need for every pair you buy.

~~~
lauradhamilton
I think that would be a nice bonus if the panties were priced in say the $13
range. I wouldn't pay these prices though.

I wonder how much margin there is at the current price point. If it costs them
$15 to make one their product might be DOA...

------
DonaldDerek
I guess it will smell bad.

------
nebulasmoothie
wow this is amazing. But how did they do it?

------
mahmud
I chocked up when they pulled down their pants revealing their underwear. To
make something _for_ yourself; something so intimate, that you depend on
everyday, to make it, not only have it on shelves but have it _on_ you. That
is powerful.

------
dbg31415
I like it when women wear underwear that isn't $47 a pop.

That way if you rip it, or lose it, or whatever... nobody cares. Plus... it's
more exciting when women buy new underwear frequently. My girlfriend will text
me, "I'm wearing new panties..." and I'm cutting out of work early.

Doesn't every woman carry a tampon in her purse?

Can't you just take a no-period birth control pill?

Ok, glad we're helping the girls in Africa, but wouldn't the $47 a pair be
better spent directly on them if that's the real goal?

~~~
araneae
This product isn't for you, which is obvious from the astounding ignorance of
your comment.

1\. "Expensive underwear are bad because I gain sexual gratification from new
underwear and money spent on expensive period underpants take money away from
that." Could you be more self-involved? How about respecting women to know
what products they want, considering they are the one actually having periods?
But no, it's all about keeping your dick hard. Okay.

2\. Yes. Women who use tampons carry tampons around with them. However, the
way you know when your period starts is when you find blood in your panties.
At which point there is already blood in your panties. You shouldn't put a
tampon in prior to your period arriving as that is a) extremely uncomfortable
and b) risks TSS, but wearing special underwear as a precaution seems
reasonable. Also, when the tampon is full, it will leak. This can be pre-
empted, but not 100% of the time, as flow varies. This is why many women wear
panty liners in conjunction with tampon use. And yes, it is fucking annoying
to make sure you always have a tampon with you 100% of the time, and isn't
100% successful, thanks for your concern.

3\. Again, your ignorance astounds me here. For one, spotting is common with
continual use of birth control. So actually these panties would be pretty
helpful with that as spotting is completely unpredictable, unlike actual
periods. Secondly, did you seriously just suggest that every woman who
menstruates go on continual hormonal birth control as an alternative to
expensive panties? You do realize that BC a)has side effects and b) costs
money?

4\. No, that's not the real goal. They're making a product. For people to buy.
Which should be obvious. The charitable link-in is a common marketing
technique.

------
gosukiwi
The fuck I just saw.

------
teddyh
The next product is obvious: Pants.

[http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-
tee...](http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-
churchmouse/girlpants/)

~~~
saraid216
Huh. See, I thought this would be about the pajama jeans. But that makes more
sense.

