• by Jane Hovey , March 17, 2022

Women's History Month is an opportune time to reflect on the various strides women continue to make as a collective entity. It’s also time to identify areas of opportunity — and many brand marketers are noticing that there's a revolution underfoot in the femcare aisle. In fact, the femcare industry is booming; it's estimated to reach $42.7 billion in 2022.

So why is femcare such a red-hot category? Today’s woman is interested in smashing taboos. Marketers, in turn, are quickly learning the need for cultural clairvoyance, or the ability to analyze rapid changes in consumer expectations in near-real time, in order to maintain relevance.

Conversations about menstruation are usually held behind closed doors. It wasn’t until 1985 that the word “period” was said on television -- by Courtney Cox, in a Tampax commercial. And although blood from wounds are openly displayed in the media, menstrual blood is ubiquitously linked with blue liquid in advertisements.

The entire femcare industry has long been overdue for an overhaul. The tampon alone, patented in 1929, has seen little, if any, innovation since its conception.

It also seems women are an afterthought to the overall tech industry. In 2014, Apple touted its Health app’s groundbreaking ability to track virtually everything from heart rate to blood alcohol content to respiratory rate -- everything, that is, except menstruation. In response to swift backlash, Apple launched the Cycle tracker. But what gives?

The acceleration of global cultural and technological change has come to a head in the femcare aisle, with consumers calling for sustainable products and open dialogue. Femcare and femtech disruptors are no longer waiting for the permission of mass retailers to develop on-trend and sustainable innovations.

Take, for instance, the digital-first period underwear brand Thinx, which has enjoyed exponential growth since its launch in 2013. It has since expanded into the activewear category. Just recently, Kimberly-Clark, the company behind Kotex, acquired a major stake in the brand after making a minority investment in 2019.

Then there’s Callaly, the subscription D2C tampliner brand. It made headlines with its first ad, which facilitated conversations about stunted femcare innovation in contrast to condoms, vibrators and contraceptives. The brand also gave an unprecedented voice to menstruating trans people through its campaign #TheWholeBloodyTruth.

Femtech entrepreneurs are also rising to the occasion with trackers designed to fully contextualize menstruation. Apps such as FitrWoman cater to physically active women with reliable information about nutritional needs and injury risks, which can fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle. There’s also a new wave of comprehensive birth control apps, such as Natural Cycles and Hers, which holistically minimize user error as well as properly account for period variance.

And while these examples are great, there is more work to be done. Brands, take note. Femcare disruption proves these companies don’t need to work with mass retailers to innovate. In order to be culturally relevant, brands need to authentically dialogue with female consumers. Ideas will flow from there.