Happy Holidays from all of us at Lunapads! As part of the festive winter season, we would like to focus on Pads4Girls, about which we happen to have two very special announcements.
We are so proud of our beautiful new video. In partnership with our generous customers, individuals and NGOs, Pads4Girls continues to make a difference by helping girls in developing nations stay in school. Please share it with your friends!
Last Friday, we were delighted to see the Huffington Post write a story called “How to Green Your Period” describing the many ways to green your period. (Check out slide number 4 which talks about reusable cloth pads, including Lunapads.) You can even “vote” for your favorite period product: menstrual cups and cloth pads are ranked #1 and #2 respectively!
Despite the Huffington Post having a progressive following, not long after the post went up, a lot of readers posted comments indicating they were put off by the topic, men and women included. Many expressed their disgust that the Huffington Post would write about such a “vulgar” topic and why nothing was sacred anymore. Well, thanks to fans of the DivaCup and Lunapads, there is now a bit more balance in the over 200 comments posted to date. I particularly like what “kudzumaster” had to say about the negative feedback:
“Would it be better to go back to the days in which women were ashamed about their normal processes, and thus kept ignorant and uninformed? I know they were good times, when teenaged girls got their first period and hid in the bathroom, thinking they were bleeding to death because no one was comfortable enough to discuss menstruation with them, but I think we’re ready to move past that now, aren’t we. Women bleed once a month during their childbearing years. It’s a fact, and nothing to be embarrassed about.”
I can appreciate that people have hang ups about certain topics, but I can never understand why they go on to publicly express those hang ups. Posting those kinds of comments only shines a light on their degree of ignorance about a topic they can’t seem get their head around. It’s refreshing to see others chiming in to show a more eco-positive perspective about periods. Thank you, and if you haven’t commented yet, please do so!
While surfing around the Huffington Post website, I came across a story by writer Deanna Neal called “Make her Vagina Green” packed with interesting projections about the number of bleeding women in the world and how much garbage is produced by disposable feminine hygiene products. As compelling as those numbers are, Deanna isn’t ready or willing to try reusable products herself, but at least does a good job informing the more ‘mainstream’ reader why she should think about healthier options for her period. Deanna, if you’re reading this, we’d love to send you some Lunapads and Lunapanties to try out! Never say never; we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Anyone else out there want to try and convince Deanna to make the switch?
As mentioned in a recent post, Lunapads’ “organic transition” is officially underway. Shaking things up in the fabric department has brought about the opportunity to introduce some other new fabrics, which brings me to our latest addition, 100% organic cotton sateen. Just the sound of the word “sateen” tells you a lot about this fabric – it’s light, smooth and cool to the touch.
The new fabrics have also acted as a catalyst to my designer brain, and I’m thrilled to announce some great new products. We have been making organic flannel handkerchiefs for years, and the sateen lends itself to the same purpose wonderfully, making an already soft and eco-friendly alternative to disposable tissues fabulous to boot! When I was testing the new fabric hankies I found myself collecting them in one of our Luna Pouches in my purse, and decided to make a simplified pouch for the hankies, allowing you to easily stuff clean ones back in the bag post-laundering. Check out our new Hanky Packs, which contain 3 10″x 10″ handkerchiefs in a matching pouch (pictured).
I’ve long admired the Japanese tradition of furoshiki, or cloth gift wrapping, and thought that given its light weight, luxurious feel and gorgeous prints, the sateen might also work well for a Lunapads version. To that end, we’ve created 2 versatile sizes of “Lunashiki”: the smaller, 18″ square size doubles as a dinner napkin, and a larger, 24″ size that also works as a handy bandanna, in additon to being stylish and responsible ways to wrap gifts. These products all make great gifts themselves, and are 10% off this month!
It should go without saying at this point that Lunapads is deeply committed to sustainability, but of course there is always more that we can do. One of our long-held goals in this respect has been to switch our fabrics to being 100% organic. We are thrilled to announce that we are officially on our way!
For a long time we were held back by the limited availability of organic fabrics that were as attractive or as competitively priced as conventionally-grown goods. We are thrilled about how this has changed in the past few years, to the point where our main supplier of conventionally-grown fleece is now switching to all organic.
For a long time we were also afraid of what the transition would look like from a production perspective (ie complicated and expensive!), but have figured out an efficient way to deal with that as well. Basically, we have chucked the notion of worrying about mixing organic and conventional fabrics for the time being, and we think that you will love the results.
Here’s what you can expect: a growing selection of the same beautiful prints and soft fleeces that Lunapads has always been known for, but instead of being forced to choose between organic or regular cotton, you’ll get a mix of both (and for the same price as just regular cotton!) First up is our Heavy Pad & Wing Liner sets in Regular Cotton with a matching Organic Fleece Center Panel & Wing Liner. Watch for more styles coming up in new “hybrid” dropdown menus from the main Pads + Liners and Pantyliners navigation. Enjoy, and stay tuned for even more organic fabric news to come!
Organic Bikini Lunapanties |
Welcome to our next installment of our International Women’s Month celebration! This time it’s for Moms-to-be.
Here’s lovely photo of one of our longest-term (pun intended!) collaborators, the lovely Emira Mears of Raised Eyebrow and The Boss of You, taken mere hours before the arrival of lovely little Lena at our recent Lunapanties photoshoot.
We have 3 sets of 2 Organic Mini Pantyliners, so anyone out there who is currently expecting, comment below to tell us where you are, how many weeks you’re at, and what your favorite thing about being pregnant to be entered. Winners will be announced in our April newsletter.
Organic Mini Pantyliner |
While I’m here, check out the blog of one of my favorite pregnant gals: the one and only Chloe Jo Berman of the fabulously green Girlie Girl Army. If you’re expecting and wondering about eco positive diapering choices, I have just written a guest blog post for GGA about cloth diapering and more – check it out!
Good luck, and don’t forget to smile at a pregnant gal today!
We have been doing some new product development projects in the past few (well, several is actually more like it) months, and the first big project is now complete: our very own, first-ever, totally fabulous print organic fabric! Suzanne christened it “Magenta Mandala” after seeing my daughter’s Mandala coloring book on a recent visit to our home. Before I get into the rest of the story, a huge thank you is in order to all of you who have asked for print/color organic Lunapads over the years – thank you so much for your patience and encouragement.
We are extremely picky about our fabric choices, and finding the right fabric at the right price from the right people and place has taken some doing. We are very fortunate to have partnered with an extremely talented fabric print designer: Harmony Susalla from Harmony Arts, whose print “Eyes of the World” was adapted with custom colors for Lunapads. Harmony’s inspiration for the print was “the centers of flowers, which can be so intricate. If you stop to take a close look.. a whole world often opens up.” A perfect fit for Lunapads, particularly if one reads flowers as “flow-ers”
Choosing the colors was a group effort, and in the end was a close call between magenta and a deep shade of lavender. I like to think of the colors as symbolic: magenta for female power, and green for our beautiful planet. As for the color that got away, know that this is just the first of many of these wonderful fabrics: our long-term goal is to switch completely to organic cotton, so stay tuned. Here’s a link to Harmony’s take on the project, just to round things out in the mutual admiration department. All our organic Pads, Pantyliners, Kits and 3-Packs are on sale this month, so don’t wait to stock up and enjoy!
