How do period panties work - and which one clicks?

And it clicked. Once again. When our founder Daniel read Guilia Enders' bestseller “Darm mit Charme” (“Bowels with Charm”) and learned that we all go to the toilet the wrong way and should squat during bowel movements, it was a real revelation for him and the initial trigger for the development of the stuul toilet stool. Then there was another 'aha' moment when, as part of his 'stuul activities', he learned that we all clean ourselves incorrectly after a bowel movement. Water is much more thorough and hygienic than toilet paper and also better for the environment. So we added the Bidetlity bidet hand-shower to our shop collection. And now there was another moment of enlightenment recently: it's about the monthly menstruation and here, too, most women unfortunately seem to be doing something fundamentally wrong.

To get to the bottom of this phenomenon, Daniel invited Janina Breitling for an interview. With her start-up nookees, she successfully markets a very clever alternative to pads and tampons from the drugstore - reusable, made of organic cotton and with a click fastener.

Daniel:
Hello Janina, I am absolutely thrilled with your nookees. Not only do you offer many women a real relief, you also attach great importance to the topic of sustainability and have developed a really convincing business model from it. But first, why don't you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

Janina:
You and I have known each other for a while because I worked in television with one of your best friends many years ago. And that's almost where the story of nookees begins. Almost. In 2016, I quit my TV job and went on a trip around the world with my then five-year-old son Max. The plan was one year until he started school - it turned into six. During the trip, I very successfully published a blog, a podcast and a book about our journey. And used washable menstrual pads along the way. But they didn't work and that's how I came up with the idea of nookees.

Daniel:
What is nookees anyway and how did you come up with it? I thought you were a journalist?

Janina:
Yes, exactly. And at the beginning I had no idea how I could develop such a product and such a company. But I had a problem and I wanted to solve it. The pads I used when I was traveling always slipped out of place and ended up being made of plastic that contained chemicals. And when I was looking for an alternative, I just couldn't find anything suitable. I read in many forums that other women were having the same experience.

Then I thought about it: What would the perfect menstrual product look like that would be good for me as a woman and also good for the environment? That's how I came up with the idea of a pad-and-pants combination, i.e. a pad that clips into your pants. That way it can't slip (like my other pads), but can also be changed quickly (unlike period panties, which you can and should wear all day). That was the start. Then I got myself into ecological materials and fair production.

I sat at my kitchen table really from scratch, wrote emails back and forth with fabric suppliers and had various samples on the table to test the absorbency with a plastic syringe. Then I took my idea to various small tailors (we were living in Indonesia at the time) and developed nookees with them.

Daniel:
What is the big difference now compared to products that we are familiar with such as tampons and the like?

Janina:
First of all, nookees are reusable, which means they avoid a huge amount of waste. Think about how many people in the world have their period and produce waste with it. That's just crazy. And then there are no chemicals in nookees.

You may have seen the big study that came out a few weeks ago that found toxic metals in tampons. And you can extend that directly to all period products, even those that are supposedly “organic”. They often contain quite a lot of toxins. nookees, on the other hand, are only made from highly certified materials. That's why they can be washed at a super hygienic 60°C.

I always joke that you could even eat the nookees packaging because everything has been so carefully selected by me and tested for eco-friendliness. They also look great and should make women feel good about their menstruation again.

Daniel:
But you didn't just set up the start-up, you also founded a foundation. Why did you do that?

Janina:
For a long time, I only knew about menstruation as a “fellow sufferer” and was really annoyed by the whole thing. Until I took a closer look at it because I developed nookees. And it wasn't just the horrible menstrual products with toxins etc. that caught my eye, but also something called “period poverty”.

In terms of the world's population, 800 million women are affected by menstruation at the same time. So, right now, at this moment. However, 500 million of these women and girls have no access to menstrual products, education on the subject or functioning sanitary facilities. When I read that, I was really freaked out. Young girls can't go to school because without pads, the blood leaks through their clothes. They then try to stuff leaves or clay into their underpants, which of course doesn't work. So they stay at home. Many women are even banned from the house during their menstruation. In Nepal, for example, they have to sit in small stables outside the village until their menstruation is over. The women there are often raped or even die from snake bites. 2024 and as we speak, somewhere in Nepal a woman is sitting in a kind of dog kennel. Because she's on her period! Isn't that crazy?

I want to do something about this and have donated part of the profits to projects that deal with this issue right from the start. This has now resulted in the nookees Foundation, through which I currently support three projects in Nepal, Uganda and South Africa. A portion of every sale of nookees goes directly to these projects.

Daniel:
Wow! I didn't know all that. But sure. Regular bleeding in the genital area naturally leads to social stigmatization and individual problems in dealing with it. This is another topic that only affects women, but which has simply been excluded from public discussion for a long time and therefore made a taboo. It's really great that you're giving it a voice. Are there differences between the countries where you sell in terms of awareness and knowledge of the topic?

Janina:
The topic of Period Poverty isn't really on anyone's radar here yet, so I'm loud on all channels and talk about it. The topic of chemicals in products is also exciting: Customers from the USA are almost ripping the nookees out of my hands, and the reason is understandable. A few years ago, period panties came onto the market and were highly acclaimed.

But even these only work with chemicals and plastics, otherwise you couldn't wear a pair of fully bled underpants all day (as advertised) without bacteria forming, starting to stink and leaking. In 2022, PFAS* (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) were found in the largest American brand of period panties. PFAS are chemicals that can cause liver damage, thyroid disease, infertility and cancer. The manufacturer was taken to court, and since then women in America have a completely different awareness of chemicals in menstrual products.

Because nookees is 100% free of all that stuff, they love my products there. Unfortunately, this hasn't quite caught on in Germany yet, and I'm always amazed at what kind of products people buy here. But the idea that lots of nookees are being worn in New York, LA and San Francisco is pretty cool!

Daniel:
This is amazing! You probably never dreamed that women all over the world would be wearing your menstrual underwear when you started your journey with your son in 2016. Just as I would never have imagined that I would one day be selling fancy toilet stools for adults.

One last question: What advice do you have for women who have recognized the problem and now want to switch from tampons to nookees? Is there such a thing as a transition phase - perhaps with pads from the drugstore - or what would you recommend if you want to change your menstrual habits so fundamentally?

Janina:
I really wouldn't recommend sanitary pads from the drugstore to anyone, as they often contain chemicals and end up being thrown away and polluting the environment. In general: During menstruation, try to shift down a gear and maybe (if possible) work from home. And then use nookees in a relaxed manner, see how heavy the bleeding is, change the pads more often to get into a good rhythm, and then it will work. The first few days it's quite strange when everything leaks out. That was the same for me. But then it gets better and better and in the end you really start to like your periods and appreciate how great it is to have such a functioning female, cyclical body...

Daniel:
That's definitely good advice. As a man, of course, I can't possibly judge that at all, but it sounds reasonable to listen to your body a little more during this time and take it a little easier.

Janina, it was a pleasure to learn from you and I wish you all the best and continued success! We'll stay in close contact and I'm very excited to see how the nookees story continues!

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MORE ABOUT OUR INTERVIEW PARTNER

JANINA BREITLING, FOUNDER OF NOOKEES