MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: LUÜNA NATURALS

 

By Claudia Lee

Founder of LUÜNA naturals Olivia Cotes-James was 26 when she realised her negative period symptoms were caused by the conventional cotton and non-cotton materials used in traditional pads and tampons. After switching to organic cotton alternatives and later the period cup, she understood how life-changing it is to have the right period products and education about your body.

Through her research, she saw how many of us struggle with negative periods due to toxin-filled products, taboo-fuelled attitudes and for some, the complete inaccessibility to period care.

She knew then that we deserved a new kind menstrual health brand; one built by people who actually have periods, driven by purpose, with an uncompromising approach to ethical product innovation. It was important to Olivia that Period Poverty was acknowledged too, so the company has been built with a social impact model with a portion of profits going back to supplying LUÜNA period care to those in need.

Period Poverty refers to a lack of access to sanitary products and menstrual hygiene, a problem concerning 800 million women and girls worldwide.

By bringing conscious period products into the market and educating women in Asia about menstrual hygiene, Olivia and her women-led team are on a mission to make periods better for current and future generations.

 

BUILDING A MISSION-DRIVEN COMPANY

LUÜNA’s naturals is more than just a period care company.  They are working to make periods better through conscious products and programs that tackle menstrual stigma. Their line of award-winning period care uses organic and skin-loving materials which are healthier for our bodies and preferred by mother nature too. Beyond this, their initiatives shift policy around menstrual health to promote gender equality and tackle period poverty.

DEVELOPING CONSCIOUS PERIOD CARE PRODUCTS

LUÜNA sell their period care online, in a number of top retailers in Hong Kong (such as Watsons) and to corporates and schools.

The company offers toxin-free period care products ranging from pads and liners to tampons and period cups. The cotton used in LUÜNA’s period care line is certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard, a standard ensuring that the cotton is ethically sourced and toxin-free.

The reusable LUÜNA period cup was developed after a lengthy R&D process. Made of super soft medical-grade silicon that, makes it especially comfortable and easy to use for first timers.

LUÜNA’s ethical and sustainably sourced product also minimizes the vast plastic waste created by traditional products: the company has saved over 800,000 plastic disposable products from going to landfill through sales of its period cups (and for every cup sold, they donate a cup!).

A SOCIAL IMPACT BUSINESS MODEL THAT TACKLES PERIOD POVERTY

The brand places a strong emphasis on their social-impact business model. As of 2021, LUÜNA has donated over 35,000 sanitary pads to vulnerable communities in Asia. LUÜNA’s Marketing and Development Director Becks Bradley shared that they have recently partnered with The Zubin Foundation to compile their ‘Red Box’, which offers four months’ worth of period products to Hong Kong girls from low-income families to whom period-care is considered a significant financial burden.

DEBUNKING MYTHS AND TACKLING PERIOD TABOOS THROUGH EDUCATION

Menstrual Stigma is present worldwide, it just looks different depending on where you are. It’s no different in Asia, many period myths and taboos still exist here too.

“In 2016 Olympic Swimmer Fu Yuan Hui went viral for openly discussing how her period affected her swimming. In China, the discussion was centred around how she went swimming when she had her period while in America people were shocked, she’d mentioned per period publicly”, explains Becks.

The LUÜNA team works with corporates and schools to open up the dialogue surrounding period care and menstrual health. They also post regular thought leadership content on their blog and Instagram, creating aesthetic and accessible content to eliminate the notion of periods being ‘dirty’ and negative. Becks adds, “going forward, we will be talking to more experts, including gynaecologists and other health professionals in order to establish even more expertise and quality content.”

 

CREATING MORE GENDER EQUAL WORKPLACES

The team are also working closely with schools, restaurants, hotels and corporates in Hong Kong and China to make LUÜNA period products more widely available through their initiative, A BETTER PERIOD.

“Menstrual stigma hinders gender equality, health & sustainability in the workplace. Tackling this can forever change these organizations (and our world) for the better” says Bradley.

The initiative creates a more gender equal workplace by providing access to period care, offering educational workshops and internal perks to offer discounted period products to staff and students. Every purchase continues to support the donation of period products and education to local communities in need too.

Given the more sustainable nature of the products, the move is environmentally friendly too – conventional period care takes upwards of 100 years to degrade whereas Luüna’s takes less than a year. “It’s not just gender equality the initiative helps business’s tackle but a number of UN goals such as no poverty, good health and well-being and climate action”. 6,000+ staff and students across Hong Kong and China now with access to free LUÜNA period products and educational curriculum in offices & schools through this policy.

Sustainability is not only about the environment but it is also about making sure the people are treated fairly and equitably while being involved in all aspects of the F&B industry. We were so pleased that these menstrual products can be found in some of our Member restaurant bathrooms, meaning when women are out and about, they are considered and won’t have to worry about looking for an emergency product if they need it.