Karla Welch wants to make periods cool.
“Periods? Soon everyone will want one,” she quipped. “What happens if we make a period a superpower? Because it is a superpower.”
The expert celeb stylist, working with the likes of Justin Bieber, Karlie Kloss and Olivia Wilde, has been using her fashion expertise to create an accessible, sustainable menstruation product, while addressing period poverty with her brand The Period Co., which launched in 2020. Welch cofounded the brand with Sasha Markov.
The company sells period underwear in sizes ranging from XS to 6XL and in an array of styles, including boyshorts and an adaptive offering. Prices range from $9 to $28. The brand is now available in 1,200 Walmart doors and is expected to reach $20 million in sales this year, according to industry sources. The business has tripled each year since its launch.
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While period underwear existed prior to The Period Co., Welch knew that with her fashion background and passion for the category, she could create something better and more accessible.
“I knew that there was period underwear on the market without a doubt, but it was very niche,” she said. “It wasn’t the product I wanted.”
At the same time, Welch said she had become “obsessed with the amount of waste [she] was creating every single month.” From there, it was a “lightbulb moment” to create her own sustainable period underwear that also addressed a larger issue: period poverty.
“We don’t take huge margins because we want to have impact, because we want to make change, and we want to be accessible to people,” Welch said.
For starters, the price point was key. The Period Co. underwear is affordable in comparison to other options on the market; some are nearly $40 a pair.
In addition to this, Welch has ensured that the brand takes an education-first approach.
“We are all about talking to our community and galvanizing our community. When we launched, we took that Zappos customer service initiative, and we still do. If anybody has a question about periods, we’ll pick up the phone and talk to them,” she said. “We’re having people talk about their period and finding a space that is safe and welcoming for them to do so.”
Most notably, Welch has invested heavily in The Period Co.’s charitable mission since the beginning, though some advised her not to.
“We had a couple advisers being like, ‘Wait till you’re making more money,’ and I was like, ‘No, literally, that’s just not who we are,'” she said. “It’s a human rights crisis that period poverty exists. One in four girls in the United States doesn’t have products, and the numbers are even higher globally.”
Welch also cocreated The Period Abundance Foundation, an organization that aims to address period poverty. The Period Co.’s sales also support this organization. Most recently, The Period Abundance Foundation has partnered with global NGOs to donate products to 1 million girls over the next two years in several regions, spanning Argentina, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Rwanda and more.
“The Period Co. of course donates to and provides product at super low costs, but it’s not limited to period underwear. It’s reusable pads. It’s cups. It’s anything that’s sustainable,” Welch said. “We work with what I guess you consider competition over there with donations.”
While The Period Co.’s continued growth at Walmart over the last two years has been a proof point for the period underwear category, the company’s global accessibility mission that will always be at the core of the business.
“[Period poverty] is so solvable, and it’s solvable in a sustainable way,” she said.