Oluna - Pants for Period Poverty

pledged of$25,000 goal

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Project Description

Oluna is a social impact fashion start up. For every pair of pants sold, Oluna will provide an entire year’s supply of period products to an American in need. The inability to afford or manage menstruation should not hold anyone back from educational opportunities or full societal participation. Oluna will go beyond the “one-for-one” model (criticized for fostering dependence) by donating 50% of the “Merch” proceeds to fund menstrual health and policy initiatives so that we can begin to create a foundation for long term, meaningful change.

Oluna will shine a spotlight on the United States' current policies to exclude period products from public benefits (like food stamps - SNAP or WIC); to not be covered by health insurance, Medicaid, or included in Flexible Spending Account (FSA) allowances; to not be provided in jails/prisons; to not be exempt from sales tax in the majority of states; to not be required by the FDA to disclose their ingredients; to not be readily available in schools (nurse's office), or workplace (or any) restroom.

Our target demographic is women age 10-50, with the goal to expand the product line to both genders of all ages. We hope to provide impact to homeless shelters, food banks, schools, and prisons across the United States.

By leveraging a fun and playful brand identity, I can remove the stigma from the the way we think about periods. We can rebrand the period as a common sense issue - like a nose bleed. With this in mind, I set out to design a piece of apparel that was inclusive to all women. The open-legged, soft style with colorful prints fits all body types and can be worn to either go out on the town or lounge around the house. My supply chain is comprised of all women owned businesses in Dallas, TX. I have partnered with 10 homeless shelters in the Dallas area who have agreed to supply warehouse space. Other solutions in the space operate as period-focused nonprofits. Oluna differs from current approaches as it leverages a for-profit fashion company to enact meaningful change and open the conversation to all ages, genders, and backgrounds. It is important for-profit social impact companies to work so that the model can be replicated in the future.

Why are you seeking funding and how will you spend the funding?

By We are seeking funding to grow and scale the campaign reach. Oluna has been featured in Ms Magazine, Dallas Morning News, Miami Herald, NBC5, Business Journal, Marie Claire. Now it is time to scale the team to focus on a large marketing push to get the word out there - which I can do with your help.

Updates

The Campaign FAQs

About Emmy:

Menstrual hygiene issues didn’t dawn on me until the past few years - in fact, I hardly thought about periods at all. I would have one, I would hide it - and that was the extent of my thought.

When I was an undergraduate at Penn, there was a movement in 2015 called “year of the period.” News and social media catapulted the once hush-hush topic into the open. I became particularly interested in the issue because I saw that you could approach it through every lens - be it from a research, policy, education, environment, or access approach. To me, it felt like such a common sense issue that could be approached in dynamic ways. After 2015, however, the news cycle surrounding menstruation seemed to ease up.

I had the opportunity as a film minor to attend the Cannes Film Festival with Penn. What really compounded my thoughts during the “Year of the Period was a scene in I, Daniel Blake (Palme d’Or winner at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival), when a young, single mom is accused of shoplifting at a food bank. As she empties her bag, the first item she takes out is menstrual products. The scene struck a nerve. I felt terrible that I had never stopped and considered what it might be like for those who struggle to access something that seemed like a common drugstore item. Why had I never thought about menstruation as an obstacle?

When I was in high school, I was a model signed in Dallas, New York, and Paris. I was given the opportunity to work with adults at a young age, as well as get a sneak peek into the fashion industry. I realized that the best way to continue the conversation was to create a brand. By utilizing brand identity, I could reframe the ways in which we view and talk about periods. I could leverage the industry experience and contacts from modeling to grow Oluna.

At Penn, I majored in Criminology. Through the major, I learned the impact on communities if they lack the items that should be considered a basic right, and how that ultimately leads to crime. I also dove into the problem of lack of access to period products in prisons. I chose that major because I knew I wanted to make a difference from an upstream approach to lower crime in America. I believe that I am able to do that through the lens of period poverty.

When I graduated from Penn in 2018, I created the LLC for Oluna. I, however, ended up working in real estate private equity, financing, and construction technology sales in New York City. I did not have the time there to launch Oluna, but I knew it was always the goal. Quarantine provided me with the unique opportunity of time and resources. When I moved back home to Dallas and in with my parents, I was able to save up enough money to launch the business. I also had the time to build the site, learn SEO and keyword search, find a pattern maker, choose a manufacturer and fabric distributor, create a PR Strategy, and design the brand identity for social. I’ve done it all myself up to this point - but it is time to expand and ride the wave of all the press we have recently gotten

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Just Because I Care

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