At Revol Girl, we are a rapidly growing company of diversity. We have come far from our humble beginnings of me, Sara, the Founder, cutting and sewing everything on my own, to introducing 3 staff and an intern, Revol Girl has grown immensely and with each new person on the team, we get new ideas and feedback from very different walks of life.
My partner Mayo Santos is also my business partner, and together we are able to work together to create the absolute best product on the market. I often say that he knows everything he possibly could know about menstruating without ever having actually experienced it. He is a true ally to intersectional feminism, as he fights to break the gender taboo around menstruation, believing that men should know just as much about it as any menstruator. He is at every market and community event, with Revol Girl, showing that men can talk openly and passionately about periods too! With our staff and us included, we offer a range of perspectives, which helps us stay in tune with customer needs and move us forward as being the most inclusive period proof underwear brand!
Tell us about Revol Girl, it’s vision, mission and values:
Revol Girl is a REVOL-utionary brand of period proof underwear. Our mission is to create empowering period proof underwear for ALL menstruators. That means focusing on creating a product that empowers by providing the best protection, so our customers feel secure all day in our diverse and sexy styles. Our hope is that this will allow our customers to feel confident in how they look and feel while wearing them. It is also very important to us that our underwear is size and gender inclusive, so when we talk about all menstruators, we literally mean ALL menstruators. Every single menstruator deserves the best protection and best style – whatever that may look like for them. Period. Our goal with this company, is to disrupt this archaic industry, by shaking things up and educating every menstruator on the very real and harmful effects of the products we have been taught to use. We are always evolving and making our product better because that is what our customer deserves! Not only are we focused on being a sustainable option for the environment, simply by reducing waste dramatically, but we are driven to be a sustainable alternative for every menstruator’s body. No added chemicals, no fibres left behind inside you, and no risk of TSS, which is the most important factor of all. Lastly, we are determined to transform the menstruation industry and make free-bleeding the norm, and tampons, pads, and TSS, a thing of the past.
Where did the idea of the business come from and when?
Photo Credit: Revol Girl
It was simply a combination of several circumstances that brought me to the creation of Revol Girl. It began with my discovery and fascination with the Third Wave Feminism in the 90’s, where you saw the explosion of the Intersectional Feminists movements – which I felt really struck a chord with me. The movement focused on recognizing the different experiences and varying oppression seen in different minority groups. This is something that holds a lot of weight at Revol Girl, we are here to break every taboo we can and uplift those that need it most. During this time, I was in my final year of Kwantlen’s Fashion Design degree program, I knew I wanted to do something that related to my new found love for Intersectionality and my desire to make change and help people, and that’s when I began my research into alternative menstrual care, and just like that, the two ideas meshed and Revol Girl was born as a school project. I never actually intended to keep the brand going after school, but I got an overwhelming amount of feedback from people that wanted to buy my “product”, so I decided to go all in, and launched 7 months after school finished.
What kind of things do you do to further your mission of education and policy advancement in this area?
We are constantly finding new ways to educate anyone and everyone on this new alternative, all that matters to me is that people know that they have more options than just store-bought tampons and pads. We leave our business cards in bathroom stalls, in the tampon and pad isles of grocery stores, and we attend local markets, where people can come and see our products in person and learn everything there is to know about period panties! We never shame anyone into thinking what they are doing is wrong or bad, instead, it’s just about opening people up to the idea of a new way of menstruating.
How is what you do distinctive?
We focus on providing the best kind of absorption and coverage possible, and what is really unique about us is that we offer our customers the ability to customize the level of protection. Not everyone bleeds the same amount, so having the ability to customize all your period undies to be heavy or all to be light, etc, give the customer the power to match any of the styles they love to their flow.
Photo Credit: Radio-Canada / Alexandre Lamic
What kinds of things does your business do for the community?
Right now, we are incredibly focused on creating a safe space and strong community for menstruators, we do so by creating a space on social media where everyone feels comfortable talking about their different experience, by being incredibly open and willing to talk to anyone that has question at local markets, and lastly, by we have been using our email as a sort of safe-space/pen pal platform for anyone that has questions or simply just wants someone to talk to. In most cases, they get an immediate response from the team, because we are always open to talk!
What are your most remarkable and inspiring projects?
We have several goals and projects on the run at any given time, but the most remarkable thing that we do, is we address needs on an individualistic basis. We have had people who at the time could not afford the underwear, (which we know is initially pricey – but it comes with the high quality and handmade aspects of the garment) but because we value a person’s life being revolutionized, we have been happy to offer the product at cost or in many cases, for free. We find it very important to create a culture of giving, so we give each of our employees the ability to gift one pair a week to anyone they might come into contact with. We also provide a platform for people with certain disabilities or needs, to customize their products. We work really hard to make sure everyone has the opportunity to use our period proof underwear.
Check out Revol Girl Products here. They have generously offered all Empower Health readers 10% off their products. Use the code: EMPOWER10 to get your discount today!
