How Here We Flo is taking the shame out of period care

Forget the PayPal mafia, let’s start the feminist mafia.” Thirteen years ago, Susan Allen and Tara Chandra were looking to fill a glaring gap in the UK market: organic tampons. They also wanted to create a brand that empowered women and reversed the stigma around periods and women’s personal care.

The idea for Here We Flo didn’t blossom in a corporate boardroom, though. It stemmed from a “classic BFF chat” in the loos on the first day of their master’s programme at the London School of Economics.

“It was instant best friend love,” says Allen. “We spoke for 10 hours straight that day and haven’t stopped talking since.”

“We studied management,” adds Chandra. “But when you do a master’s in management, no business case ever reads a woman’s name.”

That lack of female representation ignited their mission. Here We Flo’s period care range includes bamboo period pads, organic cotton tampons and bamboo panty liners. “The heart of what we do is period care,” says Chandra. “It’s about giving people the reliability they’re used to but with increased plant-based content.”

And the innovation doesn’t stop there. Earlier this year, the brand launched its heavy flow range into Tesco and Boots, aimed at women with PCOS and endometriosis. “We heard from our community that they were having difficulty finding something in the Flo range that really supported them during parts of their cycle, so we wanted to address that,” says Allen.

“The way Flo was built was around that social and consumer listening,” Chandra adds.

Incremental customers

The brand also launched thong liners with Boots earlier this year, has a sexual wellness range that includes an arousal gel and condoms, and offers pads and liners for sensitive bladders, which Allen describes as “the most stigmatised of areas we play in”.

“We’re very clear on the role we’re playing,” she says. “We bring incremental customers, something different to the category, and add to retailers’ CSR initiatives like supplier diversity. We’re ambitious and we won’t apologise for that. We’ll say: ‘We want to be X amount of your category, so how can we join together to get there?’”

Here We Flo has grown into a £10.3m business, with revenues up 66% and listings in the big four supermarkets as well as Boots, Superdrug and Holland & Barrett.

“It’s about providing an alternative answer and creating a world where people are crazy confident in these moments rather than feeling shame and stigma. We’re not here because we want to sell a billion tampons; we want people to feel like they don’t need to hide their tampons or pad up their sleeve in a restroom.”

”We want people to feel crazy confident”

That ambition costs money to deliver though, and Here We Flo’s products sit at a premium price point in a market where shoppers are watching every penny. During a cost of living crisis, can consumers afford Here We Flo’s products?

“People are trading down to own label because of the cost of living and people are trading up into bigger packs because it’s cheaper, and that’s across all of fmcg,” says Chandra. “People also feel less connection and trust with bigger brands. They’ve been afraid of the question: ‘What’s actually in my tampon?’”

And as Allen points out, even when budgets tighten, period care is a non-negotiable: “When there’s a recession or cost of living crisis, consumers have to sacrifice certain luxuries. People are investing in the things that matter most, and period care is part of that.”

That resilience isn’t just about the category being essential, it’s also about trust, which is where the brand itself does some of the work. With awareness growing around the period care products available to them, consumers want brands that speak to them, too. This is where Here We Flo excels.

“People are hungry for brands that feel authentic and that are made by real people – and for content that isn’t driven by AI,” says Chandra. “Women and people who menstruate want to see themselves reflected in the products they’re using.”

That philosophy shows up clearly in a brand identity designed to stop people in their tracks. As Allen says: “We’re funny, feminist and fierce.”

The brand uses language that speaks to its Gen Z customers – “heavy flow babes, we gotchu” reads one line promoting its heavy flow range in Boots – and  recently claimed a category first with its ‘Your Vagina Has Standards’ campaign, now a permanent message on shelf trays in Boots and used across banners on Tesco.com. It’s the first time the word “vagina” has been used in this way, the brand says.

“This is a big step forward for retailers and the category, giving consumers the confidence to use the correct anatomical language for their body parts, smashing historical stigma and supporting women’s health,” says Allen.

Their message goes beyond the shelf, too. In 2022, Here We Flo launched a TV and media campaign called ‘No More Period Dramas’. The Bridgerton-style ad shows a regal woman at a banquet table, revealing that she’s in “a bloody mess, down there”, leading to fellow diners becoming uncomfortable and one man fainting. The premise was simple: to destigmatise conversations around periods using humour.

That said, it did cause quite the stir. “When the advert went live, we had people writing in saying: ‘Dear Sirs, this is the worst ad I have seen’ because they assume businesses are run by men,” says Chandra.

Allen adds: “I would rather someone love or hate Flo marketing than be like: ‘It’s fine’. I want to invoke a feeling. We’re dealing with stigmatised categories, and using humour breaks that ice. That way we can feel empowered and continue that conversation.”

But in the end, the brand’s identity is rooted in the pair’s friendship. “When we were doing leadership coaching, we were asked: ‘Is there a separation between the friendship and business relationship?’ And we were like, no!” Allen laughs. “We have very complementary skill sets and play into each other’s strengths. We’re in it together and there’s no one else I could do it with. It’s the perfect combination.”