Eco Femme is a women-led social enterprise in Tamil Nadu, India, that produces organic washable cloth pads.[1] [2] Eco Femme was founded in 2009 in Auroville (a UNESCO-backed evolving city)[3] [4] by Kathy Walkling and Jessamijn Miedema who started by producing, applying and selling these washable menstrual pads in Auroville.[4] [5] The aim was to produce pads that are both affordable and free of plastic.[6] They were also interested in designing a sustainable alternative to disposable pads for the women of India as well as setting up self sustaining initiatives in cloth pad production for women from the neighbouring villages.[4] [5] All commercially sold pads are organically certified under GOTS[7] and Eco Femme is the first in this space to have achieved this certification. The cloth pads are mostly made out of organic cotton[8] [9] and can last up to 75 washes or for three to five years from the time of purchasing.[10] These pads are sold in more than 20 countries across the world. By 2022, Eco Femme has distributed over 1 million cloth pads which consequently saved more than 75 million single use disposable pads from reaching landfills.[11]
Eco Femme enables women and girls to make educated decisions about their menstrual health in India and around the world by creating a dialogue around menstruation and offering education in menstrual literacy.[12] [13] They run two initiatives to enable free or affordable access to cloth pads. These include ‘Pad for Pad’ which provides an Indian adolescent girl with a free cloth pad kit for every pad sold internationally.[10] [14] Their "Pads for Sisters" programme provides subsidised pads to economically disadvantaged women[10] Eco Femme has different partners across India, including 80 NGOs and 150 retailers.[11]
Eco Femme has been recognised for these efforts by different institutions.[15] It aims to encourage ecological and social transformation by revitalising menstrual practices that are empowering, ecologically sustainable, culturally sensitive and healthy for the user.[16] Eco Femme has also conducted training programs on how to stitch cloth pads to support income generation and local livelihood for rural women.[17] It also creates instructional materials, teaches facilitators, provides consulting services, and uses writing, filmmaking, and public speaking to advocate for non-polluting menstruation practises.[18]
The Huffington Post listed Eco Femme as one of the “15 Indian Businesses That Deserve Your Custom For Promoting Sustainability".[19] It has also been named as one of the “5 Social Impact Startups Revolutionising Feminine Care Across Asia” by the Green Queen.[20] It won crQlr’s Menstruation Sustainability Prize in 2022 for being a ‘pioneer in menstrual education in India’ [21] and ‘enabling women and girls to make informed decisions about their menstrual health through their non-profit programs’. Eco Femme also won the Restore Awards in 2022 for their health products.[22]
Eco Femme has been featured on different podcasts, where they have discussed their mission to provide sustainable menstrual products and education to women in India and beyond.