Feminist Underwear Brand Thinx Appears To Be Imploding
Thinx employees faced a strange turn of events during an urgent, company-wide Zoom call last month. CEO Meghan Davis, sticking to a prepared statement, announced a major shift: Thinx was to be absorbed by Kimberly-Clark, its parent company known for Kotex and Kleenex, leading to widespread layoffs. Out of a 109-person team, 95 members were informed of their impending job loss.
Employees found themselves in a serious bind; to qualify for severance, they had to remain with the company until May. A handful were given the chance to stay on as Kimberly-Clark employees, with the risk of forfeiting their severance if they declined the offer. Kimberly-Clark assured them that Thinx would maintain its market presence without significant changes for the time being, with a collection launch scheduled for April still in the pipeline.
However, according to insights from four individuals closely connected to the company, who chose to remain anonymous, the once proudly feminist brand, with a conference room in New York named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has been on a decline for almost two years.
Thinx initially established itself as a "disruptive" digital consumer company with a genuinely innovative and controversial new product—period-and urine-absorbing underwear. Its early branding strategy was also...interesting. Some other first ad campaigns used an image of a grapefruit that suggested a bloody vagina, while others featured transgender men. This bizarre approach could've had something to do with their eventual demise since many women aren't interested in political statements when buying underwear. It does seem that they weren't able to reach mainstream female customers given that their slow decline began shortly after launching in Target and Walmart in 2017.
"We once led the market in period underwear, but we lost our edge when we stopped championing the causes our customers admired us for," explained a former team member, apparently attributing Thinx's failure to its more mainstream advertising approach in recent years. And by "mainstream," I just mean more ads without depictions of menstrual blood and transgender models.
Ironically, the company was also rocked by controversy and challenges, including a lawsuit against former co-founder Miki Agrawal for sexual harassment, which eventually led to her stepping down from her CEO position. Agrawal allegedly touched employees' breasts and was frequently "rude" in the office before being replaced.
To make matters even worse, Thinx also had to pay $5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of misrepresenting its products as nontoxic because their products carried trace amounts of PFAS, which can be harmful. Thinx's previously loyal following was livid and blasted their social media accounts with angry messages.
The price point of Thinx products also became a contentious issue as more affordable alternatives entered the market. Price at $35 for a single pair of underwear, Thinx simply could no longer compete with much less expensive period options being produced by brands like Hanes and Knix. Despite many attempts to innovate and adjust, the brand has faced continued declining online sales, and the future looks bleak.
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