1. What problem does Kind Cup solve?
Kind Cup makes periods more convenient and sustainable. This ergonomically designed cup was created to compliment the natural curvature and movements of the body, and as a result offers incredible comfort, efficiency and effectiveness to the user. At the same time, it contributes to a positive impact on the planet.
The Kind Cup ethos of “kind to your body, the earth, and others”, all plays out perfectly in one little silicone cup.
2. Tell us about the founder. What is their background?
CHRISTINE BROWN
Founder and Designer of Kind Cup
Kind Cup designer and founder Christine Brown launched the company with a vision of creating a menstrual cup that sets a new standard for quality, sustainability, and accessibility. Christine was driven to design and develop a form-fitting cup to better fit the natural curves of our bodies and movements. Christine’s design has dramatically improved the menstrual cup by making it ergonomically correct, more trusted, and comfortable. The Kind Cup also makes periods more green and sustainable, not to mention affordable, for all people.
An institutional design specialist and lifelong design hobbyist, Christine is passionate about optimizing the world for inclusivity as a queer, hard-of-hearing, and non-binary individual. She started Kind Cup while working as an American Sign Language instructor at Ventura College in Ventura, California, using her teaching earnings to fund the company. In teaching and international education administration roles, Christine was committed to creating intersectional learning environments that supported curiosity and empowered students to think critically.
Christine successfully applied their accessibility-focused design thinking to design and development roles at institutions as varied as the Siena School for Liberal Arts in Siena, Italy, and Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. At both institutions, they focused on increasing accessibility through Deaf Studies partnerships and programming.
3. How did they come up with the idea?
Christine Brown has been focused on the environment since a child, and a calling to reduce waste has been an integral part of her journey. In the late 1990s, Christine Brown, as a 6th grader, noticed soda cans spilling out of the overflowing trash bins. After a few days of sorting and collecting the cans after each school luncheon, Brown proposed an initiative to the Student Body to offer recycling bins. This resulted in a new leadership position of Environmentalist being added to the board, which Brown headed, holding the Treasurer position the following year, and finally leading the student body as President in the 8th grade.
Brown attended Mount Holyoke College, the first all-women’s college in the world, graduating in three years with a major in Critical Social Thought – aka, thinking deeply, a degree and mindset that proved particularly advantageous to becoming an entrepreneur.
Fast forward, Christine Brown, an institutional design specialist and lifelong design hobbyist, was an immediate fan of menstrual cups after discovering them in 2011. But after seeing more of the same designs instead of the needed design improvements, Brown decided to take matters into her own hands in designing and launching a medical device company, Kind Cup, in 2017.
The vision, to create a menstrual cup that set a new standard for quality, sustainability, and accessibility. The result, an eco-friendly menstrual product that not only reduces single use period product waste, but provides a more positive experience with their bodies, their cycles, and a better period overall.
Over a fourth of the world’s population menstruates. However, flushed and thrown away single-use period products create over 200,000 tons of waste per year. Waste from these products used for a few hours takes decades to hundreds of years to break down. Christine Brown, Kind Cup, is committed to changing that.
4. How can this transform the world or our day-to-day lives?
As an environmentalist, Designer, Founder & Entrepreneur, Christine Brown is changing the way people think about sanitary products, their bodies & the planet.
“It’s taken way too long to revolutionize period products. The Kind Cup is a reusable menstrual cup that is intentionally designed to better fit the natural curves of our bodies and movements. This has resulted in a more comfortable, reliable cup that is easy to use. We didn’t change periods. We just made a better period product,” says Christine Brown, Kind Cup designer and founder. “Our form-fitting cup comes in two size options and allows menstruators to eliminate single-use waste, leading to an incredibly positive impact on the environment while saving thousands of dollars.”
With Kind Cup, people can go green for the environment and their bodies. Kind Cup is dedicated to helping the environment and the entire materials sourcing and manufacturing/production keep their carbon footprint to a minimum.
What’s more, Kind Cup’s core philosophy is that everyone deserves access to healthy and reliable menstrual products, and partners with local nonprofit Direct Relief to help achieve this goal. No women should be denied access to menstrual products. Period.
5. What do customers love most about the product?
Kind Cup did not invent the first menstrual cup, but they have greatly improved it by making it green and, notably, ergonomically correct, more trusted, and comfortable. The cup’s patented design is unique featuring a custom angled upper ring, is available in 2 cup sizes to fit your body & needs, has curves for comfort, a longer stem right where you want it, and offers higher capacity. Kind Cup was awarded a Patent for Design that incorporates industry-leading ergonomic design, comfort and overall ease of use.
It is the perfect period product for all people with periods, and is especially game-changing when it comes to sport, travel and outdoor leisure pursuits:
- It offers long use time, and can be worn up to 12 hours before emptying.
- It has a flexible fit with a patented ergonomic design that anatomically fits the natural curvature of the body.
- It can withstand extreme sports and physical activity and is highly unlikely to leak.
- The cup stays in place, adapting to your body’s movement when active.
Kind Cup is a trailblazer in the menstrual cup space and the ergonomically-correct design is what makes it different from the traditional bullet-shaped cups on the market. This is what customers love about it! It is about revolutionizing the menstrual cup industry for all, and promising better period management, while being considerate to the environment.
6. Where can people get this product?