Ready to put the ‘stain’ in ‘sustainability’? Berlin-based fashion brand LELEKTRA has just launched a line of reusable menstrual pads out of her shared Kreuzberg atelier. While the studio only opened three years ago, designer Elektra has been creating upcycled avant-garde clothing since 2010.
You can use them for many, many years without creating a lot of trash.
Now she’s using her eco-friendly flair to bring menstruating Berliners handmade, breathable and reusable sanitary pads made of all-natural materials. Available in a variety of colours, patterns and levels of thickness, they’re inclusive when it comes to both fashion and flow.
The inspiration for the period pieces is twofold: “You can use them for many, many years without creating a lot of trash,” Elektra says of the environmental benefits of reusable pads. “The other reason was pointing out the stigma surrounding menstruation, because I grew up with that and I feel like it’s still in our society that we don’t talk about it.”
I feel like it’s still in our society that we don’t talk about it.
Though ‘pointing out’ is putting it lightly: the shop window displays a giant red drop, floating pads with fittingly spread wings and posters plastered with eco-feminist manifestos. It’s clear that Elektra is out for blood in more ways than one.
But if saving the planet and smashing the patriarchy weren’t enough of an incentive to try reusable pads, the reduced risk of causing skin irritation and longterm cost-effectiveness are other good reasons to give them a go. So next time the crimson tide rolls in, pick up some pads from LELEKTRA to survive your cycle sustainably.
- ONEOFAKIND Schönleinstr. 26, Kreuzberg, details.
