11.15.22
At Hygienix, Frantisek Riha-Scott, the founder of reusable hygiene brand Confitex, presented, “The Rise of a New Category Fusing Wovens with Nonwovens," sharing his company’s journey developing reusable absorbent products for menstrual care and incontinence. A former endurance skier, Riha-Scott says the inspiration for Confitex came to him sometime around 2015 when he was trying to complete an endurance skiing race without access to a bathroom.
As the reusable hygiene category has grown and expanded—with the help of interest from multinational companies like Essity and Kimberly-Clark—it has faced what Riha-Scott calls, the 3P challenge, price, performance and practicality. Over the past six years, there has been a race to the bottom in reusable hygiene prices with averages of reusable absorbent underwear dropping from $33 in 2016 to $15 in 2022. However, the tight margins in the category have meant most companies have had to focus only on direct to ecommerce sales instead of more traditional retail channels. Meanwhile, performance has been challenged by design flaws in some products which have caused some distrust in the category and practicality has been hurt by lower availability, high costs and a perception that resuables are not as convenient as disposables.
For Confitex, the company has addressed this suite of challenges with a mix of automation, innovation and design. Its Generation 3.0 technology has solved pricing obstacles by automating some formerly manual steps, reducing production costs by as much as 90%, Riha-Scott says. It has also allowed Confitex to expand its product lineup across feminine hygiene, incontinence and baby care products and will ultimately allow the company to cost effectively manufacture reusables anywhere in the world.
“Our products can perform at least as well as absorbent hygiene products for menstrual and light to moderate incontinence issues thanks to automation, innovation and design,” he says.
In January 2023, Confitex will start up its second manufacturing facility in Asia.
As the reusable hygiene category has grown and expanded—with the help of interest from multinational companies like Essity and Kimberly-Clark—it has faced what Riha-Scott calls, the 3P challenge, price, performance and practicality. Over the past six years, there has been a race to the bottom in reusable hygiene prices with averages of reusable absorbent underwear dropping from $33 in 2016 to $15 in 2022. However, the tight margins in the category have meant most companies have had to focus only on direct to ecommerce sales instead of more traditional retail channels. Meanwhile, performance has been challenged by design flaws in some products which have caused some distrust in the category and practicality has been hurt by lower availability, high costs and a perception that resuables are not as convenient as disposables.
For Confitex, the company has addressed this suite of challenges with a mix of automation, innovation and design. Its Generation 3.0 technology has solved pricing obstacles by automating some formerly manual steps, reducing production costs by as much as 90%, Riha-Scott says. It has also allowed Confitex to expand its product lineup across feminine hygiene, incontinence and baby care products and will ultimately allow the company to cost effectively manufacture reusables anywhere in the world.
“Our products can perform at least as well as absorbent hygiene products for menstrual and light to moderate incontinence issues thanks to automation, innovation and design,” he says.
In January 2023, Confitex will start up its second manufacturing facility in Asia.
