Nudea’s empowering approach to menopause awareness and wellness
This Menopause awareness month, B-Corp certified, sustainable underwear brand Nudea is on a mission to redefine the conversation around menopause, particularly its impact on women’s breasts.
By encouraging women to check their bra size before, during, and after this life-changing transition, Nudea aims to maximize comfort during this period of physical and emotional changes. Not stopping there, the brand is also stepping up to support Wellbeing of Women through donations that will help improve women’s health from birth to menopause and beyond.
In this insightful interview, Nudea’s CEO and Founder, Priya Downes, discusses the brand’s dedicated initiatives and campaigns, their support for Wellbeing of Women, and the importance of education and open conversation about menopause. Nudea’s commitment to addressing this critical issue extends beyond Menopause Awareness Month, with plans to continue spotlighting topics like nutrition, exercise, breast health, and body changes throughout the year.
This innovative approach and the positive feedback from their community further strengthen Nudea’s determination to support women on their menopausal journey, both physically and emotionally.
“We’re extremely proud to be supporting Wellbeing of Women this October. In everything we do, we aim to be fully inclusive and encourage our customers to prioritise their wellness above all else. For us, discussing this often overlooked topic throughout Menopause Awareness Month and beyond is so important to help draw attention to how it can affect breasts. Breast tenderness and shifts in both size and shape are among the many symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Throughout this turbulent time, we know how important it is for women to feel supported not only emotionally but physically and wearing the right bra can really make a difference.” commented Priya Downes, Nudea’s CEO and Founder
Can you provide an overview of any new initiatives or campaigns your brand has launched in the past 12 months specifically addressing menopause?
In 2022, we raised awareness for Menopause Month with a series of IG Lives focused around changes in breasts during perimenopause, menopause and beyond. Nudea also gave away free Nudea Fit Tape kits to encourage women going through the menopause, to not only wear the right fitting bra to maximise comfort during this time, but also to highlight the changes in breast size and shape during and after this period.
For Nudea, this October, we’re supporting Menopause Awareness Month by encouraging women to remember to check their bra size before, during and after this time of life to ensure they can be as comfortable as possible as their bodies go through a variety of symptoms including breast changes. In addition, we’re supporting Wellbeing of Women via Work For Good by raising funds to help the charity work towards its goal to improve women’s health throughout their lives from birth to menopause and beyond.
This month 10% of sales of all products on Nudea.com will be donated to Wellbeing of Women, They are the only UK charity dedicated to funding research, education and advocacy across all of women’s reproductive and gynaecological health, including menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, gynaecological cancers, menopause and incontinence. They raise money to invest in medical research and the development of specialist doctors and nurses working in these fields.
And, Nudea will be hosting a conversation with medical research scientist and nutritionist, Dr Federica Amati MPH PhD ANutr, about nutrition and the menopause and sharing top tips and advice on how eating the right things before and during the menopause can impact how you experience and overcome this period of change.
Nudea’s Fit Tape – Breast Change Awareness
Nudea will also be giving away free Nudea Fit Tapes throughout October with all shipments to new customers to encourage women going through the menopause, to not only wear a correctly fitting bra to maximise comfort during this time, but also to highlight the breast related symptoms that can take place during and after this period of life. It’s common for breasts to grow with age with many women going up a cup size or band size at least over perimenopause and beyond. This is all down to the fluctuating hormone levels which can cause so many different menopausal symptoms. As oestrogen levels decline, breasts go through a process where milk glands shut down and this breast tissue is replaced with fat. With time added to the effects of gravity, it means that firmer, younger breast tissue is slowly replaced with heavier, fattier tissue and you may notice that breasts aren’t as full as they used to be, and their size may change. Wearing a correctly fitting bra can help to support your breasts and maintain your shape when this happens. Breasts may also feel tender or sore throughout this period and wearing the right bra can hugely improve any feelings of discomfort you may have and keep you feeling supported and comfortable.
(Pic: Dr Federica Amati)
How has your Nudea’s understanding of menopause and its impact on employees or customers evolved since we last spoke abou this topic a year ago?
As an underwear brand, we know that all women will at some point go through the menopause, so it impacts our community directly given the changes in breast size, shape and breast tenderness which are all symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.
We believe that as a brand who prides itself on creating underwear designed with wearable wellness in mind, it’s important that we really understand the impact of something that will affect every one of our customers. We want to encourage our community to open up the conversation around menopause to help tackle the stigma surrounding it. Women should feel understood and not suffer in silence so it’s our responsibility to be truly inclusive and provide support in any way we can.
Have you introduced any new products or services tailored to menopausal customers in the last year?
Our signature Fit Tape allows women to check their size at home in a safe space during a period where they may be feeling vulnerable or not up to undressing in public. Although not specifically designed for menopausal customers, the Fit Tape is something those experiencing breast symptoms can keep on hand to check their size whenever they feel necessary.
In what ways has your brand engaged with the broader community or raised awareness about menopause-related issues over the past 12 months?
As above, through a variety of different marketing channels from IG Lives with Liz Earle Wellbeing and Menopause in The Workplace as well as a podcasts appearance with Made by Mammas. We are always educating and encouraging our customers through email marketing as well as spreading the word with our key stakeholders including investors and wholesale partners.
Are there any success stories or notable outcomes resulting from your menopause-related initiatives or campaigns that you can share with us?
Since we started highlighting Menopause awareness in 2022 and now more strongly this year, our customers’ feedback has been overwhelming. So many women still feel underprepared for this crucial change and we are actively educating them on what to look out for.
How does your brand plan to continue supporting menopause-related initiatives in the future, and are there any upcoming projects or campaigns related to this topic that we should look out for?
Over the past 12 months we have ramped up our support of Menopause Awareness initiatives in the month of October. However we want to extend beyond this and we will be looking to highlight sub-topics continuously throughout the year with focuses on things like nutrition, exercise, breast health and body changes.
Are there any message or advice you would like to convey to your employees, customers, or the general public regarding menopause and your brand’s commitment to addressing this important issue?
Sadly menopause is still under researched and under talked about despite the ramp up in initiatives to highlight this more to women. It’s important that as a brand we continue to educate and work with our customers to make them aware of body and breast changes at this time so they can be proactive in managing what to expect. Our customers have been really happy to receive education and tips on the topic and have been very vocal about this through their feedback and comments. This only reinforces our efforts and makes us as a brand more determined to grow with our customer, highlighting menopause as well as general wellbeing in our regular communication with them.
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The sustainable underwear brand unveiled its first-ever Sustainability Report in August 2023.
