What started as a market test it soon showed that there was pent-up demand for alternatives to disposable pads. When launching the first productthe founders of Pantys expected to sell initial inventory over the course of three months. The result came at a much faster pace.
“We projected stock for three months and sold out in three weeks. The validation of the business came very quickly”, he said.
What absorbent panties today seem like a consolidated category simply did not exist in Brazil when Emily Ewell and Maria Eduarda began studying the topic, about 10 years ago. There was no local reference, market education or structured demand. There was, however, a clear problem.
“I was allergic to pads and didn’t like using them. We started researching and saw that 90% of people were dissatisfied and open to trying something new. And we saw the issue of safety, leaks. This is a big issue that I think is a big frustration for anyone”, says Maria Eduarda Camargo, CMO and co-founder of Pantys.
It was then based on this personal pain and a market gap that the aunt and niece structured a business that combines product innovation with a female well-being ecosystem.
Emily Ewell, an American chemical engineer, arrived in Brazil with experience in hygiene and pharmaceutical multinationals. On the other, his niece Maria Eduarda Camargo, administrator, with experience in financial consultancy and studies focused on the female market.
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“I have always been very passionate about the health and innovation market. When I moved to Brazil, I saw that there was a very strong ecosystem for creating new products”, said Emily, who is married to Eduarda’s uncle.
Maria Eduarda, with a family history in the textile industry and training in administration, already had the intention of starting a business. “We related a personal pain to a real market pain. The proposal was to create absorbent panties with enough technology to replace traditional pads and be reusable, comfortable and hypoallergenic”, says the CMO.
The businesswomen participated in the program From Zero to Topwhich tells the stories of successful companies.
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Tests and errors until development
The product took around a year and a half to develop. The process involved technical tests and constant modeling and absorption adjustments.
“We did a lot of research to understand why this market was so dissatisfied. Leaks, discomfort and waste generation appeared all the time”, explained Maria Eduarda.
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The responsibility was greater because it was a category that did not exist in Brazil. The development took place with technical partners, but with its own technology. “We built everything in-house. That’s why we have a patent,” said Emily.
The initial validation allowed the expansion to be financed without resorting to external investment.
“The break-even came in the same year. We launched in August and, in December, the company was already balanced”, says Maria Eduarda.
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The path chosen was to build scale from the operation itself. The proximity to consumers, according to the founders, helped guide the evolution of the portfolio and communication. Pantys already has lines for first menstruation, breastfeeding, incontinence, male products and new female well-being segments.
“It’s not innovating for the sake of innovating. It’s solving real problems for real people”, says the CEO.
Pantys was born digital and maintains e-commerce as its main channel, but has expanded to physical retail and pharmacy chains. Today, the brand is present in thousands of points of sale and has already begun internationalization, with a presence in European markets.
To find out more details about Pantys’ trajectory, see the full episode on . The program is available in its podcast version on the main streaming platforms such as , , , and
About From Zero to Top
The Do Zero ao Topo podcast is a production of InfoMoney and brings, every week, the stories of prominent women and men in the Brazilian market to tell their story, sharing the biggest challenges faced along the way and the main strategies used in building the business.
