The dawn of ‘FemTech Fashion’ is upon us.
Blending together the world of fashion with solutions for women’s unique health issues, ‘FemTech Fashion’ will revolutionize the fashion industry to become a market all of its own.
Not yet a term a part of our everyday vernacular (okay, it didn’t exist until today), don’t be surprised when you one day see ‘FemTech Fashion’ splashed across magazine covers and giant billboards highlighting and glorifying something like leaking breast milk or vaginal sweating.
Not only will ‘FemTech Fashion’ give a voice to the issues often whispered about, but it will transform the fashion sector by creating wearable solutions that people need.
We’ve already seen the fashion industry answer for women’s needs in three-fold during COVID, and we’re beginning to see it happen again. We watched as the world began to work from home, and we watched as women began to seek out more comfortable style solutions that hadn’t existed.
It turns out no one was wanting to wear those (adorable, but not comfortable) high-waisted pants that were perfect for in-person meetings, but ceased to even be viewable on the elusive video conference call. The market answered with chic designs that made women more comfortable than ever while sitting in their home office chair.
We’ll once again see the fashion industry answer for women’s unique needs with ‘FemTech Fashion’.
What’s ironic, though, is that while women working from their home offices on video conference calls is a relatively newer concept, women having unique health issues is not. And yet, here we are just now really answering for both.
So, why are we really only beginning to create solutions for some of these once-taboo subjects while women’s unique health issues have been around for – well, forever?
Well, unfortunately, sometimes it takes a lot of people talking out loud about something, like having a period, for instance (which plot twist – periods have been happening for a while now), until solutions such as period-proof underwear are created. Women inventors and women-led brands are also increasing in numbers every year, which has helped garner more solves in the FemTech sector as a whole. No one better to create ‘FemTech Fashion’ solutions than people with first-hand knowledge on the subject, right?
From performance wear specially designed for vaginal sweating to breast leak leisurewear designed to absorb leaking breast milk, designers and brands are changing the way we think about how fashion can have a major impact on women’s health.
Investors and trend watchers, take note - with the FemTech market expected to more than double to $65 billion by 2027, it’s not an ‘if’ question, but a ‘when’ will ‘FemTech Fashion’ take over the world.
We’ve gathered three ‘FemTech Fashion’ brands below that you would swear had already existed based on the age-old issues they solve for who are helping to define the category.
1. Leaxy | A breast leak leisurewear brand putting leaking boobs at the forefront of sleek design.
Since human babies have been born, leaking boobs have been happening, but it’s not until recently that breast leak leisurewear was created to help absorb leaking breast milk. With plans to expand the line to include new designs for fashionable leakproof solutions, this is just the beginning of Leaxy making leaking breast milk a fashion statement.
2. Oya | A performance wear brand designed with vagina-friendly features.
Oya was born as a solution for women who sweat. After the founder discovered that leggings make women 2x more likely to develop health issues coupled with the fact that millions of people with vaginas were dealing with sweat and moisture related health issues, Oya was created as a line of fashionable solutions designed with women’s health in mind.
3. Become | A clothing brand designing for (peri) menopause hot flushes.
Just as leaky boobs and vaginal sweating has been happening since the dawn of human civilization, so has hot flushes from menopause. Become’s brand leverages technology woven into their clothes that takes on the short-term rise and cool in body temperature – managing the whole cycle from hot sweat to post-flush chills.
These brands are just examples of the beginning.
The future holds a world full of fashionable pieces tackling women’s unique health needs no one has yet imagined. As conversations around women’s health continue to grow louder, so will new solutions.
Will there be a future where a beautifully gem’ed headband giving us gorgeous vibes serves as a stroke detector for women’s brains? Will couture clothing that helps osteoporosis in women one day hit the runways of a fashion house out of Paris? Will there one day be a designer handbag created to serve as a ‘throw up bag’ with specially-designed disposable liners for women struggling with ‘morning sickness’ during pregnancy?
Okay, that last one is a stretch, but you catch the drift. Sky’s the limit for ‘FemTech Fashion’ as women’s unique health needs continue to garner more conversation and visionary solutions. And as ‘FemTech Fashion’ innovation continues to grow, so will the question, “Why didn’t that exist before?”
-Leigh
Founder of Leaxy