We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Susie Hewson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Susie below.

Susie , appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I saw a documentary about the toxic impact on our water, soil and air, of effluent from the pulp and paper industry using chlorine bleaching. Major menstrual product manufacturers were interviewed,
who typically insisted there was nothing to be worried about. That attitude made me angry because,
I knew, through the campaigns of Greenpeace and the Women’s Environmental Network, that
dioxins were a toxic problem. The huge amounts of plastics and super absorbents, commonly used in
disposables, had to be designed out. I was in my bathroom and at precisely 1am, I decided the best
way to make a difference was to put something into the market that was a challenger brand. I’d
never done anything like this before but considered myself well educated and figured I could
probably work it out. Anger can be a great motivator for change.
First step to identify a solution to the pulping problem and I knew from my time living in Sweden
that the government there was also really interested in controlling this pollution issue.  So I started
researching Scandinavian pulping mills by ringing up organizations, and eventually, I found a mill in
Finland that would produce pulp that was totally chlorine free.  I have been very fortunate with all
my suppliers that I’ve often made a connection with someone who felt like I did. With the mill, the
person I talked to could see the impact the pulping was having on the environment through the
changes in the water and the wildlife around the mill and wanted to help me.  Then I found a few
factories in Sweden which would produce my products to the specifications I designed.  This was
stage one.
I wrote a business plan and took it around to every branded bank.  It was 1989, and being a
woman, they just weren’t interested. None of the envelopes containing my plans had even been
opened, bar one.  The business needed capital to get started, so my student days bank provided a
£90k [$117K] overdraft facility, guaranteed by a proportion of the value of our house. These were
the days without the internet, home printers or faxes, but a fantastic reference library where I spent
most of my time researching and compiling information I needed to register a medical device,
explore market data, find out where my markets were likely to be, who are the buyers and how to
reach them. Designing packaging, at least I had previous for this task! Reviewing this seems so
simplified, but trust me, the learning curve was steep.  I knew I was about to disrupt the industry and
I had to also surround myself with validated facts to defend my position.

A lot of start-ups today are looking to make a quick profit. Significantly, my business evolved out of
a campaign. My motivation was bringing about change in an honest way and the fact that I was
making inroads – like any campaigner – was a measure of my success.  I see companies coming up
now that take a particular market position taking millions of dollars in investment. Their whole aim is
to build market share and then sell. My objective was completely different. I put in all that time and
effort because as a brand and a company, we were building a future. I wasn’t interested in rating our
achievement by how much money we were making, I wanted our value to be how much potential
we had to make a difference.  As it turned out, we also ended up becoming a profitable business and
creating a growth category in the industry.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an environmentalist at heart but I spent nine years working as a graphic designer in London. I took a few years off to learn Swedish and how to weave and cross country ski! Along the way I
gathered resilience and skills and awareness that rules can be changed for the better. This was not
my industry. I had zero knowledge about manufacturing, but from my design education I knew how
to set about solving problems and this campaign related to big issues relating to women’s health and
the environment. The reasons we have been so successful is, apart from being a disruptive, pioneer
brand, that we have had control of what we do; not deviated from the objective of resolving a
consumer and environmental problem; consistently created high quality, innovative products; never
made misleading or false claims so we retain consumer trust. It’s essential to me that we never
compromise on our ethos. Natracare is set apart from others in that it leads the field in plant-based,
plastic-free, compostable period products, being the brand which has continuously been recognised
as the innovator in the organic and natural category. But most of all, Natracare stands clear on its
integrity as an ethical brand. By designing for change, our range contains alternatives to
conventional disposable period products to include: certified organic, 100% cotton tampons ( no
plastic applicators or synthetic materials) a full range of disposable period pads and liners that have
been tested and validated to ASTM D6400 and EN13432 for their biodegradability and
compostability so they can be bio-recycled – a virtuous design circle. There is also the campaign to
force change in flushable wipes, by designing the first moist tissue (wipes)  to pass an accredited
flushable standard created by the water and sewage industry, and which meant others needed to
follow us to keep pace with market demand for products which do not damage the environment or
their sewers.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

You know you’ve got something right, when you start needling bigger brands. Raising issues they find controversial, of which there are many, the process is to attempt to shut you up or deflect the
argument.
In the USA, 1996, independent research, which included Natracare 100% cotton tampons, was
published pointing to the risk for toxic shock syndrome and the types of fibers used in tampons,
concluding that the best way to reduce the risk was to use 100 % cotton tampons. The day of
publication, the tampon industry rolled out its PR damage limitation directly attacking Natracare and
the independent research. I was shocked but at the same time realized the responsibility that I now
had as an educator to highlight the lies, market-speak and arrogance of the corporate menstrual
hygiene brands. For me, it was a critical battle point of the campaign and of the future survival of my
business.  I always made sure that whatever I said about a product or process, I had the validation to
defend the claims.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Innovation, integrity, quality and validation. Persistence with our honesty and measurable sustainability. ….. and at an affordable cost – our reputation sees us distributed in over 80 countries
around the world, and climate issues puts us in the sphere of solutions to resource management and
end of life recyclability.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.natracare.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natracare/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Natracare
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/natracare/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/natracare?s=20

Image Credits
Images provided by Natracare