The Glossy 50 celebrates individual changemakers. They include executives who took their companies into new, competitive categories, industry newcomers who disrupted age-old processes, dealmakers who led groundbreaking partnerships and creatives whose work managed to cut through the noise. More from the series →
The Changemakers: These passionate advocates forwarded fashion or beauty for good.
August co-founder Nadya Okamoto is successfully disrupting the period care space.
August, which sells sustainable, inclusive, gender-free menstrual care products, launched at the height of the pandemic in 2020. In its first year in business, the company crossed the $1 million sales threshold. This year, it launched in 400 Target stores across the U.S. and expanded its executive team with the hire of a marketing vp. Now, August is in the process of raising a bridge round from existing investors for an undisclosed amount. According to Pitchbook, the company has raised $5.6 million to date.
In October, Okamoto, alongside a coalition of period care founders from brands including The Honey Pot, Saalt, Cora, Lola, Rael, Here We Flo and Diva, announced The Tampon Tax Back Coalition. Historically, period care products have been subject to a luxury tax that is placed on products considered non-essential. And, according to Period Law, a group of lawyers who volunteer their time to advance state and federal period equity policies, consumers pay nearly $80 million in taxes related to period care purchases annually. But thanks to the coalition, consumers across more than 20 U.S. states can now be refunded the sales tax they are charged on these products.
“My end goal is to change the culture around periods and change the system,” Okamoto said. “Changing the system for me is taking down the tampon tax and having legislation put in place so that period products are freely accessible at places like schools, shelters and prisons.”
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The way the initiative currently works is simple: Consumers can visit the coalition’s site and request a refund for eligible items sold by any of the eight participating brands. Once approved, shoppers will be reimbursed via Venmo or PayPal. Though the initiative is currently independently run by Okamoto and her team, the goal is for the program to eventually be fully funded by the government.
“When August launched in Target earlier this year, we lost authority over that point of purchase because it’s through a third-party retailer,” Okamoto said. “But we figured out a workable system, where people can text us a picture of their receipt and we’ll Venmo them back. That tech already existed. It was just a matter of applying it to the tampon tax.”
Sharing that process with other period care brands led to the formation of The Tampon Tax Back Coalition.
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“From the beginning of August, we’ve always spoken very publicly about not wanting to gatekeep anything that is good for the world,” Okamoto said.
With the next round of funding, Okamoto said priorities will include expanding August’s retail presence to “wherever people get their period care” and continuing to focus on new legislation.
As for what’s next on the legislative agenda, Okamoto said, “We’ve seen almost 20 states take down the tampon tax in the last 10 years, and there are 20 left to go. Those states don’t currently recognize period products as necessities and thus exempt them from any sales tax, and we believe they absolutely should.”
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