Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Massachusetts’s millionaires’ tax pays off, a Texas maternal health committee appoints a staunch anti-abortion activist, and Fortune’s Lila MacLellan explains how period underwear brand Thinx grew up. Have a lovely Tuesday.
– Period piece. As I wandered the aisles of a chain superstore in suburban Toronto recently, I noticed a pile of Thinx period underwear boxes waiting to be organized and properly displayed. It was mildly surprising, like recognizing music by an alternative, indie band of your youth playing in the background of a primetime commercial.
Thinx was one of the most prominent startups of the mid-2010s, the direct-to-consumer golden era. Miki Agrawal, the company’s cofounder and initial CEO, came to be rockstar famous in places like New York and L.A. as she put the concept of reusable absorbent underwear on the retail map, blending feminist ideals, a fashionable aesthetic, innuendo-filled advertising, and “bohemian” capitalism. As I report in a new feature, some pundits didn’t appreciate Thinx’s co-opting of progressive politics and spirituality to sell underthings. But the company also earned praise for starting an overdue conversation about the stigma around periods and the coded language used to advertise pads and tampons.
Fast forward a decade and Thinx is now a Kimberly-Clark brand, lining the shelves of stores like Walmart, Target, and, as it turns out, the Real Canadian Superstore, next to sister SKUs such as Kotex and Huggies. It doesn’t get more mainstream than that.
Kimberly-Clark, the consumer goods conglomerate, first invested $25 million in Thinx in 2019, then took a controlling stake in 2022, and finally assumed full ownership at the end of last year, spending over $230 million in total. Kimberly-Clark says it’s committed to growing the brand as demand takes off for reusable period and bladder leak underwear. (Thinx also makes the latter.) However, the $46 billion firm laid off most of the Thinx staff as of this month.
For some ex-employees, the sale felt like an unmitigated success even if it led to their unemployment. A few former employees pointed out that Kimberly-Clark has the deep pockets and sprawling distribution network to turn the brand into a household name, making this a rare example of a high-profile exit for a brand founded and helmed by women. (Agrawal left in 2017; two women CEOs followed her.) “We talk about how there’s not enough funding for female-led companies, and then we get it, and no one cares,” said one former employee who was irked by negative reactions to Thinx’s acquisition. Criticizing the merger was ironic and “just incredibly patriarchal,” she added.
Other ex-employees saw little to boast about in Thinx’s trajectory and argue the brand could have maintained its edge while expanding beyond liberal coastal enclaves. By the end of last year, they say, sales had dropped to a reported $60 million from nearly $100 million in 2021. Those former Thinx workers have theories about what went wrong as the label shifted away from its roots and ultimately chose layoffs. One big problem: Kimberly-Clark approved only minimal communication with customers about a forever chemicals lawsuit it settled. The indie Thinx never would have allowed that, they said.
My conversations painted two competing and compelling pictures of what it means for a business to come of age. Read the full piece here.
Lila MacLellan
lila.maclellan@fortune.com
@lilamaclellan
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Pivotal pivot. Melinda French Gates has declared what comes next after resigning from her role as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. In a guest essay for the New York Times, the philanthropist announced a $1 billion commitment to people and organizations working on behalf of women globally. Twelve people whose work French Gates “admires” will be offered their own $20 million grant-making fund, including Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand, Allyson Felix, athlete and maternal-health advocate, and Shabana Basij-Rasikh, Afghan champion of girls’ education. New York Times
- Trust factor. Vice President Kamala Harris’s public tour is earning her the trust of swing-state Democrats. A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found that nearly half of swing-state voters trust Harris to take over as president if necessary, though polls still indicate that she would fare worse than President Joe Biden in a head-to-head race with Donald Trump. In other news, Trump said last week that one-time rival Nikki Haley is “going to be on our team in some form, absolutely.”
- Committee concerns. An anti-abortion OB-GYN who’s argued that rape and incest victims as young as 9 should carry pregnancies to term has been named to a Texas health committee reviewing maternal deaths. The state already has one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans and the appointment of Dr. Ingrid Skop has sparked worry that the ban could get worse. The Guardian
- Mixed signals. Signal CEO Meredith Whittaker says that conversations around AI are too focused on AI deepfakes and that more attention should be paid to how social media companies engage users with disinformation instead of facts. TechCrunch
- Deliverable duo. E.l.f. Beauty last week reported fourth quarter net sales of $321 million, up 71% from the year before. CMO Kory Marchisotto credits the company’s investment in marketing, which now equals 25% of net sales. (Most brands are cutting marketing budgets.) Marchisotto also credits her close relationship with CFO Mandy Fields. Wall Street Journal
- Tax bonus. The Massachusetts millionaire tax spearheaded by Gov. Maura Healey has already generated $1.8 billion in additional income for the state. That's $800 million more than the governor's office expected this year. The state is likely to spend the money on education and infrastructure. Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Ardent Mills appointed Sheryl Wallace as chief executive officer. Risa Heller Communications named Erika Masonhall as managing director for its new L.A. office.
ON MY RADAR
Katie Sturino on Megababe’s big summer Glossy
A poet’s reckoning with what poetry can do The New Yorker
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez says Harvey Weinstein assaulted her. Now she sees parallels between the fallout and the Trump hush money trial CNN
PARTING WORDS
“My only ask is that EVERYONE open your heart to believing victims the first time. It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in.”
— Singer and actress Cassie responding to the video that shows her assault by Diddy, the hip-hop mogul she sued for physical and sexual abuse last November
Correction, May 28, 2024: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Miki Agrawal's last name in the second paragraph.
