COCORO

Project "COCORO" data sheet

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 Partnership

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 Project objective

Disposable menstrual products represent around 1M of the 3B tons of waste produced in the EU every year. Mostly composed by highly pollutant plastics, they have a huge impact on the environment. The pollution and greenhouse gas emissions they cause contribute to climate change, as well as material loss – a significant problem in the EU, which is highly dependent on imported raw materials. Moving towards a circular economy is an urgent need for the feminine hygiene industry to contribute to the competitiveness of the EU economy. Only two new companies in the US and Australia have recently started selling absorbent underwear as an alternative to pads. Yet, they cannot fully compete with pads given their insufficient absorption capacity and practicality. These products are also very expensive to get in Asian and European markets, which are the largest pads markets. Femmefleur has developed the ultimate alternative to disposable external menstrual hygiene management (MHM) products: a highly absorbent, breathable, practical and comfortable reusable underwear. Cocoro Advanced Lingerie uses a combination of cotton and polyester treated with an innovative technology that absorbs corporal fluids like menstruation or slight urine loss, satisfying women’s needs in MHM and beyond.

Its unique features are highly competitive as our disruptive technology and design guarantee a cost-effective and ecological solution for MHM. Increasing their absorption capacity, these panties can be commercialized in other market segments such as urine incontinence or maternity. This translates into a high-potential users group, as only in the EU it represents around 190M people.

The successful results gathered together with the huge business opportunity ahead allow us to establish two main goals for this SME Inst. phase 1: to finalise a techno-economic assessment of the polyester fabric technology and to corroborate the feasibility of the developed commercial strategy for the MHM market.