Eileen, our Co-Founder Mia’s mom, was an incredible woman. At 89 years old, she was fiercely independent and impeccably put together. She shopped at Saks, drove herself to get her hair blown out once a week, and did her own grocery shopping at Whole Foods.
One day, 3 years ago, Mia found her mom struggling to stuff a bloated incontinence brief into the plastic sleeve of her morning newspaper. She and her mother were so close, yet she had no idea that incontinence was an issue for her. Eileen opened up to Mia about her condition, and described the indignity of her experience with incontinence. She had no brand loyalty. “Look,” she said, pulling out the various briefs from different packages, “They’re all the same.” Indeed they were — and all of them uninspiring. Bulky and utilitarian, they made the most unappealing crinkling rustling sound as she held them in her hands. “I buy whatever brand is in-stock and I have the kids at the counter help me bring it to my car.” Eileen was practical and matter-of-fact, resigned to the mediocrity of it all.
Mia came home to her wife (and now Co-Founder, Alex), who was opening their regularly scheduled delivery of baby products, and she was struck by the stark contrast. “We were an Honest Company family. Their products were cleaner, greener, and the diapers were cute! And equally as important, the diapers, wipes, bath wash, and lotions — everything we needed on a daily basis — showed up like clockwork.” The experience was, relatively speaking, rather delightful. Why was the incontinence category so inattentive to what a miserable experience this was for someone like Eileen? She deserved so much better — all women do.
When you think about it, brands were fueling some pretty toxic cultural truths. As young women, we were muses, and brands created products to woo and delight us. As young mothers, we were respected gatekeepers. Brands took our values seriously, catered to our need for convenience, and committed to products that were both body-and-earth-friendly. But then what? As we entered our 40’s and 50’s, we realized that we are increasingly nobody’s “brand darling”.
Mia and Alex started talking about it with their friends, their mothers, and their mother’s friends. They studied the category, and went to industry conferences where personal care aisles for older women are shamefully referred to as “the aisle of death.” No wonder we weren’t seeing more thoughtful advancements in this space with such a dehumanizing attitude and approach. Women don’t see themselves in the “aisle of death”, and we don’t blame them.
Mia and Alex set out to pave a better way. With Attn: Grace they’d design thoughtful, modern solutions for age-old problems, starting with incontinence.
Sadly, Eileen passed away mere months before Attn: Grace launched, but her spirit lives on in the brand today. The personal care category for older women is anything but personal, and we are committed to earning women’s attention and trust by truly putting women first:
- We respect the wellness of women’s body and mind: We’re creating high-performance, skin-safe products, but we’re also building community and content dedicated to the emotional journey that is aging, and exploring the cultural nuance around our changing needs.
- We honor women’s values of sustainability and convenience: We combine our enduring commitment to sustainable sourcing, design and packaging with reliable delivery.
- We promise women a seat at the table: Not only do our customers have input into our upcoming collections, but our proprietary solutions are designed by women-led product teams.
We believe in a world where women are seen and celebrated as we age, and we hope that the industry takes note and continues to evolve in this direction.