From a modest home in Sangli to the heart of India’s sustainability conversation, the story behind Flawsome, India’s first flushable sanitary pad, designed to safely disintegrate in water and reduce menstrual waste is rooted not in market gaps spotted from boardrooms, but in lived reality. Founded by Ranu Khade, Flawsome is now available in Hyderabad. If you rewind two or three decades, the founder admits, the odds of her being here were slim. Growing up in scarcity meant that even basic menstrual hygiene was out of reach. When she got her first period, sanitary pads were not an option. “My idea of a dream life was heartbreakingly small. I just wanted to afford enough pads for one menstrual cycle,” she recalls. It wasn’t another era, it was modern India.
Yet, it was her mother’s fearless honesty that planted the first seed of change. Menstruation was explained without shame or whispers, alongside an invitation to question inherited norms. One contradiction stayed with her: the same place labelled ‘impure’ during menstruation is where life begins. As India raced ahead — rockets, digital infrastructure, global ambition — menstrual hygiene remained stagnant. Innovation bypassed it entirely. Not because solutions were complex, but because the subject itself had long been ignored. The numbers were staggering: 12 billion sanitary pads generated every year, most non-biodegradable, taking centuries to decompose. Millions of girls missing school. Nearly 23 million dropping out annually. And an invisible workforce of waste workers handling soiled pads by hand, every day. “This isn’t a women’s issue. It’s a national development issue, a climate issue, and a human dignity issue,” she insists.
That intersection between personal experience and systemic neglect became Flawsome’s foundation. Incubated at NITRA, Ghaziabad and aligned with national missions like Swachh Bharat and the circular economy roadmap, the startup focuses on pads designed for dignity, sustainability, and scale. “Pads that protect the girl who uses them and the worker who disposes of them,” she says.
Building Flawsome, however, was anything but straightforward. The first challenge wasn’t technological, but cultural. Menstruation, still treated as taboo, made even basic conversations uphill. Changing perception proved harder than building product. “Women have been conditioned to accept discomfort,” she explains, adding, “Asking them to believe they deserve safer, better, sustainable products means asking them to unlearn generations of conditioning.”
Then came investors. Menstrual hygiene was dismissed as ‘unglamorous’, not exciting enough to scale. Convincing them required resilience and relentless storytelling. “Half the world menstruates. This is not niche. It’s massive, underserved, and deeply human,” she says plainly. Access posed another obstacle — labs, R&D infrastructure, manufacturers willing to experiment, distribution channels dominated by FMCG giants. Each step forward felt like a fresh obstacle course. And alongside it ran the emotional toll of entrepreneurship. “There are days when doubt feels heavier than progress. On those days, purpose is the only thing that holds you upright,” she admits.
Still, shifts are happening. Change, she believes, begins at home. Her ten-year-old son speaks openly about periods, spots competitor vending machines at airports, and proudly stood beside her during a Shark Tank pitch. “That’s where real change begins,” she notes. Within Flawsome, a largely women-led brand built by many male colleagues, the belief is clear: menstrual hygiene is a human issue, not a gendered one.
Affordability remains non-negotiable. Sustainability, she argues, cannot be a premium badge. “Menstrual hygiene is not a luxury. Affordability isn’t a business strategy, it’s a moral one,” highlights Ranu. Flawsome invests heavily in R&D, material science, and operational efficiency to break the false trade-off between eco-friendly innovation and access. “If a girl cannot afford a safe pad, the innovation has failed,” she says.
Looking ahead, Flawsome is entering a transformative phase — aloe vera and turmeric-infused pads, ayurvedic variants, panty liners, sanitary pants, and a bold push into eco-friendly baby and adult diapers. “If pads revolutionised dignity for women. Eco-diapers can do the same for families,” she concludes.