Tween Period Care Brand Scarlet To Enter Ulta Beauty After Rebrand

Tween period care brand Scarlet by RedDrop has undergone a rebrand as it gears up to launch at Ulta Beauty, its debut retail partner, next month.

Co-founders Dana Roberts, a former teacher, and Monica Williams, a physician, tapped the agency Rada to create a vibrant and joyful look aimed at tweens and teens. The pair held focus groups with consumers to nail down the name and branding. They pulled the entire rebrand off in 120 days.

“A big part of the imagery direction is bringing our products to life literally,” says Roberts. “We’re humanizing and cartoonizing key items like pads, period underwear and wipes to make them feel friendly, approachable and even fun. This adds personality and makes the products feel like a supportive squad, not something to be hidden or embarrassed about.”

Scarlet will enter Ulta on the beauty specialty retailer’s website on Aug. 4 before rolling out to more than 350 Ulta locations nationwide on Aug. 10. Williams says Ulta is a go-to retail destination for Scarlet’s core consumers who spend an average of 50 minutes in its stores. According to investment bank Piper Sandler’s most-recent semiannual survey of American teens, Ulta is their second-favorite beauty retailer, with Sephora holding the top spot.

Williams says, “Most Americans still purchase period care in brick-and-mortar retail, so being on shelves at Ulta means more tweens and teens will see products designed specifically for them, not their moms.”

Roberts chimes in that being in a store like Ulta where they can pick up lip gloss alongside pads normalizes periods and products for them. “Girls and women in general should be able to get period products anywhere, not just at a pharmacy brand store, a big box store or a grocery store,” she says. “Ulta concentrates on outer, but they’re making a concerted effort to really ramp up their health and wellness portion of their business, and we’re a part of that.”

Roberts and Williams bootstrapped Scarlet to $7 million in sales to date and anticipate revenue increasing to $9 million by the end of this year. The pair won a $200,000 grant from The Fifteen Percent Pledge in February and beat out 250 semifinalists and 50 finalists for Black Ambition’s coveted $1 million grant in December.

They also received $50,000 in funding from venture capital firm RareBreed VC and another $150,000 in grants from “The Pitch” podcast and Ulta Beauty’s Muse Accelerator program, which they participated in last year. Along with retail, the duo plan on putting their winnings toward product innovation.

Other period care brands marketed to tweens include Pinkie, August and Saalt, which sells a smaller menstrual cup and period underwear for younger users. Pinkie has raised $1 million in funding and has launched at CVS, Walmart, Target and Wegmans. August secured a nearly $2 million seed round in 2021 and is available in Target.

Roberts estimates she and Williams have pitched close to 200 venture capital investors so far. They pitch around three to four a month and expect to continue that cadence. Roberts theorizes most VCs haven’t hopped on tween period care because periods and puberty are stigmatized or ignored.

“I just don’t think that people find it important. I don’t think that people think that it’s a real need,” she says. “I just think people have to get to the point where they realize that girls deserve it.”

“We’ve tried to be very unapologetic and in your face about periods while teaching moms and girls.”

Business-to-business distribution accounts for 17% of Scarlet’s sales, and the brand works with hundreds of school districts across the country through major school health distributors, School Health and School Nurse Supply, and direct wholesale. It sells on Amazon, too.

The classroom played a pivotal role in the inception of Scarlet. Roberts worked as a teacher for 22 years, and her students would often start their periods when they were in her fifth grade classroom. The average age of menarche is almost 12 years old in the United States. Many girls experience it at school, and she assembled kits with pads, wipes, a pair of underwear and disposable bags for the girls in her class.

Roberts says, “What I started to realize was that they were grossly unprepared and their parents were absolutely unprepared, even to the point where I had a girl point-blank ask me, ‘Ms. Roberts, am I dying?’ as she started her period.”

Roberts sought out Williams, her God sister who previously developed Pacimals, a pacifier and stuffed toy combination, and had sold hair thinning solutions, to build RedDrop. Williams wasn’t on board at first.

“Monica fell into what a lot of women, moms or caretakers do. Her daughter was an infant, so it really didn’t resonate with her because, in her mind, my daughter’s an infant and she’s never going to get her period,” she says. “Or she’s so far removed from getting her period that it just really is not top of mind.”

She eventually agreed to join Roberts at RedDrop and the brand hit the market in 2019 with Tween Period Kit, a kit akin to what Roberts had been handing out to her students. Retailing for $27.99, it contains a pack of Everyday pads, FlowDay pads, FlowNight pads and Maximum Protection pads along with an on-the-go pouch, period tracker complete with stickers, hall pass and pack of wipes. Other offerings include $9.99 period underwear and $24.99 period swim bottoms.

Scarlet will soon be extending into tampons and menstrual cups. The tampons will retail for $7.99 for an 18-count pack and the menstrual cup will retail for $24.99 for one cup. The period kit is getting an overhaul, and Scarlet’s assortment will feature a $39.99 Period Kit + with an 18-pack of tampons, menstrual cup, 36 Scarlet pads and educational booklets about puberty and periods.

Education is integral to Scarlet. The brand sells an Interactive Puberty Workbook, Growing Up Powerful Book and Period Prep Class 101, a virtual series for tweens and family members alike covering topics like tampon use and what a period is like. Scarlet explores similar topics on its social media feeds, too. It’s been reported on TikTok for its content, but not on Instagram.

“We’ve tried to be very unapologetic and in your face about periods while teaching moms and girls, so, yes, we’re going to show blood…to try to meet girls where they are, and let’s not fall into a taboo or a stereotype,” says Roberts. “Let’s be courageous and teach in a fun way.”

On the period care products side, providing smaller-sized pads has been a priority for Scarlet. Roberts points out that most pads marketed toward tweens and teens are the same as those directed at women. Scarlet’s smallest pad is about 6.3 inches long. Roberts says, “Girls come in all sizes, but they usually have a smaller frame and just need something different.”

She explains size isn’t the only consideration. “Their products need more adhesive so they can still play in recess,” she says. “They need some odor control because they’re still learning their bodies, and they need an appropriate size that has just as much absorption because, when you go to school, you don’t have the flexibility to really go to the bathroom repeatedly.”

Roberts and Williams believe that the switch from RedDrop to Scarlet will herald the brand’s new, more grown-up chapter. “We are showing we’re not just for first periods, we’re here for every period,” says Roberts. “We hope that, overall, Scarlet talks like a friend. That really matters when you’re going through something personal like your period.”

Editor’s note: Scarlet (scarletperiod.com)is not affiliated in any way with RedDrop or its new branding.