We’re on a mission to transform the period products industry by offering healthy, sustainable and innovative products made from highest quality ingredients to care for YOU and the PLANET.
We use organic, bio-based or up-cycled materials derived from renewable resources whenever possible to ensure our products can biodegrade quickly after disposal and go back to nature without leaving any toxic residue.
Besides developing biodegradable products that are skin-safe and protect the planet, we passionately work towards breaking the stigma surrounding periods. Your “that time of the month” is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a natural process, as normal as eating or sleeping. And talking about menstruation should never be considered a taboo. Not today. Not ever. In fact, period is an essential part of all human life, because quite literally without periods, human life would not be possible.
We firmly believe that every menstruator deserves to bleed with pride. Since day one, giving back has been central to who we are. We have donated over 200,000 pads through our NGO partners as we work towards bridging the gap between period poverty and menstrual equity.
Our Core Values
We believe that a company's core values are as important as the products it makes. We are committed to conducting business in a sustainable, ethical and transparent way by keeping people, the planet and our purpose at the heart of everything we do.
We embrace diversity, equality and inclusion. Through our actions, we aim to become a trusted brand for our customers, the best establishment to work at for our existing team members, the employer of choice for any interested candidates, and the partner of choice for our suppliers and other key stakeholders.
We are committed to doing business in a responsible and sustainable manner. We strongly believe that making thoughtful decisions today is the way to move forward and sustain the environment for future generations to come.
We strive to set the highest standards of transparency and integrity in our organization. From making safe, sustainable and high-quality products to fighting for reproductive equity and donating period products to menstruators in need, we always work towards making the world a better place.
Sparkle’s story, quite fittingly, started with a spark.
Three, to be precise.
The social and cultural stigma surrounding periods in Surat, Gujarat, India while she was growing up, sparked Hetal to think about all the hurried whispers, hiding, guilty glances, and the almost shameful image that the society had set for its menstruators.
On the other hand, travelling the world, visiting many countries and experiencing (first-hand) the lack of sanitary products, as well as its physiological and socio-economic effects on millions of adolescent individuals, was the spark that set Chirag on his course.
Sparkle’s story, quite fittingly, started with a spark.
Three, to be precise.The social and cultural stigma surrounding periods in Surat, Gujarat, India while she was growing up, sparked Hetal to think about all the hurried whispers, hiding, guilty glances, and the almost shameful image that the society had set for its menstruators.
On the other hand, travelling the world, visiting many countries and experiencing (first-hand) the lack of sanitary products, as well as its physiological and socio-economic effects on millions of adolescent individuals, was the spark that set Chirag on his course.
When Hetal and Chirag came together with different perspectives yet a shared vision, that’s what sparked the inception of their journey to make a positive impact together. After having explored several paths, they’re now both taking the road less travelled by not just developing sustainable and plant-based period products; they’re also aiming to develop new mindsets, new perspectives, new avenues, and new ways of life for menstruators across the globe.
Hetal leads day-to-day planning and implementation as well all financial and operational-related activities.
- C.A. from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
- C.W.A. from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.
- C.S. from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
- Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Commerce from Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, India.
While growing up in the small city of Surat (Gujarat, India), I experienced many instances where periods were stigmatized. Even the simple task of buying sanitary napkins from a store consisted of awkwardly whispering the name of the sanitary napkin brand, which was then quickly put in a black bag to hide it from the world. In fact, one of my closest friends is not even allowed to enter her kitchen during her period. Why?
How can we expect young teenagers to freely discuss their problems with menstrual hygiene management when they hesitantly lower their voices at the mere mention of the words, ‘period’ or ‘pad’?
In addition to observing the taboo nature surrounding menstruation, I also noticed another aspect. As a regular user of sanitary pads for over 15+ years, I constantly experienced skin issues and discomfort while using pads from commercial brands. Eventually, I did some research and realized that the harsh chemicals and plastic components present in the pads could have been the main reason behind my constant skin irritation and allergies.
In the meantime, I met Chirag, who was trying to find sustainable ways of utilizing agro-waste generated from his banana plantation.
That’s how the journey of Sparkle began.
Chirag guides Sparkle in the areas of R&D, product design, manufacturing and business development.
- Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University, Canada.
- Master in Business Administration from Ryerson University, Canada.
- Post-Graduation program from UC-Berkeley, USA.
To be fully honest, my knowledge of periods, menstruation, and pads was very limited before I started working with different NGOs. I was aware of the biological process which was taught during science classes in school; but other than that, I had no idea about the extent of physiological or socio-economic issues that women faced during their periods.
After completing my Grad Program at UC Berkeley, I took a gap year to pause, unplug, and rediscover myself. I wanted to put my engineering degree and business skills to good use so I took up volunteering at different NGOs in Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam, South Africa, India, and Costa Rica.
As I participated in different outreach programs which included medical camps, HIV counselling, teaching, and feeding programs, I witnessed the problems that millions of menstruators faced during their periods. They missed school or work simply because they did not have access to sanitary napkins. In fact, they used unhygienic rags, papers, or ash to manage their periods.
After I met Hetal, both of us decided to purchase conventional sanitary pads that were available in the market and donate those pads to menstruators in need. In the process, we started our NGO, United World Foundation, in 2017. As we searched for long-term and scalable solutions, we realized that simply buying sanitary pads from the market and donating them would only solve the problem temporarily. Furthermore, we also realized that while solving the problem of accessibility of sanitary pads, we were creating another environmental problem - the conventional pads that we were donating contained up to 90% plastic, which would not biodegrade for centuries.
The fact that I come from a family of farmers became the last piece of the puzzle. My family has banana plantations near one of the biggest banana growing belts of India.
Everything started to fall into place one-by-one after that - we realised that banana fibers were naturally super absorbent and highly effective at locking away menstrual fluid, so we started developing innovative ways to transform banana stem agro-waste into sustainable raw material for making new period products. We made our first biodegradable sanitary pad in 2017, co-founded Sparkle in February 2018 and as they say, the rest is history.