This year, we’re supporting Crimson Organic at our annual Christmas Charity Lunch. Crimson Organic was created by Vicki Scott through her desire to offer busy women a better, easier way to minimise the chance of being “caught out”, and products that were better for women and the environment. 

As well as selling 100% pure certified organic cotton tampons, Crimson Organic provides an opportunity to help young women overcome barriers to both education and menstrual care and is part of the Free Period Products in Schools programme.  

Vicki isn’t one to talk about herself, but she did share with us what motivates her to help busy women and young people ride the crimson tide with dignity. We can’t wait to hear more from Vicki at the Christmas Charity Lunch this December. Keep an eye on future events updates for details. 

Why did you start Crimson Organic?

Crimson Organic was started from my shock and despair at being confronted with period poverty in my role as a young person’s lawyer in the criminal court. Teenagers were missing school for up to a week at a time every time they got their period. They were essentially trapped at home when they got their periods, using unsafe and unsanitary items such as socks, newspaper, even wood shavings.  Not only was this a risk to their health, it was having a huge impact on their education and therefore their life choices. 

What did your career as a young person’s lawyer teach you about period poverty in New Zealand?

Extensive research showed that the most common denominator among juvenile offenders is that they are not in school. These teenagers already had many barriers in their homes to attending school.  Most of them I couldn’t fix. But I thought if I could fix one and it kept them in school, then maybe they wouldn’t be coming into the criminal justice system. 

What motivates you to bring this product to the market?

As a mother of three teenagers myself at the time, I was looking for a safe period product.  This was something that I thought all menstruators deserve, not just my daughter. I was shocked when I discovered how many chemicals, pesticides, synthetics, and plastics are in the big brand tampons that I had been using for years.  I didn’t want my daughter’s body absorbing these. 

So, I set about finding the safest tampon available, which was organic cotton, and my journey to helping resolve period poverty begun.