Karla Welch Wants To Change The Way The World Periods

Karla Welch is most known for her iconic career as a celebrity stylist but the serial entrepreneur is focused on empowering women globally with her fashion tech app Wishi and most recently The Period Company. Everything that Welch touches is all for the greater good of women. With 17 years of styling under her belt, Welch knew there needed to be a better solution for consumers to have access to stylists and for stylists and brands to have a more efficient way to communicate with the consumer. Wishi is just that solution. The proprietary technology and team of experts creates a personalized experience for the consumer with online shopping. “We want to help brands offer their clients the ultimate personalized customer service using real stylists instead of AI. Online shopping is still so hard to navigate and our stylists get to know clients, just like we would in a store setting, the relationship is our trust and understanding of what the client needs, loves, etc. The consumer wants more from an online store experience and Wishi offers that,” she explained. 

Wishi has a widget that brands can integrate into their e-commerce site or consumers can book directly with stylists on the Wishi app. “You can book a mini, which is like a little session for like three looks, or we call it a major and it’s  six looks or you can sign up and get as many looks as you want every month. You can even switch up your stylist. Some days all pop on there for 24 hours, and you can book me,” shared Welch. 

While Wishi is combining technology and Welch’s expertise to the masses, Welch’s most recent venture is creating a global impact in the period space. The Period Company is offering accessible and environmentally friendly options for period underwear. Unlike their competitors, The Period Company only charges $12 for a reusable period panty. Welch wants to change the way the world period’s. “Five years ago my own kid got their period really early and it was a disaster. I was like there has to be something easier and at the same time I was looking at my own period and the amount of waste I was creating. The cups didn’t work for me and while period underwear existed it’s so expensive. It’s not a real solution- you still have to use products to go with it,” explained Welch on why she started The Period Company.

“I decided I am going to actually make period underwear accessible and affordable for everybody. So I started developing these underwear that were highly, highly absorbent and then I teamed up with my partner Sasha Marco who’s a marketing genius, creative director and executive. As we dove deeper into building the brand we found that there was this global shame of a period that we’ve been fed as people we say people who period because it’s not just women, but it’s we’ve been fed for thousands of years by a male dominated world is that it’s a really shameful thing. If you look at the period globally, it’s this unbelievable roadblock to people who period.”

 Since their launch in October of 2020, The Period Company has sold out over five times which made them profitable by December of 2020. In addition to the affordable price point, The Period Company offers four styles in up to 6X in sizing. Most period underwear only goes up to 2X. “We made a decision at Period to think more about stakeholders than shareholders. Our goal is to be the biggest period brand in the world and to bring a truly sustainable option mass. You can only do that by being accessible to everyone. And, by making a decision to bring the best product possible – safe, absorbent, gentle to the person and the planet – you make the decision to make less money so that everyone can have it,” said Welch on the decision to make an affordable product for everyone. 

 The Period Company is also on a mission to end period poverty sending millions of period underwear to underserved communities globally, “We truly believe that you can’t solve period poverty with disposable items. Because then you create a system of relying on donations every month. Whereas for us, if we give one person 3-5 pairs of underwear, we’ve actually solved their period for five years.” Welch and The Period Company are on a mission to rewrite the story that the male dominated period industry has sold women for years