Her underwear line finding international admirers

MAKING A STATEMENT: Julie Sygiel, CEO of Sexy Period, co-founded the company, which produces panties geared around menstrual cycles. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL PERSSON
MAKING A STATEMENT: Julie Sygiel, CEO of Sexy Period, co-founded the company, which produces panties geared around menstrual cycles. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL PERSSON

When Julie Sygiel and Eunice Png were undergraduates in 2008, they did what many Brown University students do in their entrepreneurship class. They developed a product to sell. It took four years, but the Sexy Period line of underwear is generating interest – and customers – not only in Rhode Island but internationally.
Sexy Period is a line of underwear designed to be worn as a backup in combination with your regular sanitary routine and it’s guaranteed not to leak. These are not “period panties” that women usually refer to when they speak about underwear worn during menstruation. They are sexy and designed with three layers of thin, breathable, soft, stretchy, knit material.
It was not an easy venture starting out, Sygiel says. When the “Entrepreneurship & Ventures” class ended, Sygiel and Png decided to keep going with their product. They consulted with a Brown University textile expert and began research to design the best period-panty possible. The body is made out of 76 percent nylon and 24 percent lycra and the lining is 100 percent micro polyester, she said. They conducted their own survey, which found that 60 percent of the women they interviewed experience menstrual spills every month.
In December 2008, Sygiel and Png won the $300 first-place prize in the Rhode Island Elevator Pitch Competition sponsored by the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. In May of the next year they were finalists in the business-plan competition.
Then there was a little bit of a lull, not much press and a lot of work. Sygiel, 24, sewed the prototypes herself. They gave 200 prototypes to family members, friends and female volunteers who confirmed the need for the undergarment, she said.
Eventually, Png left to practice her love of music. She even composed the song for the video on the Sexyperiod.com website. She is still listed as co-founder, but Sygiel is the CEO. Sygiel hired interns and moved into an office at 1 Davol Square in Providence. And although things were quiet in 2009 and 2010, this year has put Sexy Period on the global map, literally.
It started in January when Sexy Period was featured in the Accessory Showcase at Style Week Providence. Then the fledgling company received a $23,000 grant to develop additional product lines from the Innovation Providence Implementation Council, Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, The Rhode Island Foundation and Providence Economic Development Partnership.
“Everybody raves about them, people write in and say how much they like them,” Sygiel said. “If nothing else it takes your ‘period panties’ from the back of the drawer to the front.”
Now Sexy Period is gaining attention, even being featured on the internationally televised show “The Doctors” in September, although they didn’t mention the name of the underwear, which Sygiel said left her somewhat disappointed. Still, she got an email from a woman in South Africa wanting to become a customer, she said.
“It may be because it was too much to say on television,” Sygiel said of why “The Doctors,” which airs on WNAC-TV 64 in Providence, may not have mentioned the company name.
The name Sexy Period came up when Png and Sygiel were brainstorming names.
“One day we were tossing out names and Sexy Period came up and I knew automatically that was it,” Sygiel said. “It was so bold. Some people are uncomfortable about it, but I like to think what we’re making is exploring what we define as sexy, confident and comfortable.”
Even before “The Doctors” feature, Sygiel had a showing at the Curve NY lingerie trade show in August, where she said boutiques from New York to South Carolina, Michigan and Toronto, signed up to carry the line, Sygiel said. And Sexy Period is now working with 17 boutiques across the country, she said. And then again in August, Sexy Period reconnected with Accessory Style Week Providence in a display inspired by Marilyn Monroe. Models wore dresses that were blown up by fans to reveal a peek of the brightly colored underwear.
They decided to partner to have Sexy Period display their model underwear during the Accessories Showcase before all weekend shows. Now, the product has customers in 44 states and 10 countries, including South Africa, Sygiel said.
The first production of 500 undergarments sold out quickly. They’re almost finished selling out the second batch of 500 and are beginning to work on a third batch.
Sygiel said the underwear’s selling points include:
• An outer leak-resistant layer that traps fluids and protects spills from reaching outer clothing.
• Inner (body contact) layers absorb and wick fluids.
• The inner layer is black to hide stains.
• More than 40 different fabric combinations were tested.
• The first intellectual-property filing was in 2009 and now there are multiple patents pending on the design.
As of now, there are three styles of Sexy Period panties: Friday Night Fabulous premium-style features lace waistbands and run between $42 and $44; Blossoming Beauty-style features a watercolor, floral-print waistband painted by a Rhode Island School of Design graduate and sells for $36 to $38; and Simply Stunning style for exercise such as running, or yoga in a solid deep plum color for $32 to $34.
All of the styles come in three cuts: bikini, hipster and cheeky.
Last month, Sygiel was invited to attend the United States Youth Entrepreneurship Summit in Kansas City, Mo., as a featured young entrepreneur.
“It was a great opportunity,” she said. •

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