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Innovative technologies for gentle, sustained warmth
  • Background
  • What we're looking for
  • What we can offer you
  • Who we are
  • Q&A
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Get them answered by the team at Kimberly-Clark.
Background

Menstrual cramps are a common source of discomfort, often interfering with daily activities and rest. Applying warmth to the lower abdomen is a well-established way to ease menstrual pain, with existing solutions ranging from hot-water bottles and electric heating pads to wearable heat wraps and patches. While these approaches can provide effective relief, they often involve separate accessories that need to be applied, positioned, or carried, making them less convenient for discreet, on-the-go use. 

 

Integrating gentle warmth and light abdominal support directly into single-use feminine pants presents an opportunity to offer a more seamless and convenient experience. However, achieving sustained, controlled warmth while preserving the softness, flexibility, and comfort of the garment, all at a practical cost per use, remains a key challenge. Advances in heat-generating materials, thermal management, and garment integration technologies could pave the way for a comfortable, discreet solution that delivers lasting, soothing warmth and gentle abdominal support throughout wear.

What we're looking for

Kimberly-Clark is seeking slow-warming technologies for menstrual cramp relief that deliver gentle, sustained, skin-safe warmth and comfort to the lower abdomen. The technologies need to have a strong technical foundation and a clear pathway toward integration into single-use feminine pants that extend beyond laboratory demonstrations and into safe, manufacturable, and commercially relevant solutions.

Solutions of interest include:
  • Air-activated iron-oxidation warming systems
  • Crystallization-based heat-generating systems
  • Moisture-activated or encapsulated exothermic systems
  • Non-metal phase-change and thermal-comfort materials
Our must-have requirements are:
  • Feasible pathway to integration with feminine-care pads, pants and/or nonwoven materials, appropriate to the technology's maturity
  • Delivers controlled, skin-safe warmth while minimizing irritation risks
  • Potential to meet applicable cosmetic-ingredient and quasi-drug regulatory requirements
  • Provides initial considerations for integration into high-speed manufacturing processes and cost-effectiveness, supported by estimates or assumptions where available
Our nice-to-have's are:
  • Provides gradual heat-up and consistent warmth over an extended period
  • Supports thin, flexible, and lightweight designs without adding significant bulk or compromising garment comfort
What's out of scope:
  • Garment concepts that rely on a separate warming patch inserted into an abdominal pocket
  • High-dose analgesic actives (menthol, salicylate, capsaicin)
  • Solutions requiring medical-device classification or relying on pharmacologically active ingredients for pain relief
  • Standalone regulated heat patches or devices without a viable pathway to integration into a feminine pant
Acceptable technology readiness levels (TRL):
Levels 3-9
What we can offer you
Eligible partnership models:
Co-developmentLicensingPilot or trial engagementSupply/purchase
Benefits:
Compensation
Funding may be available to support laboratory, prototyping, and finished-product trials. Typical funding ranges may be approximately $150,000–$250,000 to advance promising concepts toward TRL 7 or higher, depending on proposal scope and outcomes. Compensation will be structured based on technology maturity and applicability.
Expertise
Partners may collaborate with Kimberly-Clark R&D, life scientists, absorbent-hygiene experts, process engineers, regulatory, and other relevant internal teams.
Tools and Technologies
Pilot equipment and technical support may be available for prototyping, coating, printing, converting, and performance evaluation.
Data
Relevant consumer insights and experimental outcomes may be shared to help guide development toward consumer comfort, usability, and performance expectations.
Facilities and Services
Where appropriate, K-C can support physical and thermal characterization, comfort evaluation, and comparative finished-product evaluation.
Who we are

Our passion for creating essentials for a better life for people everywhere has driven us to invent five of our eight major consumer product categories: facial tissue, paper towels, toilet paper on a roll, feminine pads and disposable training pants.

At Kimberly-Clark, the insights gained from our customers, shoppers and users drive us to continuously explore new ways to create innovative product and design solutions across our brands and increase our speed to market with new-to-the-world essential solutions.

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Reviewers
Q&A with Kimberly-Clark
Ask the team at Kimberly-Clark any questions you have about this partnering request.
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Q.
Would passive gentle heating be of interest to you as a proof-of-concept project?
1
A.
This would be of less interest, but if you have a great idea, I encourage you to share your proposal.
RC
Richmond Cohen, Technical Strategist, Kimberly-Clark
November 6, 2026
Is this response helpful?
0
0
Q.
Let me know if you're interested in breathable thermal comfort fabrics with heat insulation superior to any existing fabric technology. We developed it for Mil sleeping bags at a partner's request. It is made in the US.
1
A.
We are looking for more than a material which provides thermal insulation. We need a heat source for the slow warming. The insulative fabric could be useful in combination with that, but not alone.
RC
Richmond Cohen, Technical Strategist, Kimberly-Clark
November 4, 2026
Is this response helpful?
0
0
Q.
If we adapt a concept from another field for this application, would that still be considered eligible, or would the concept need to have already been demonstrated in this specific field?
1
A.
We would consider adapting and adopting such a concept, as long as it meets our conditions for safety and regulatory use plus cost and manufacturing feasibility.
RC
Richmond Cohen, Technical Strategist, Kimberly-Clark
November 6, 2026
Is this response helpful?
0
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