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Visible menstrual staining can reduce perceptions of cleanliness, freshness, and product performance, even when a pad delivers strong absorbency and leak protection. Complete decolorization is difficult because the visible color comes from hemoglobin enclosed within red blood cells and, more specifically, its chemically stable heme chromophore.
A complementary approach is to manage where the fluid travels, where colored components are retained, and how the absorbed stain is perceived through the product surface. Advances in nonwovens, fluid-directional materials, optical scattering, selective capture, and multilayer structures may enable pads that appear cleaner after use without requiring complete chemical decolorization.
We are seeking materials, layers, coatings, and structural designs that reduce the visibility of menstrual fluid after absorption, improving post-use visual cleanliness while maintaining comfort, fluid handling, and product performance.
Because several material and optical functions may contribute to the final outcome, we are open to technologies or design strategies that address an individual aspect of the challenge and could be incorporated into a broader product architecture.
- Rapid-acquisition, directional, or gradient materials that transport fluid away from the visible surface
- Materials that selectively capture or retain red blood cells, hemoglobin, or other colored components
- Optical modification technologies, including scattering, opacity, coatings, or surface treatments that reduce stain visibility
- Patterned, textured, or three-dimensional surfaces that visually minimize or disrupt the appearance of staining
- Multilayer or integrated material architectures that combine fluid transport, selective capture, and concealment below the surface
- Reduces the post-use visibility of menstrual fluid or its colored components
- Can be incorporated into, or adapted for, an absorbent hygiene product
- Demonstrated performance with blood, menstrual fluid, or a realistic simulant
- Maintains performance under compression and during prolonged wear
- Requires minimal changes to the existing pad construction or process
- Approaches that compromise fluid acquisition, dryness, comfort, or leak protection
- Materials with no credible path to safe use in a skin-contact consumer product
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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