Meet the co-founder of AllMatters
Leading sustainable personal healthcare business AllMatters recently completed a rebrand from OrganiCup as it sets out on a mission to support women’s health and tackle ongoing taboos around periods and period poverty, all whilst helping protect the environment.
Led by entrepreneur, CEO and co-founder Gitte Dalberg-Larsen, AllMatters is entering an exciting new era. As well as manufacturing the game-changing and sustainable period product, the award-winning AllMatters menstrual cup, the innovative brand is expanding its sustainable product line by bringing to market more powder-based/water-less, sustainable and reusable personal care products that encourage women to live healthier lives.
As there has never been a better time to introduce you to the person behind this revolutionary work, we recently caught up with Gitte Dalberg-Larsen.
Tell us about your experience prior to launching AllMatters?
Before joining the small but mighty team here at AllMatters, I gained extensive commercial experience by holding a number of senior roles for corporate businesses over a span of twenty years. I initially spent four years working with the Danish-based company, Oticon, which is one of the world’s biggest hearing aid companies, and then a further 15 years for the global brand L’Oréal as Marketing Director and then Commercial Director.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?
After a long but rewarding career with L’Oréal, I reassessed what I wanted from my working life after becoming somewhat disillusioned with the corporate infrastructure, whilst also wanting to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams.
At this time all I knew was that I wanted to leave my corporate life behind and start a completely new venture, but one without having to deal with long decision-making processes and politics - which can often go hand in hand with large businesses.
This was the start of my journey to discover OrganiCup in 2015. However, let me take you back to the brand’s origins three years earlier. In 2012, co-founder William Ravn read a Danish news article about the benefits of women using a menstrual cup, but he noticed that there had been very little innovation in this industry for more than 50 years.
Inspired by this and using his background in product design and sustainable packaging, William designed what would become our award-winning menstrual cup product and the sustainable packaging that we still use today.
At this time, women across the globe didn’t have a thorough understanding of menstrual cup products as they were considered niche, hard to find and only available in select places. When I came onboard to what was still OrganiCup in 2016, the brand had a small customer base and only generated sales from an e-commerce platform and very few outlets. Therefore, it was my responsibility to use my vast commercial experience to get OrganiCup out to the public, to consumers and into the retail marketplace. We wanted to make our menstrual cups available to as many people as possible across the globe, with a goal of them becoming the third natural choice, together with pads and tampons in the mainstream retail space.
As of today, we sell AllMatters menstrual cups in more than 40 countries and approx. 7,000 stores ranging from drugstores to health & zero waste stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, beauty stores, and lifestyle boutiques.
A large part of our success is attributed to our brand ethos remaining the same since the inception. We wanted to make a change on a personal, cultural and social level with our menstrual cups. It enables people to change to a more sustainable, reusable alternative and make an important contribution towards building a greener planet.
If you think about the amount of waste and plastic generated from disposable pads and tampons that end up in landfills, in the oceans and on the world’s beaches, this little cup can make a huge difference.
What is your day-to-day role with the company?
For the past six years, I have been the Commercial Director of AllMatters, leading on increasing the brand’s awareness among the public and making our products available to consumers around the world.
William and myself operate a dual management process; although we are both Directors of the company, we have separate roles, responsibilities and teams. Towards the end of the year, William will actually be stepping away from AllMatters and as of January 1st, I will be appointed CEO and Commercial Director to take full responsibility.
What does your business offer its target audience?
AllMatters is a manufacturer of sustainable products that can help consumers make a conscious choice in everyday day life to better protect their environment. It is our belief that even the smallest of changes can have a big impact. The AllMatters menstrual cup has been such a game changer for millions of people across the globe, and now with the recent launch of the powder-to-foam personal care products, we again make it possible for more people to change everyday habits, live a more sustainable lifestyle and make conscious choices.
Through this strategy, we have grown an engaging and loyal community of consumers. They know that when it comes to AllMatters, we are trustworthy, honest, transparent and open.
We are also educative and informative, which is why consumers also use our website and instruction videos as a useful resource.
Not only that, but we also take pride in our work with NGOs around the world. Helping those who need it most, especially when it comes to personal period care, remains vital to the core beliefs of our brand. By giving donations from each of our sales, we are able to contribute to decreasing period poverty, tackling outdated taboos and cultural divides around the world.
We also work with schools and universities in the UK and the US (Campus Cup programme) to offer cups to the students for free or at a very low price to increase their access to green menstrual products.
How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?
First and foremost, as mentioned above, we pride ourselves in our ability to communicate openly and honestly with our customer base.
We also believe the AllMatters packaging enables to stand out from our competitors within the industry. Since the early beginnings of the brand, the packaging has always remained very sustainable while others continued to use plastic. After years of leading the charge on sustainable packaging, we are now seeing our influence impact other businesses as they are changing to include more sustainable material.
As a sustainable brand, we always put safety, certifications and quality at the top of our agenda. We use high quality medical grade silicone, practise safe production in Germany and have secured Vegan registration and Allergy Certification, whilst also applying for BCorp registration as well. As we gain these credentials, we demonstrate our capability to help consumers live more sustainably by making little changes to their everyday habits.
What plans do you have for AllMatters over the next two years?
The future is very exciting for AllMatters. As part of the rebranding process we are transitioning from a cup manufacturing company to a sustainable care brand. We will complete this transitional period by releasing a broader product range, with the first being the powder-to-foam, waterless personal care products. As we enter the new year, we are also launching a range of reusable period underwear.
For myself, I would like to widen my work in humanitarian aid with our AllMatters menstrual cups. We are in a tender right now with the UN for our menstrual cups, and if we are successful then there is definitely scope to collaborate with other bigger organisations and make a real difference.
Working with a co-founder can be tricky, so understanding and compromise is important. How have you both found the process of building a business together? What makes it work?
William and I are very different. In addition to a twenty year age difference, our professional experience and personal backgrounds completely contrast. However, with differing competencies we complement each other extremely well. I think this has played a pivotal role in the success of AllMatters. William is very much the creative force and I bring a lot of business acumen to the brand following my extensive knowledge of corporate, sales, management and customer experience.
If you are two creative minds trying to establish a new business, you are more likely to face challenges and obstacles along the way. Especially when it comes to new product launches and business growth.
William and I have an enormous amount of respect for one another and the decisions we make. Although we may not agree on everything, we are completely aligned on our mission and brand values. Keeping these front of mind helps us both work forwards towards the same goal.
What impact would you like to have on women around the world through your business?
AllMatters has a simple message – small changes can have the biggest of impacts. We enable women across the globe live a more conscious and sustainable lifestyle without causing inconvenience or comprise.
By consumers making these small changes and joining the AllMatters community, we can continue our work in fighting against period taboos, whilst also eradicating period shame and poverty for all.
Why do you think your business has had such a positive impact across your industry?
AllMatters was among the very first brands to reintroduce a more innovative version of the menstrual cup. Not only that, our cup was also one of the first alternatives to disposable pads and tampons to hit the market for almost 50 years.
The AllMatters menstrual cup makes a huge difference in women’s lives. They are able to become healthier, greener and sustainable. AllMatters also has the biggest global community among the cup brands by building a trusting, honest and transparent relationship with our consumers.
Now, our AllMatters menstrual cups have entered into the broader retail marketplace, making the menstrual cup more accessible and more mainstream than ever before.
Any new product launches we should know about?
As part of our plans to release broader product range, we have already launched powder-to-foam, waterless personal care products and we have plans to unveil a range of reusable period underwear in the new year.
Does your company help the community that you’re located in?
At AllMatters, we take pride in our collaborations with more than 60 NGO partners, which have helped us donate approx. 30,000 menstrual cups worldwide as part of our fight against period poverty on a local and wider scale.
We have also worked with school nurses to extend their knowledge about periods and enable them to offer further support to girls in school with the use of our AllMatters menstrual cups. Despite our commitment, we still realise that more needs to be done as there are so many groups of women who don’t have access to safe menstrual products.
In the UK in particular, we have given schools, colleges and universities access to a discounted price for our AllMatters menstrual cups and we are currently working with a range of UK NGOs such as the Treeapp, City to Sea, Freedom4Girls UK – a charity dedicated to fighting period poverty.
