How to Sell Period Panties Without Ads (or Shame) with Arielle Loupos of Flower Girl
Arielle Loupos built her career helping DTC brands scale - then took a hard left into product development to solve a problem she was personally fed up with: disposable period products that felt outdated, uncomfortable, and not body-safe. In this episode, the founder of Flower Girl shares what it really took to develop period underwear from scratch in Los Angeles (two years of testing, textiles, and iteration), why “cute” turned into a much bigger mission around non-toxic materials and cycle syncing, and how she’s growing a taboo category through community-first marketing.
If you’re building a consumer brand, navigating manufacturing, or trying to turn a wellness mission into a product people actually buy - this conversation is equal parts practical and mindset-shifting.
In this episode, we cover:
Why most great ideas die at the “I’ll do it someday” stage - and how Arielle finally executed
What a 2-year product development journey actually looks like
Why period underwear is one of the most technical apparel products you can make
How learning about fabric turned Flower Girl into a non-toxic, body-safe brand
The “closed circle” of manufacturing - and how Arielle broke in (without connections)
Cycle syncing 101 - the four phases and how to plan your life around them
How Arielle uses cycle syncing to run her business (and reduce PMS symptoms)
The stigma problem: why women won’t always post about period products
Gifting strategy lessons: who not to gift, and how to find creators who will share
Why Meta ads flagged her brand - and what she’s doing instead
Community-building tactics that drive retention, feedback, and better product drops
Where Flower Girl could expand next: postpartum, leaks, sweat absorption, and beyond
Time-stamped episode guide:
00:00 - Meet Arielle Loupos of Flower Girl
00:39 - From e-commerce consultant to product founder
01:50 - The “idea” she sat on for 2-3 years (and why execution matters)
03:49 - Inside 2 years of R&D: testing, iterations, and why this product is hard
05:59 - How she found (and switched) manufacturers in LA
07:39 - Translating “live in sync with your cycle” into content + community
10:03 - How Arielle cycle syncs her calendar, work, workouts, and food
12:45 - Period stigma: how tampon marketing shaped shame
14:03 - Differentiating in FemTech without competing mindset
16:04 - Building personal brand as the founder - and getting comfortable online
18:16 - Community strategy: polls, feedback loops, retention, and product iteration
19:40 - Selling a taboo product organically + influencer gifting lessons
23:32 - How her digital marketing background shaped launch strategy
24:24 - The one thing founders must watch right now: AI
26:46 - Biggest operational learning curve in manufacturing
30:55 - The future: period poverty impact + a broader non-toxic lifestyle line
32:43 - Unexpected use cases: postpartum, bladder leaks, sweat absorption
36:04 - Rapid fire: period self-care, overhyped trends, favorite products, resources
40:55 - Where to shop and connect with Flower Girl
Arielle’s story is a reminder that the founder advantage isn’t just having taste or a good idea - it’s being willing to stay in the weeds long enough to make the product work, then building trust in a category people still whisper about. If you’re in the messy middle of manufacturing, community-building, or learning how to market something “taboo,” this episode will give you both strategy and permission to keep going.
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Transcript:
Emily Jean (00:00)
Like I literally, I had that thought, I said something and I did not act on it for two to three years. I was like, my God, I chose one of like the most technical products to make because this product has to like work for women. Our periods are like life force. Like that is what creates life. Facebook kept restricting my account for sexual images and I got really scared because I spent a good amount of money and.
I was like, you know what, I'm not doing this. It's all about just taking the steps to like getting towards working towards your goal and whatever it is. And I feel like that's where a lot of people fall off and like they have these ideas, but it's all comes down to like, who's going to execute and what steps are you taking every single day, even if it's just a little bit to like execute on this idea. I talk to Chat GPT every day. It has been so insanely helpful in getting this business launched. One thing you should definitely do is do a
Emily Jean (00:58)
welcome to or welcome back to Founders in Jeans. I'm your host, Emily Jean. And before we get into the episode, I just want to say a huge thank you so much for listening to my podcast. It means the world to me.
And yeah, I just wanted to come on here and say thank you so much. I also wanted to say that if you enjoy the show, feel free to leave a review on Spotify or Apple, wherever you're listening to this, and also to follow us. You can follow us on Instagram at Founders in Jeans You can also find me on Instagram at Emily.Jeans.
or you can look me up on LinkedIn. I'm always happy to connect with people on there and I have a lot of good conversations from listeners. Also, you can always leave a bad review for us. I'm totally fine with that. And in fact, I think that's exciting. I would love to know what we can do to improve. So you can also leave comments below and let me know what you enjoyed, what you didn't enjoy. I actually do read every single one.
We also have a newsletter that comes out once a week so you can get all the updates from us. also put in
some weekly business and marketing updates in there, as well as some personal notes from me. You can subscribe to that on my LinkedIn, also through the Instagram and in the show notes below. Anyways, that is all from me. I'm so excited for you to listen to this episode. I hope it's a good one and I'll chat to you soon. Bye.
Emily Jean (02:30)
Ariel Lupos of Flower Girl. Welcome to Founders in Jeans I'm so excited to have you today. I think this is a really
Arielle Loupos (02:31)
Thank
Emily Jean (02:40)
great mission and the products you are building are amazing. For people that don't know you, why don't you give them a little bit of a background about yourself.
Arielle Loupos (02:49)
Cool, yeah, so I started my career in e-commerce about a decade ago, mainly helping direct to consumer brands, launch, manage, scale their websites. I do a lot of email marketing, social media marketing. So with that background, I like to joke that I naively went into product development thinking like, wanna, I can launch a brand, I can throw a website up, I can get all the marketing efforts going. And I really, I always had this like,
itch to like do something of my own. And you know, I thought that incorporating myself working as a consultant would kind of scratch that however it didn't. So I was like, well, what kind of product could I make? I really want to solve a problem. Like what issues am I dealing with in my own life? And I hated wearing disposable menstrual products, pads and tampons. I started wearing other brands period underwear. And while I found it to be the best option, I just couldn't understand why there weren't like
better options, like cuter options, ⁓ and more sustainable. So ultimately I was like, let me embark on this journey of product development, manufacture here in LA. And it's kind of my story in a nutshell.
Emily Jean (04:01)
Love it. ⁓ I want to ask you first, I hear a lot of entrepreneurs who they get this great idea and they see a need in the market and then they sit on it for a really long time. So how long did it kind of take you to get from idea to now execution?
Arielle Loupos (04:19)
Yeah.
actually have this like crazy story. ⁓ years before I even went into product development, which product development was a two year journey. years before I was sitting with a friend and I remember we were having a conversation and I just randomly said I want to make period underwear. that's like, that story kind of came back to me. I literally, I had that thought, I said something and I did not act on it for two to three years, right? And it felt like so random and it still kind of feels like such a
that like my soul or like my body just like said. So then, yeah, two, three years later, wanted, just, I was like, let me take advantage of like living in Los Angeles. I started going to textile shows. I started learning about fabric. And I will say, you know,
I talk to a lot of people who like, a lot of people have ideas and things that they want to do. And when it comes down to it, what I've learned having been on this journey now for two, three years is all it comes down to is doing a bit, a little bit every day. whether it's research, whether it's talking to someone about your idea and getting connected to someone. I had a lot of friends who would introduce me to people in LA. I would go have a conversation with them.
For me, it's all about just taking the steps to getting towards, working towards your goal and whatever it is. And I feel like that's where a lot of people fall off and they have these ideas, but it all comes down to who's gonna execute and what steps are you taking every single day, even if it's just a little bit, to execute on this idea.
Emily Jean (05:59)
I love that. think that's really good advice. Very true. So walk me through a little bit in terms of product development because you said that took two years, right? So what did that consist of?
Arielle Loupos (06:10)
Yeah.
It was crazy because like I have such an appreciation for clothing now, like the clothes that we wear, all garments require it's such a compartmentalized process to like create anything. There are so many steps that go into it. So ⁓ I, as I was starting to like create samples, I was like, my God, I chose one of like the most technical products to make because this product has to like work for women. It has to like function. It's not just like t-shirt or regular underwear.
it just has to fit and like could be comfortable like it has to do all those things and it has to like work for women while they're on their cycles. So it took two years because I really I kept learning more about textiles and while I started the brand with the thought of like I want to create something cuter and sexier than what's currently on the market the message ended up evolving into this sustainability message because I fell in love with natural fibers. I started to learn that most of our clothing is made with synthetic fibers
fast fashion, it's like riddled with chemicals and toxins, polyester is gasoline. Like, as I was like learning all these things, I was like, I want to be able to go to market with something that I can message is body safe, in addition to being, you know, cute and comfortable. So it ended up taking two years. And it was just it was a lot of R &D to it was a lot of testing. Like I said, I was like, I'm not gonna I can't launch with a product that doesn't work for women. So
two years of testing, creating like hundred different iterations of like the pad and the gusset, which is like the crotch area of the underwear.
Emily Jean (07:48)
think that's a very common thing for brands. I think people underestimate how long when you're going, when you're not picking something up that's already been made basically, and you're really starting from scratch, people underestimate how long it can take. think that's totally normal, if not longer.
Arielle Loupos (07:58)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah,
totally.
Emily Jean (08:06)
I you then, so you said obviously you were more in the marketing side of things and then you get more into this technical side of really building something from the ground up. Where is your knowledge coming from that? Like how are you kind of navigating that? Because I think as the applies especially to product development, that seems like a closed circle to a lot of people. So how did you kind of get in there?
Arielle Loupos (08:31)
Yeah, and it is like closed circle. It's a very like old school mentality community, like manufacturers downtown, like it's a very archaic system. ⁓ I did find and you know, coming from the tech world where things evolve and move quickly, it was very interesting to go back into this, to work with people who kind of have a little more old school mentality, but also it's a lot of people who really respect their craft. ⁓
And when it comes to creating a product, I mean, for me, like I've spent hours, days driving around downtown LA, talking to different people. You know, I started with one manufacturer that didn't work out. I wasn't happy with the quality of the samples that were being made. So I went to another manufacturer who is incredible and creates top, takes a lot of pride in creating top quality products. So.
And he, I was really fortunate because he taught me a lot along the way. It was important for me to work with someone who was willing to help, like, help me understand and teach me things I didn't know. And I was very fortunate to find that, but it did come after talking to a lot of people.
Emily Jean (09:44)
think finding a good manufacturer is kind of like finding a good therapist. Like, it's not always going to be your first person. Yeah. So I want to get to, guess, a little bit more into the marketing side of things. My biggest thing is you've said that FlowerGirl is helping women live in sync with their cycles. So how do you kind of translate that mission into, you know, product, content, community?
Arielle Loupos (09:49)
Yeah. Not always the fourth one. Yeah, totally.
Yeah, totally. So something that I learned along this journey, I mean, I've always been like a wellness junkie and self care and like caring about my body and also very like intuitive. And I believe that women, are all naturally extremely intuitive beings. We just have to remember to like tap in and also learn how to block out a lot of the noise in our society is like so distracting nowadays. So something that I learned along the way
that's like a big part of like the Flower Girl mission that I want to share is like cycle syncing. ⁓ And ultimately what that is, is understanding that we as women are cyclical beings, we operate on a 28 day hormonal cycle. We go through four different phases. So it's important for me to share that when we understand like the phases that we are in of the every week, a different phase during every month. ⁓
It's a game changer and it's not something that we're taught, you know, when we're girls and we first got our periods, we're not taught anything about our bodies really, and especially our cycles. ⁓ teaching women to understand what phase you're in, how to plan your calendar, what type of social settings are gonna work best for you during that week? What type of physical activity, what type of food to eat? Like all of these things have a really great impact on
ourselves and like just being able to be in touch with ourselves. So that's like such a major that is like one of the greatest missions I feel like that I want to share with this journey. And I feel like selling the underwear was like kind of like a great foray into me being able to talk about that too, because what better way to like be in tune with our bodies than to like allow ourselves to free bleed and like using body safe products that we have not been given our whole lives. So
Emily Jean (12:09)
Yeah, absolutely. For sure. ⁓ It leads me to another question, though. So how do you, I guess, honor cycle syncing in your own business in your day to day?
Arielle Loupos (12:09)
I hope that answered the question.
I am.
such an advocate for it now. I, so I'm a huge calendar junkie. put, I know everything on my calendar, calendar block. So I know when my, the first day of my cycle is I always mark that in my calendar. So that way I allow myself to understand visually like what phase I am in during each week. And that has helped me understand and respect and listen to my body. Like when I wake up feeling energetic,
and ready to take on like a more intense workout class because I'm follicular, I'm in my ovulatory phase, I know I can do that versus when I'm luteal or menstruating and I...
honor my body by giving it rest and I can recognize I'm more tired and ⁓ same with the food that I eat. You there's one week out of the month where I am starving and then there's other weeks I'm like, can, I'm just like eating normally and being understanding like what phase you're in. It's just, it's very eye-opening, you know, and then you start to live more in harmony with your body. And I think it's also allowed me to get.
great control of my cycle in addition to free bleeding. You I don't suffer from a lot of PMS symptoms like I used to. I don't have extremely heavy flows. I don't have debilitating cramps. All of these things that society has really normalized for women, which are not normal. Like that is our body I've learned.
telling us, like reacting, needing us to recognize something's going on at the root. ⁓ And we've been taught for so long to, you know, just take Advil, ignore it, like put a bandaid on the problem or like here, shove a tampon in it. And like, it's not, it's not normal.
Emily Jean (14:08)
No, absolutely. think about all the time this idea that tampons, since they were basically invented, they've never changed, which there is hardly anything else in the world that we have kept the same. Exactly.
Arielle Loupos (14:17)
Yeah.
has not evolved yet
or where our product options have evolved. It was invented in 1931 by a man, by the way. Yeah. Yeah, it was, which is crazy.
Emily Jean (14:33)
I know, yes, that's exactly what I about to say. like, also I think it was invented by a man.
So you just touched on it a little bit, but are there any other, I guess, common misconceptions or stigmas around periods that you have been wanting to challenge with your products?
Arielle Loupos (14:51)
You know, I feel like when tampons were invented, I've learned that they were really marketed as like a cleanup, like hygienic product. And that type of marketing then caused periods to be looked at as a dirty problem, which...
doesn't make any sense to me because our periods are like life force. Like that is what creates life. ⁓ And you know, prior to that, from my understanding, two periods and women used to be honored during their cycles. And my hope through all of this journey would be for our society to really start shifting back to that mentality of
honoring our cycles, like making it something, destigmatizing it and making it something that we're all comfortable sharing and talking about because I feel like we're at a point in society where a lot of women are struggling with a lot of issues. You know, there's PCOS, there's endo, there's debilitating periods that will take you out for a week. And ⁓ I think that we need to get to a place where we can help get to the root of those issues, but also like
support our bodies during those times with the rest and recovery that we need.
Emily Jean (16:09)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's a great point. So I want to ask you, obviously I think FemTech and the wellness space is becoming very competitive. How have you been able to differentiate flower girl in that space?
Arielle Loupos (16:14)
Yeah.
Yeah, Great question, because there are a lot of other.
period under our brands, right? And I have immense respect for all of them. Like I never want to be like, look at any other company really as like a competitor in this space. I truly like want everyone, especially like women on companies that are doing better for women's bodies to win. But where I personally felt like there was space in the market for me to come in with this brand was I really just wanted to see a brand that ⁓ had content geared a little more towards what I
wanted to see and you know, I didn't see a ton of ⁓ it still fell if I'm being totally honest, a little more medical and salesy. versus I really just wanted to make it like
We're outside, know, we're in the house, we're lounging around, we're comfortable. I want women to like just resonate with the content and be like, that underwear looks really comfortable and she looks amazing wearing it. And my God, it's period underwear too. Great, I wanna wear it. So that was the goal and diversifying the content a bit.
Emily Jean (17:41)
Yeah, absolutely. I think too, especially the commitment to sustainability and that sort of thing. Also, we talk a lot about, you know, what's your, you know, unique selling point and how do you position yourself in the market. But I think for entrepreneurs who are listening to this, when your face and when your personal brand is attached to the product, it becomes a lot easier, in my opinion. I want to ask you,
Arielle Loupos (18:08)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Jean (18:10)
How have you kind of balanced personal brand and product and what has been your journey with that?
Arielle Loupos (18:18)
⁓ that's a great question too, because I'm still figuring it out. feel like like I, I honestly feel like when I launched this brand, the end of 2024.
Emily Jean (18:22)
See you soon.
Arielle Loupos (18:29)
It was like right around the time that founders were really also becoming like the face of their brands. Like I don't, I don't feel like I went into launching Flower Girl thinking like, okay, I'm going to also have to like rise at work on my personal brand and like do all of this at the same time. But that is like the age of social media now for sure. And you know, even for me, like I only
buy from brands now where I resonate with the story and the founder and I know how it's made and I think that's my hypothesis for how consumers are going to start shopping going forward. So to answer your question, you know, I've always cared about.
what I'm wearing, the quality, the materials. Also, wellness and self-care as a woman has been a huge part of my life. So I feel like it's just really been about opening up more and sharing my own, you know, what advice, things that I've learned because everything that I am doing or promoting on Flower Girl truly is how I live my life as well. And I'm happy about that, you know, like it does really feel like me with the brand. So.
It's been fun and it was honestly it was like so It wasn't comfortable at first, you know to like really put yourself out there And I feel like that was its own hurdle that I had to get over by after being I guess I'm like seven eight nine months live now I'm finally in a place where I'm like, I don't care what I post on Instagram. I'm so comfortable with it, but that definitely took some time Yeah
Emily Jean (20:01)
Right, it takes practice, absolutely.
Yeah, you've also, in addition to kind of growing your personal brand through this, I know you've made a big effort to grow community around it, which I love to see. I really think community is gonna be like the number one sales factor for businesses moving forward. I guess I want to ask what has been your approach in that, and is there other things that founders can learn from your approach?
Arielle Loupos (20:21)
Yeah.
Yeah.
I really try my best to bring the audience behind the scenes on like everything that I'm doing as much as I can. So if I'm, you know, designing something or picking a color or talking about a new style, I'm posting polls on Instagram, I'm posting question boxes, I'm asking for a ton of feedback. I'm always on social media, like asking for feedback ⁓ from my followers. And then I also do a lot of retention with post purchase that I am
I'm really focused on that right now as well too. And just how can I further build loyalty around the brand and keep the consumers engaged and happy and get their feedback and take any any feedback they have and into iterating on the next product which I've done you know I my thong is the best seller and I got feedback from a lot of women like I would love this in a brief in a boxer because a lot of women don't sleep in thongs and I totally get the I don't either so I was like great yeah.
Let's do a brief and a boxer. So really just engaging as much as possible and I would love to you know Take that even a step further down the road and hopefully can start doing some like in-person stuff, too
Emily Jean (21:46)
Right. I think you are also in a unique position because while you're engaging with your community, ⁓ you're kind of balancing, I guess, a product that historically has been surrounded with a lot of shame and, you know, periods are still taboo in a lot of spaces. So how have you been able to balance that messaging ⁓ and, you know, kind of sell a product that's usually marketed with shame?
Arielle Loupos (22:00)
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's been hard, honestly, and I'm still trying to figure it out because to your point, like I'll have women who buy the product, but don't want to necessarily post about it or talk about it online in the same way they do other products because of what it is and the purpose that it serves. ⁓ so it's been really important for me right now. I'm solely focused on organic marketing because I bootstrap the business and they don't have a lot of budget to throw at advertising. So I have.
been gifting. And I've learned a lot through who I'm gifting. And at first, I think I was a little like too broad with who I gifted. And in hindsight, it's like that wasn't the right person because they didn't post about it. And they and I get now why they didn't want to because
their influencing style, like they wouldn't talk about period underwear, you know, but it was like somebody with a following that I happened to be, you know, be able to get in contact with. So it was like an easy send. But then I found women who are comfortable to support the message and the brand. So it's really for me just been honing in on who those influencers are, those creators in the space that are comfortable talking about it and really focusing my efforts there.
Emily Jean (23:28)
Yeah, I want to dive deep a little bit on this gifting topic too, because I think it's top of mind for a lot of founders right now. know, everybody sees the unboxing hauls and the PR packages. So how do you handle gifting right now? Are you messaging influencers on Instagram or what does that look like?
Arielle Loupos (23:36)
Okay.
Yeah, I my whole life have been a huge proponent for like just send the email just send the DM like I will hold outreach to anyone. So yeah, it's a lot of that. It's DMS, it's emails, it's meeting somebody who knows somebody and ⁓ you know, asking them for an intro and yeah, I've been ⁓
getting pretty good feedback. You know, I get some no's and then I get some people who don't respond at all and I don't take anything personal nowadays. ⁓ So it's just about, you know, continuing to make the effort there.
Emily Jean (24:25)
Yeah, absolutely. I had a founder on a couple of months ago and she said that she sent over 17 dresses to Taylor Swift. And I was like, I get it. ⁓ Because also I think that is such a good like kind of idea metaphor for like gifting is like, once you find some people who are in your niche and you feel like really fit your brand, it's like just go, go, go, go, go.
Arielle Loupos (24:41)
Yeah.
Yes.
Emily Jean (24:52)
Worst case scenario, they say no and you lose a product, which is a bummer.
Arielle Loupos (24:56)
Yeah, yeah, it is. And for a small brand who makes in small batches, it's never fun, but it's if anything, it's forced me to like, learn and iterate quicker. Like maybe we don't need the like Instagram influencer with 600,000 followers who's probably not going to talk about period underwear, know, like maybe what a bite, you know, and then sometimes it's like risk might be worth it. The reward.
Emily Jean (25:18)
For sure,
absolutely. So going back to your digital marketing experience, so you obviously were in the digital marketing role space before. How has that kind of shaped your approach to Flower Girl, especially during the launch?
Arielle Loupos (25:36)
I'm so grateful for the experience because it allowed me to like, I just know like the backend of like websites and stuff and can get email marketing flows built and up and running and same with social media. And yeah, it's like an ever evolving space. So even as a consultant, it was something I always had to stay on top of because especially with AI, like things are changing so much and so quickly, but ⁓ I've had a couple other friends who have like launched
businesses as well. And I've seen them struggle in different areas that I don't necessarily struggle with because of my experience. So I'm super grateful for that decade of like, being in the ecommerce space. ⁓
Emily Jean (26:19)
Is there one thing that you could tell founders like in the digital marketing space, this is what you should really have your eye on the most right now?
Arielle Loupos (26:28)
Yes, AI. And I like chat GPT. ⁓ You know, I have a couple friends who are like, I'm not using that. I like they feel very it feels very like naive. Yeah, and critical. And I'm like, I'm 100 % getting behind this. talked to chat GPT every day. It has been so insanely helpful in getting this business launched. Like, I really feel like
Emily Jean (26:30)
Okay. Yeah.
political.
Arielle Loupos (26:57)
I'm so grateful for like this period this lifetime that we are living in this time and space because when you think about like the little
tech support our parents generation had, right? And like how limited they were. And then we had the internet and now it's evolving even more with AI. we, and I kind of like, of course I get like scared for like our kids, the generation and like what's gonna happen when there's, there's so much social media and there's so much AI. So for me, I'm like, I feel like we are in this like beautiful space in between where it's like evolving and you can take advantage of so much. But I would absolutely recommend.
Emily Jean (27:08)
Bye.
Arielle Loupos (27:34)
stay on top of AI right now.
Emily Jean (27:37)
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree. think there are, was listening to a podcast the other day actually about how you have different camps of people who feel certain ways about AI. And they were saying there's one camp of like AI inevitable lists. And I was like, my gosh, that's so me because I don't, I wouldn't necessarily say I have like the most positive outlook on the future of AI, but I also feel like it's inevitable. Like it's a tool. People are going to use it sooner rather than later.
Arielle Loupos (27:46)
Yeah.
if
Yeah. Yeah.
Emily Jean (28:07)
And so yeah, I think that's a great answer.
So I want to talk to you a little bit about the more operational side, I guess. What has been your biggest operational challenge so far and how have you navigated that?
Arielle Loupos (28:21)
Hmm Operationally, I would say probably just the learning curves that come with manufacturing and this being the first product that I went to development with and Learning like there are so many steps required to produce something and
There were times when I wanted to change the elastic on the underwear, for example, and my manufacturer ⁓ taught me that you can't just do that. That requires new tech packs, patterns that will affect everything, the full production run. So just little things with design that, again, I think we as consumers don't really understand when we're...
buying a product or at least I didn't. ⁓ And the level of detail that goes into the product, which it's great. Like I'm happy I understand it now, but in the beginning, operationally, that was challenging.
Emily Jean (29:20)
Yeah, yeah, I think that is a very good point. ⁓ For somebody looking to launch a DTC product today, especially in the wellness niche, what is one thing they should definitely do and one thing they should definitely avoid?
Arielle Loupos (29:24)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, one thing you should definitely do is do a ton of research. I, you know, I talked to a lot of people who have a lot of great ideas and I'm like, the level of execution that is required to launch a brand is so great. And I don't think people truly comprehend how much work it is. So I would say start with research. I think a lot of times people, at least I've seen people who have just like started things and I'm like, you didn't know.
research into that market. Like you have no idea what you're getting yourself into from an e-commerce marketing and product perspective now. So yeah, I would definitely say do your research.
Emily Jean (30:26)
well, so I wanna talk a little bit about the future of the brand. How do you see the brand evolving, I guess, into a broader, sorry, let me rephrase this. Do you see the brand evolving into a broader cycle care platform or are you more focused on staying in one category and focusing on kind of
Arielle Loupos (30:37)
Yes.
Emily Jean (30:47)
product excellence in that.
Arielle Loupos (30:49)
Yeah.
Yeah, great question that I think about a lot and I don't really know yet the ultimate goal when I think about where do I see the brand is I would love for this to be like a mission driven mission driven brand and how can I incorporate that aspect with this being the key product right now because for me like I recognize that period poverty is so real globally and is such an issue that affects women's lives and ability to like really live their
And I feel like this product really helps solve that issue for a lot of women. So I think about that being one angle where I would absolutely love to take it.
And then, yeah, just like educating on period underwear. then ⁓ separately, I love like the non-toxic angle so much. And I would love to ultimately have like a line of like different products that I could be really proud of, like a full lifestyle line of clothing, ⁓ which I feel like those are kind of both.
a little bit different, but ultimately if it could all evolve in that direction, I'd be like so happy. ⁓
Emily Jean (32:02)
Yeah,
absolutely. Are there any other innovations or tech integrations that you're also curious about exploring in that space?
Arielle Loupos (32:11)
Yeah, super curious because I've had a lot of women postpartum who wear the underwear and it works amazing for them as well. So just quickly on that note, I you know, I promoted as period underwear, but postpartum has been great feedback, bladder leaks, so women who struggle with incontinence. And then I've gotten some feedback too that some women love it for like sweat absorptions. So yeah, a lot of funny angles there, but my postpartum friends have shared
Emily Jean (32:36)
Okay.
Arielle Loupos (32:41)
with me, you know, they're like, I would love this material in a bra, like when they're leaking.
⁓ I, I don't know that space at all. That's just like a piece of feedback that I've heard quite a bit that I'm like, I'd be super interested in exploring that space. I would have to do a ton of research to know what options currently exist. I'm sure there, I know there's like nursing bras and stuff. ⁓ but yeah, so I think about, I love like product innovation and thinking about like, are problems we can solve for women? Because I think we've been such an under researched and underserved portion of the population for so long.
you
Emily Jean (33:18)
Totally, absolutely. Yeah, that's a great, I'm excited to see then in the next couple of years what that looks like. So I wanna ask you, I guess, what is lighting you up the most right now? And you can take this personally or professionally as you look toward to the next chapter.
Arielle Loupos (33:23)
Yeah, so stay tuned. Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, well, I love that question. I've, I get so lit up when I'm able to have conversations like this and share the message of the brand. And in addition to when I see something that works, like on Instagram, for example, I know that might sound like cheeky or like everyone, you know,
when you do have a piece of content that does really well. But it just for me, it feels like my message is hitting, you know, and it's resonating with people. And I...
With this brand in particular, I dabbled with meta ads. There was a month that I tried it. I hired like a girl who was like a CRO expert. We threw some ads up, but Facebook kept restricting my account for sexual images. And I got really scared because I spent a good amount of money and I was like, you know what? I'm not doing this. Like I, my mindset at the time was like, I want to put it out there. I want to scale quickly. Everybody needs to have this product. And I'm like, why would I spend money here? I have to fight Facebook.
every week to unblock me, you know? ⁓ So that's when I really started ⁓ switching the strategy to right now. It's like having these conversations with women who are generous enough to share their platform with me ⁓ to help me spread this message. ⁓ And that's what really lights me up.
Emily Jean (35:02)
Yeah, I love that. I think that's a great answer. I saw a quote the other day that said, when you're building a business, do things that don't scale. And I think that's great. Like I think ultimately those are the things that end up scaling without you realizing it.
Arielle Loupos (35:17)
100
% and what would truly be like the dream of a life is like if I can just keep having these conversations and like spreading this business via word of mouth and referrals because women genuinely love the product, that would be the best.
Emily Jean (35:32)
Yeah,
yeah, dream life. So I don't wanna take up way too much more of your time, so I have some rapid fires for you. ⁓ Okay, so my first one is, what is the most underrated period self-care tip?
Arielle Loupos (35:34)
Yeah. Yeah.
Bye.
I love this one. Okay, resting without any guilt. So like actually giving yourself permission to slow down and rest and say no and literally do nothing.
Emily Jean (35:53)
Ooh.
Good, I love that, I needed to hear that one.
Arielle Loupos (36:02)
Yeah, I
feel like a lot of us do.
Emily Jean (36:05)
Yeah. Is there a, I guess, cycle care trend that you think is overhyped?
Arielle Loupos (36:11)
a psychotic care trend that's overhyped. ⁓
mean, any trend in my opinion, or anyone who's pushing a routine on you, where it feels like it needs to be like so rigid, and you need to like wake up and do x, y, and z, and like meditate and like journal and like whatever. Those things are all great. But for me, what's most important is truly listening to your body and recognizing like I'm a different person every single day. I think I am in general, like a routine person, like I like my things.
However, I'm not always doing the same thing every day. So I feel like any trend that's like pretty like, you know, to the point, it's like, just do what feels good for you.
Emily Jean (36:57)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I that. Do you have a go-to flower girl product?
Arielle Loupos (37:05)
⁓ Yes, my Tencel set. So, you know, when I launched the brand, I had a couple founder friends who were like, ⁓ do sets too, do tank tops, with the under-ow it'll go really well. People who have been like econ veterans. So I did and it's, it does, it is going pretty well, you know, people love how soft the material is. So yeah, my Tencel set, I would say.
Emily Jean (37:30)
love. ⁓ Is there one brand that you admire that's doing DTC right now?
Arielle Loupos (37:37)
Ooh, oh my gosh, good question. So who's doing a really good job? I mean, I love what
Haley Bieber is doing with road. mean, they're obviously killing it. And I think that their whole team, the way they all get behind the mission, and they make their products are actually really incredible to I've tried them and ⁓ they make you just like want to be a part of their world. ⁓ So I really admire them for that.
Emily Jean (38:10)
⁓ Last question for you. Do you have a book or a resource or a course or anything like that for budding entrepreneurs that you can recommend?
Arielle Loupos (38:22)
my gosh, a book or a chorus. mean, my favorite book or one that comes to mind is Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. So it's the journey of how we started Nike. And I remember reading that while I was on the journey of building Flower Girl. And it was really motivating just to be like, yeah, fuck yeah, like this is awesome. Like he was in the trenches, like doing all the things too. So I love that book. And then ⁓
I mean, they feel like pretty fortunate with my career. I never really took any courses or anything. kind of just stayed in the know of ⁓ trying to think what, I don't know, Maggie Sellers, if anybody. ⁓
or if you've heard of hot smart rich, like she's a huge voice for like women in teaching about business and finance. So she's been like one of my go to she has an incredible podcast has amazing other women entrepreneurs on it. podcasts have been like my favorite medium for getting information and truly likes I credit
everything I learned from listening to podcasts more than what I learned. couldn't tell you what I learned when I went to school and like university. And like, I don't remember anything. And ⁓ I think we're again, so lucky to live in this day and age where there's so many people with incredible platforms talking to incredible founders and business people and operators and just utilizing ⁓ that as much as possible.
Emily Jean (39:29)
Yes.
Yeah, I love that.
where can people find you? Where can they shop? And yeah, where can they join the community?
Arielle Loupos (39:54)
Yes.
Yes. So I'm on Instagram at flower girl.co with an underscore at the end because all the good names are being squatted on. But yeah, at flower girl.co and then my website is the same. It's flower girl.co not calm. If you reach out on the website, if you reach out in the DM on Instagram, you're talking directly to me.
more than happy to answer any questions. Doing my best, yeah, to build community on there, trying to keep it real too, has kind of been my strategy. I'm pretty ad hoc and I kind of just like post things that come to mind and then obviously talking about the product too. yeah, Instagram is my favorite social outlet right now, so find me there.
Emily Jean (40:40)
Okay, perfect. And obviously that will all be linked in the show notes. But thank you so much for joining me. This has been such a good conversation. I'm so excited. I gotta have you on.
Arielle Loupos (40:50)
my God, thank you so much. am honored and appreciate you sharing your space with me.
Emily Jean (40:56)
Of course,
