Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Massachusetts's millionaires' tax pays off, a Texas maternal health committee appoints a staunch anti-abortion activist, and Fortune’s Lila MacLellan explains how period underwear brand Thinx grew up. Have a lovely Tuesday.
- Period piece. As I wandered the aisles of a chain superstore in suburban Toronto recently, I noticed a pile of Thinx period underwear boxes waiting to be organized and properly displayed. It was mildly surprising, like recognizing music by an alternative, indie band of your youth playing in the background of a primetime commercial.
Thinx was one of the most prominent startups of the mid-2010s, the direct-to-consumer golden era. Miki Agrawal, the company’s cofounder and initial CEO, came to be rockstar famous in places like New York and L.A. as she put the concept of reusable absorbent underwear on the retail map, blending feminist ideals, a fashionable aesthetic, innuendo-filled advertising, and “bohemian” capitalism. As I report in a new feature, some pundits didn’t appreciate Thinx’s co-opting of progressive politics and spirituality to sell underthings. But the company also earned praise for starting an overdue conversation about the stigma around periods and the coded language used to advertise pads and tampons.
