By
Antoine
That's just Fair and Honest…
Jho is the organic and committed intimate products brand. The two co-founders have developed a brand that is healthy for women, and transparent: sustainable ethics, ecological values, and no dangerous products. The brand has chosen Silvr financing for their marketing campaigns and inventory purchases. Find out how this move enabled Jho to improve their cash flow and help their distribution network evolve.
Dorothée Barth and Coline Mazeyrat co-founded Jho in 2017. These are healthy product lines for women, and a brand that does not cut corners. The brand that has shaken up the world of intimate hygiene has reshuffled the cards in favor of better health for their customers. They have chosen Silvr funding for their marketing campaigns and the purchase of their inventory. All in all, these are organic, committed intimate products made for all stages of a woman's life: from the first period to bladder weakness, from pregnancy to menopause. They currently boast a total of 70,000 consumers, mainly in France.
Originally, the concept of monthly intimate hygiene boxes came from the United States. The subscription system is less popularized in France, so Jho decided to offer both options. "Both are very much appreciated by their customers, even if subscription is the most popular option right now". A sign of the high level of product loyalty they enjoy.
The credo of the Fair and Honest brand is to be honest about the composition of the brand's products and fair about its commitment. Jho is committed to donating 1.7% of its revenue to five partner NGOs. All of these NGOs support women in precarious and life-or-death situations in France and abroad. Their first association partners were Gynécologie Sans Frontière and Girls Excel</a>, a Cameroonian association. "We have created a brand which is not only clean, but which also tells you everything about composition, manufacturing and product."
The core business of the brand remains tampons and sanitary towels, as many women continue to use these for their periods. In terms of responsible commitment, the brand is also sustainable, offering a range of menstrual underwear that it introduced in 2020. Jho's values remain unchanged, even after a number of players moved into the market. Players who are supposedly more responsible and cleaner for their consumers, but who remain very opaque with regard to composition and who are guilty of greenwashing.
After two equity-raising efforts in January 2019 and May 2020 and at the time when the two co-founders were wondering about raising funds again, Covid came along, and the economic situation was tricky post-pandemic. "We knew that within a few months, we would be able to demonstrate better market signals and offer stronger traction". It was at this point that a "friend talked to them about Silvr" to get the timing right. This coincided with the time when Jho began to be distributed in retail.
Now you can find their items in some 250 physical outlets: supermarkets (large and medium-sized stores), a hundred or so Monop' stores, pharmacies and concept stores. "We originally used Silvr and our marketing campaign and inventory financing to clean up our balance sheet, save time, and present better numbers when raising equity."
"Silvr is an effective way to free up time to focus on our core business of developing clean, innovative and effective products."
Coline Mazeyrat - co-founder and head of Digital Marketing
"Thanks to Silvr, we were able to wait for the first results and analyses from the opening of the retail store distribution. We were able to maintain a favorable cash position." These Silvr financings were an ideal lever to maintain their growth and move in the logical direction of that growth. The purpose of this non-dilutive and quick-release financing is therefore to continue running their business as healthily as possible. "Without Silvr, we might have had to make some complicated financial choices, but in the end, we were able to stay on course." Gaining flexibility by deferring costs for exceptional projects, giving themselves a certain amount of flexibility: "When you're a small organization, it's important not to close yourself off from projects, so we were able to explore things through Silvr."
"Without Silvr, we might have had to make some complicated financial choices, but in the end, we were able to stay on course.
Coline Mazeyrat - co-founder and head of Digital Marketing
Jho is founded on an awareness of the dangers of exposure via intimate products. What originally sparked their fight was the broadcast of the 2017 France 5 documentary Tampon, notre ennemi intime (Tampon, our intimate enemy), directed by Audrey Gloaguenen. Dorothée Barth (health journalist and speaker) and Coline Mazeyrat (digital marketing specialist) discovered that the whiteness of the cotton used in tampons is not due to the naturalness of the material, but to its chemical treatment and chlorine bleaching. As for sanitary towels, it turned out they were made from materials derived from petrochemicals. Despite the shock, no alternative was proposed. "You had to have a store that specialized in organic products to get a guarantee of a healthier product."
The fact that there was no legal obligation of transparency imposed on the often-oligopolistic players has also had a significant impact on the company. The co-founders want to take the opposite approach of the historical brands and to bang their fists on the table while doing so. Then "an alignment of the planets coupled with chance" resulted in Dorothée and Coline meeting. The health journalist was involved in a project proposed by Imagine Machine - a start-up studio in Nantes led by Rob Spiro, a former Silicon Valley employee - and was looking for a partner. That was the beginning of Dorothée and Coline's collaboration in September 2017.
In November, the brand and its world were established and approved, as well as the sourcing of manufacturers. The official launch took place a few months later, in April 2018, after the first production of 100% organic tampons and sanitary towels was completed.
Jho, backed by fantastic marketing campaigns launched beforehand, was finally on the market. In total, they attracted 1,000 clients in the first month. Today, the brand offers many items such as organic, healthy and effective sanitary protective products (tampons, sanitary towels, period underwear and menstrual cups, panty liners, etc.), but also intimate care products.
Jho is a growing team of more than 20 employees, although Coline prefers to remain open about the number given that there are some on maternity leave and that 15 children have already been born within their team in just three years.
Dorothée and Coline intend to take good care of their baby (the business one, that is) and to continue to support women when it comes to their sanitary protections. They are well aware that these issues are relevant to 16 million French women and more than 800 million across the world! As for Jho making sales abroad, they are "eager to get there, but the focus remains on France for now?". So what does Jho have in store for us in the future? The two entrepreneurs, as well as those who help Jho grow, are still preparing some nice surprises for the future.
In the meantime, Jho has kindly passed on the code SILVR-5, with which you'll be able to get a to get a €5 discount on any purchase over €39 on jho.fr !
Terms and conditions: Discount of €5 valid until April 30, 2023 at 11.59 pm with the code SILVR-5 for any new order placed on jho.fr, for a minimum of €39 purchased on Jho products. Code valid only one time per person. Only one discount offered per code. Code cannot be combined with any other ongoing offer. The amount of the discount cannot be refunded. To take advantage of the offer, once your cart is complete, enter the promo code in the box "Promo code or gift card" on the page https://www.jho.fr/checkout
Published on
March 27, 2023
By
Antoine
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