‘They look like your favourite pair of underwear, but perform like your secret weapon,’ founder says.
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When Kathy Vurinaris set out to create the Toronto-based company Sleaks, she had her mom in mind.
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Intended to be a well-designed and waste-free alternative to disposable bladder leak underwear, she imagined the line would resonate primarily with older adults.
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But the longtime product developer and Dragon’s Den alumnus, who has worked with brands such as Joe Fresh and Club Monaco, came to discover her creations were hitting with a much larger demographic of customers.
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We caught up with Vurinaris to learn more.
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West Coast Table
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Q: For those who aren’t familiar, what is Sleaks?
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A: Sleaks is bladder leak underwear — but really, it’s so much more than that. It started with my mom, who at 88 years old stood in the incontinence aisle with me, looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘I will never wear adult diapers. You need to design me something better.’ So I did.
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What I discovered in my research of the industry, was incontinence products are built around containment, not dignity — and they are contributing tons to landfills.
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Sleaks is my answer to all of that. Leak-proof underwear built just for urine that actually works. They look like your favourite pair of underwear, but perform like your secret weapon. They are not repurposed period underwear that don’t work.
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Q: Who is the target customer?
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A: I originally thought that our customers would be just like my mom — elderly and worried that she might have an accident. But I soon learned that there wasn’t an age issue.
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It turns out that our core customers are actually 40-65 navigating perimenopause and menopause and all of the issues that come with that. Many women in that age group are limiting their lives because of unexpected bladder leaks.
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Q: Is there a ‘hero’ style?
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A: We only offer one style for now, which is our high-cut brief in Black and Nude. Our underwear has a patented waterproof pouch with a washable pad insert, which really sets us apart from our competition. Sleaks underwear absorbs 72 mL and the boost pad insert absorbs an additional 70 mL for a total of 142 mL. That’s about ⅔ of a cup, which weighs a lot. Our underwear needs to be snug so that it stays secure and in place when it is wet.
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Q: What is the price range?
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A: Our underwear is $49 per pair, which includes one pad insert. We also have an Essential Pack for $100, which is one pair Black and one pair Nude, and you get a set of three pads for free. It’s our most popular item.
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Q: And where can people learn more?
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A: On our website sleaks.ca.
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