Erin Reid (26) is the founder of LU Innovations Ltd, a menstrual health company for adventurers. Erin, a self-proclaimed adventurer, felt uncomfortable and a lack of ease in the products and resources available to her when she participated in outdoor activities on her period. In her final year studying product design, she started researching and designing period kits to truly work in remote environments, without the need for toilets, handwashing facilities or bins, taking pride in thinking about the whole user journey.

With no previous business experience or knowledge in taking a product to market, she has described entering the period care market as fascinating. She said “Being a female inventor with a female orientated product range can be difficult. As menstrual health isn’t talked about enough and seen as secretive and taboo subject, conveying the pain points and health risks LU solves to those that do not menstruate is time consuming. But it’s really cool getting to call yourself an inventor and CEO of a company that people connect with, even though the fogginess of the menstrual taboo. I take great pride in being able to design products that really make a difference, both socially and environmentally, and being able to play a part in inspiring girls and women to achieve all their goals any time of the month”.

With a huge drive and focus on FemHealth and female focused innovations recently the importance of having a diverse team in all fields of innovation and patenting is even more significant.

Having women represented helps to smooth the journey of bringing a product to market. Erin described:

Having females in the IP industry and throughout the entrepreneurial ecosystem is highly important, having different opinions and perspectives is never a bad thing, especially when these products relate to them and in my case, women are able to see the novel idea quicker than men.

HLK is assisting Erin and LU with the development of their IP portfolio as the company transitions from the design stage to production/manufacture and sale of their products. Magnus Johnston, partner in HLK’s Glasgow office comments “we are proud to be assisting Erin and LU Innovations, it’s a terrific product and Erin is a fantastic ambassador for her industry, both locally in Scotland and further afield”.

Date published: 26 April 2023