Hi-tech Kiwi fashionable underwear solves daily incontinence problem with style
Two New Zealand entrepreneurs have developed innovative incontinence underwear that is both beautiful and very effective
A million New Zealanders – a quarter of the population – experience incontinence. Now a Kiwi company has developed a
fashionable hi-tech option that looks and feels like normal underwear.
Launched online and featured this week on Kim Hill’s Radio NZ show, innovative textile technology company ConfiTEX's
pretty underwear helps women feel attractive and stylish as they cope with this very common experience.
A world first, the elegantly sexy 'feel good' underwear is absorbent, waterproof, pad-free and machine-washable.
Aimed at mothers, sportswomen and men too – there is a range of sporty boxers for men – the affordable underwear is
based on hi-tech sports fabrics that wick away moisture using the body's heat and can easily absorb a cup-full of fluid
throughout the day. Users have described it as "life-changing".
Developed by a pair of Kiwi entrepreneurs and avid skiers, company founders Mark Davey and Frantisek Riha-Scott began by
designing performance underwear for athletes – that was until friends and family told them they were missing a much
bigger need that just wasn't being met. Now, after three years of development, they have launched their innovative
underwear range. It is also eco-friendly, as, being textile-based, it uses no plastics or harmful chemicals.
"Our undies help people go about their daily life with confidence – hence the name ConfiTEX."
"Women want to feel attractive, which is where our normal-looking lace underwear comes in. One woman described them as
'kinda sexy cute'. We've had people literally tell us it's been life-changing for them," says Riha-Scott.
He emphasised that because the underwear uses quality bamboo-based material it is soft and comfortable, as well as being
very absorbent and green too.
Eco-friendly underwear
Like children's nappies, adult pads and diapers are big polluters. The plastics used in them can take 500 years to
degrade – and they make up to 15 per cent of all landfill waste.
"People don't like using them either. They can be using four to six pads a day – that's 1500 pads a year – rather than
seven pairs of our undies that would make them feel good too," says Davey.
About ConfiTEX
Alpine ski racers Mark Davey and Frantisek Riha-Scott started out designing underwear to fit under tight ski-suits – and
for marathon runners and cyclists.
But solving athletes' problems proved to be a step on the way to solving a much bigger real-world problem that many men
and women experience every day. Riha-Scott, who is a fashion designer and fabric technologist, spent three years with
Davey developing the patented fabric and producing the fashionable, super-absorbent, affordable ConfiTEX underwear
range.